Historian John Brackett to discuss his new book on the Grateful Dead’s most significant song.

If you were around in 1987 and old enough to have MTV as your soundtrack, you will remember the images vividly. A skeleton resembling Jerry Garcia perched on a stool, performing to a crowd of living beings. The other members of the Grateful Dead in a similar state. A dog makes off with Mickey Hart’s shin.

It was the band’s first MTV video. The song – “Touch of Grey” – became the legendary group’s only Billboard top 40 single. And it was recorded live at what is now known as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“They had been resistant to MTV and they produced one of the most iconic videos,” says music historian John Brackett. “It transformed the band’s career.”

Brackett is the author of Touch of Grey, or How The Grateful Dead Became Pop Stars, recently published by Duke University Press. On Aug. 26 he makes a stop in Monterey to discuss the book, the video and the significance of a song that became an anthem for Deadheads well before the rest of the country saw it on television.

The song aired after what had been a troubled year for the band. In July of 1986, Garcia suffered a diabetic coma. Tour stops were canceled and fans worried about the band’s future.

“The first concert back, they opened with ‘Touch of Grey,’” Brackett says. The crowd began to sing along with the lyrics “I will survive” and “We will survive” – a response that continued at each performance. “It meant something when he sang that lyric.”

Brackett sets the song and the video in context, discussing its development, the uncertainty caused by Garcia’s illness and more. He packs a lot into 107 pages, explaining how the video crew set up immediately following the first of the Dead’s two-day appearance at Laguna Seca, asking the crowd to stick around. The video drew a new audience to the band. As a result, he says, “They are bigger now than they’ve ever been.”

A history in and of one song allowed Brackett to hone the story. “With the Grateful Dead it is so easy to go on tangents,” he says. “It’s fun to take these slices of time and really look at the moment – how we got to this place, what were the consequences.”

For his talk in Monterey, Brackett promises more than a book presentation. He plans video and audio clips, as well as archival images.

Touch of Grey book presentation at 6pm Wednesday, Aug. 26. California’s First Theater, Pacific and Scott streets, Monterey. Free; RSVP required. (831) 649-2907, montereystatehistoricpark.as.me.