Pop references to The Grateful Dead employ stereotypes about the band and the Deadheads. Frank Zappa's "Teen-Age Wind" ("You Are What You Is", 1981) milks the tropes of the Deadhead as sponger and of Jerry Garcia's long solos: "And nobody'll give me a ride to the Grateful Dead concert [...] I could tighten my headband for an extra rush / During Jerry's guitar solo ." Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" ("Building the Perfect Beast", 1984) juxtaposes low-status Deadheads and high-status cars: "I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac." And Squeeze's "Electric Trains" ("Ridiculous", 1995) contrasts the band with a more wholeome singer: "From Julie Andrews / To Jerry Garcia." (Andrew Shields, #111Words,20 May 2026)