The Who’s Pete Townshend recently appeared on the Broken Records podcast and talked about Grateful Dead’s relationship with their fans. The rocker shared that he is ‘envious’ of the bond they managed to create with their audience. He expressed:
“The the commitment of their fans was something that was interesting. The big thing about the [Grateful] Dead I remember was that they gave their road crew the same share that they got themselves. Did you know that? It was a true cooperative so nobody got rich, nobody. They made a living but they didn’t get rich.”
Besides treating everyone even the road crew as equals, Pete added that the band’s connection with their Deadheads’ was something that he wished for. He said:
“They were real contemporaries of the band and they were a challenge in a sense because they had a connection with their audience that I was envious of.”
Regarding the Deadhead fandom, their relationship with the band was described as ‘most loyal’ by many and as years went by it became a culture and a lifestyle. There were several reasons as to how they built a community, for instance no two shows were the same as the band came out with a different set list every show they played. The band also encouraged their audience to record their shows.
You can listen to Pete Townshend’s interview with Broken Record below.
