When you think of the Grateful Dead you think of long jam sessions, LSD and the wall of sound. One of the last things you would relate to the band is basketball. But in 1992 they helped Lithuania get to the Barcelona Olympics and helped them get revenge on their previous occupiers. This week The Beat Goes on to 25th July 1992.
In 1992 the Grateful Dead were one of the most popular bands of the era in the USA. Even though the band had been around and performing for over 25 years. The band formed in 1966 as the Warlocks but soon discovered there was another band called the Warlocks (who would later become The Velvet Underground) So changed their name to the Grateful Dead.
Located in San Francisco the Grateful Dead had a cult following and were one of the leading acts in the counterculture period. Although the band was one of the last from the area to get signed to a record label, probably due to their links to LSD but not proven, they lasted the longest. While most bands from the area had split by 1970, the Dead were just getting started.
During the early 1970s, the band decided to concentrate on live performances rather than studio work. Relentless touring throughout the decade earned the band a dedicated fanbase called the Deadheads who would start to follow the band from town to town.
By the mid-1980s, the band was at its peak after two decades they gained popularity with the new generation of college kids. They would spend their summers following the band, with or without a ticket treating band leader Jerry Garcia as a counter-culture prophet.
In Lithuania on the other hand, things were drastically different. After the second world war, the Soviet Union took occupation of the country as part of a pre-war pact between Stalin and Nazi Germany. For 50 years the population were oppressed by the communist regime that ruled with an iron fist. People were queueing for hours just for basic food rations and people had to make their own clothes.
When the Soviet Union was on its knees one of the first nations to declare independence was Lithuania. They were one of the first to have an election and have a non-communist party win in early 1990. The leaders in the Kremlin were not happy and decided to put an economic embargo on the country. The population of the country decided to peacefully protest the decision. That is when the Soviets unleashed the tanks.
The Soviet Army tried to bully the Lithuanians into surrendering by sending tanks into the capital city, Vilnius, but despite the tanks and the bullets, the protesters held strong. Russia was looking to set an example to the other states but by March 1991 the Soviet army was sent home with the tails between their legs. This was one of the monumental moments of the fall of the Soviet Union.
To help lift the spirits of Lithuania the basketball team, who was also most of the previous Soviet Union team, wanted to represent the country at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. They had a strong basketball heritage as the country won the European Basketball Championship in the late 1930s. Having won gold at the previous Olympics beating the USA on their way to the final the team went to their newly formed government to ask whether they could go.
The Lithuanian government loved the idea. It would be a great advertisement for the newly independent country. There was one problem though they didn’t have any money to send the team to any games to qualify. If the team wanted to do it, they needed to raise the funds themselves.
Now that Lithuania was independent the stars of the Soviet basketball team could now play in the pinnacle of basketball, the NBA, one of the players Šarūnas Marčiulionis, was signed by the Golden State Warriors which happened to be the state where The Grateful Dead are from.
The meeting between Marčiulionis and the Grateful Dead wouldn’t take place in San Francisco where they were based but in Detroit where the two were playing in the city. The Basketball star wrote to the band asking for sponsorship and they agreed to meet, and Detroit is where their paths crossed.
It was drummer Mickey Hart, guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh who were most intrigued by the Lithuanian team. After meeting Marčiulionis the band agreed to help sponsor the team. They cut a cheque for $5000 which would be enough to pay for travel costs to Barcelona. They also gave them a helping hand in the merchandise department too. Maybe one of the coolest bits of Olympic merchandise ever produced. When asked why they decided to sponsor the Lithuanian team Hart said ‘This wasn’t just a basketball team. This was a struggle for life, liberty, and freedom’
The Grateful Dead decided with the money not enough to help the Lithuanian basketball team they had their clothes designer design an outfit for the team to wear around the Olympic Village. The design which used the band’s mascot, a skeleton called ‘Skully’ performing a slam dunk on a tie-dye in the country’s colours of red, green and yellow, became an eye-catching look for the team.
Before long everyone wanted to own a ‘Skully’ tee. As the Olympics progressed more and more fans were adorning the tee. The team and merchandise were becoming one of the most talked-about things at the games. All that was needed now was for the team to perform on the court.
The Lithuanian team many of which had carried over from the Soviet team they had played for at the previous Olympic games performed really well. Knocked out by the USA’s ‘dream team’ which included Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson to name a few, in the semi-finals who had finally allowed players from the NBA to play at the games. Lithuania ended up finishing third, obtaining the bronze medal. And the team who they beat in the bronze medal match? Of course, it was the remains of the Soviet Union that were now called the Unified team who had already beat them in the group stage of the tournament and confirmed that they were now better off without their oppressors.
As everyone loves an underdog story the fans loved the Lithuania basketball journey. The media dubbed the team ‘the other dream team’. When the team appeared at the medal ceremony they appeared in the tie-dyes as recognition of thanks to the Grateful Dead.
The story of the tee-shirt does not end there. The tie-dye ended up becoming a collector’s item over the years. It appeared in an episode of the sitcom Friends by one of the main characters Phoebe (played by Lisa Kudrow) Jonah Hill has been pictured wearing the shirt and basketball legend Michael Jordan is pictured with one.
Sales of the tee-shirt have grossed over $450,000 since the 1992 Olympics with the band not taking any proceeds. Funding went to the team and towards Lithuanian children’s charities which is a great and unsurprising gesture by the band.
This wasn’t the only time Lithuania and psychedelic artists collided. In 1995 a statue of the bust of Frank Zappa was built in the capital city Vilnius. Maybe in the late 1960s peace and love generation gave a concept that was so far away from the country at that time they saw rock music as a form of freedom. As the Grateful Dead gave a helping hand to the basketball team to help raise the morale of the country it proved that it was the right choice of the country to break away from the former Soviet Union.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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Websites used for research are:
When The Grateful Dead Helped Lithuania Win Basketball Olympic Bronze | Groovy History
How Grateful Dead helped Lithuania at Olympic Basketball (faroutmagazine.co.uk)
The Grateful Dead Helped Lithuania’s Basketball Team Win an Olympic Medal (monsterchildren.com)
the 1992 Lithuanian Basketball team & the Grateful Dead (oddathenaeum.com)
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