Acid Tests

Ken Kesey had been a paid volunteer in a government drug study before he wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the CIA, indirectly, introduced him to it. He bought a bus, filled it with Pranksters, and threw parties where the Grateful Dead were one element among many and nobody was in charge. Owsley Stanley made the supply and built the sound system. The whole thing ran about eighteen months and set the template for everything from festivals to rave.

Part of LSD

19 moments in this segment.

1. 1965 - Ken Kesey (1965). Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters (1965). The subject dates from 1965; this photograph was taken in 2009.
2. 1966 - The Dead at an Acid Test. Footage from 1966. The Grateful Dead were the house band for Ken Kesey's parties before they were a band with records.
3. 1966 - Acid Test, Los Angeles. The Watts Acid Test era, when Kesey's Pranksters took the format south.
4. 1966 - The Acid Test Graduation. October 1966: Kesey staged a 'graduation', the idea being to move beyond the drug, days after California's ban took effect.
5. 1966 - Acid Test - Pigpen, Ken Babbs & Neal Cassady 1966 (archival). Acid Test, Pigpen, Ken Babbs & Neal Cassady 1966 (1966).
6. 1966 - Acid Test Graduation - San Francisco 1966 (archival). Acid Test Graduation, San Francisco 1966, The last of Kesey's Acid Tests, October 1966, days before California's LSD ban took effect.
7. 1966 - Ken Kesey: 'The Acid Test' - 1966 (archival). Ken Kesey: 'The Acid Test', 1966 (1966).
8. 1966 - Ken Kesey - Acid Test Graduation Interview 1966 (archival). Ken Kesey, Acid Test Graduation Interview 1966 (1966).
9. 1966 - Acid Test Graduation - Film & Photos 1966 (archival). Acid Test Graduation, Film & Photos 1966 (1966).
10. 1967 - Ken Kesey at the Acid Test Graduation - 1966 (archival). Ken Kesey at the Acid Test Graduation, 1966, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
11. 1967 - Neal Cassady Explains the Acid Test - 1966 (archival). Neal Cassady Explains the Acid Test, 1966 (1966).
12. 1968 - Grateful Dead - Free Concert on Haight Street, SF, March 3 1968. (1968).
13. 1969 - The Grateful Dead (1969). The house band of the Acid Tests, whose live improvisation became the sound of the psychedelic scene. The subject dates from 1969; this photograph was taken in 2016.
14. 1988 - Garcia on the Acid Tests. Jerry Garcia describing what the Acid Tests actually were: not concerts, but rooms where the band was one element among many and nobody was in charge.
15. 2009 - Bear. Owsley Stanley, the Dead's soundman, who made the LSD that supplied the entire San Francisco scene and built the sound system it was heard on. His product was famously and unusually pure.
16. 2011 - Magic Trip - Ken Kesey & the Merry Pranksters (full documentary). ) (1964).
17. 2011-10-24 - Magic Trip - Ken Kesey's Merry Band of Pranksters (trailer). ), The restored footage of the Merry Pranksters' 1964 cross-country bus trip.
18. 2025-12-22 - How Owsley 'Bear' Stanley's LSD Shaped the Grateful Dead's Sound. 's purest LSD, and engineered the Grateful Dead's sound.
19. 2026-03-24 - The LSD Labs That Changed Music - Owsley Stanley & the Grateful Dead