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Album
In the Dark
Grateful Dead →143,553 listeners1,075,558 plays
80s1987rockpsychedelic rockclassic rock
about this album
In the Dark is the twelfth studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded in January 1987, and released on July 6, 1987. In the Dark was the band's first album in six years, and its first studio album since 1980's Go to Heaven. It became unexpectedly popular, achieving double platinum certification in the U.S. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the Grateful Dead's only top ten album. The peppy "Touch of Grey" peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's only top forty single; it also became a frequently played music video on MTV. "Hell in a Bucket" and "Throwing Stones" (for which videos were also made) also achieved significant album-oriented rock radio airplay. In the Dark was recorded between January 6 and 13, 1987 at Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, California, with production by Jerry Garcia and John Cutler. Most of the songs had been played by the Dead since 1982 or 1983, which gave them a five-year edge on perfecting them for the album. After the critically panned Go to Heaven, which contained songs that were mostly under a year old, the maturity of In the Dark was significantly more appreciated. Since the band had been playing the songs for some time, they decided to record the baseline tracks for the album in a darkened theater ("In the Dark") that was empty (no audience), on a stage with the same lighting as they would use on tour (just to have the band perform in a more comfortable, familiar setting). The idea was to capture
