POP/ROCK - June 6, 1989

Good Morning Class, This is Deadheads 101: Deadheads, the devoted, tie-dyed fans of the Grateful Dead, are about to become the subject of an academic study. Rebecca Adams, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has assigned her students in applied social theory and research methods to attend eight concerts by the Grateful Dead so they can check out the band’s fans. Adams, 36, said preliminary research led her to conclude that Deadheads are an American subculture worthy of study. “I’m interested in the Deadheads, not the Dead,” Adams says. “How do their beliefs and their values and the rules they live by differ from the mainstream American culture?” The professor has classified the Grateful Dead’s fans into three headings: hard-core Deadheads who follow the rock band from one place to another, student Deadheads who are younger and have attended fewer concerts, and professional Deadheads who are older, have jobs and go to concerts when it’s convenient.