‘Uncle John’s Band’: the Grateful Dead song banned by radio stations
The Grateful Dead were a band that were never destined for widespread radio play. Although their music was rarely offensive or overly controversial, widespread conservative views among America’s radio networks and mainstream media meant that the likelihood of an acid-riddled psychedelic counterculture band becoming commercially successful was fairly slim. Nevertheless, the Dead managed to carve out an incredibly dedicated fanbase and a commendable level of commercial acclaim during their tenure, despite the best efforts of radio stations.
As has usually been the case throughout the history of popular music, mainstream radio stations were initially apprehensive about the new wave of psychedelic groups dominating the hippie movement during the late 1960s. The rise of the hippie subculture coincided with the prevalence of Cold War paranoia, in which anything remotely daring or left-wing was deemed a danger to the youth of the United States. Inevitably, given their penchant for acid tests, the Grateful Dead fell into that category.
During their early years, the gospel of the Dead spread largely through word-of-mouth, concerts, and underground radio stations. Soon, though, the mainstream began to wind up this psychedelic revolution, and Jerry Garcia’s group began to witness some commercial and chart successes—much to the disapproval of conservative parents and the older generations of America. However, even while their reputation was growing around the nation, the band still had to fend off the rampancy of conservatism and paranoia.
Perhaps the greatest example of these setbacks comes with the release of the Grateful Dead’s 1970 track ‘Uncle John’s Band’. Interestingly, it was this song which first established the band within the musical mainstream of the United States, rocketing up to number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its initial release. Conversely, the song’s release was also plagued with difficulties and resistance from the radio stations.
You might assume that radio stations rejected the track due to the Grateful Dead’s inherent connections to drug culture and psychedelia. However, when the Metromedia Group, which operated radio stations across New York, banned ‘Uncle John’s Band’, it was actually due to the language of the track. Reportedly, the company took issue with the lyric “Goddamn, well I declare have you seen the like?” and promptly pulled the song from broadcast.
Adding to the difficulties of ‘Uncle John’s Band’, the song had already been extensively bootlegged by opportunistic Deadheads up to a year prior to the song’s official release. Of course, the song became an instant favourite for many fans of the band, and it helped to introduce new audiences to the cult of the Dead, too. Without the bootlegging and radio ban, however, it is likely that ‘Uncle John’s Band’ would have charted much higher than number 69.
To bypass the ban, Warner Bros. released an edited version of the song – without permission or knowledge of any band members – with the offending line omitted. By that point, however, the initial hype of the song’s release had largely died down. Luckily, over the course of the rest of their discography, radio stations warmed up to the Grateful Dead somewhat, allowing them to reach their full potential and become one of America’s defining rock bands.