Skull and Roses, Grateful Dead, Oxford Circle, September 16-17, Avalon Ballroom

Though not the Grateful Dead’s first association with a skeleton—that credit goes to Wes Wilson’s May 1966 poster The Quick and The Dead—Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse’s adaption of Edmund J. Sullivan’s 1900 illustration of a skull and roses was the one that became best known. Originally created to accompany an English translation of a 12th century Persian poem about the inevitability of death, Sullivan’s illustration became one of the Grateful Dead’s most recognizable icons. The image was later solidified in the band’s discography (music publishing history) when Kelley and Mouse reused it for the cover of the group’s seminal 1971 live album titled Grateful Dead.