Last Updated on 27 January 2026 by Massimo M.
Aoxomoxoa is the third album by Grateful Dead, released in 1969 and is considered one of the most successful albums by the Californian band.
Aoxomoxoa can be seen as a bridge connecting the psychedelic and experimental production generated by the 
Grateful dead up to that time with the folk-rock production that the band would adopt in the years to come.
In fact, Aoxomoxoa was recorded just as the band was in the process of transitioning from psychedelic and blues music, the more typical sound of the San Francisco bay area of the late 1960s, to a decidedly more folk-like musicality.
Probably also because of this stylistic mix, the album has always been a favourite among the Deadheads, the most loyal fans of Jerry Garcia’s band, including some tracks that have become concert classics such as Saint Stephen, China Cat Sunflower and Cosmic Charlie.
Aoxomoxoa was then released on 20 June 1969 on the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts label with catalogue number WS 1790 and, although it was certified gold disc in 1997, it was a commercial failure on its release. This failure led the production team to completely remix the album in 1971, deleting the 1969 recording altogether.
The cover of this vinyl is one of the most interesting of the period, so much so that Rolling Stone magazine awarded it eighth place in its list of the 100 best covers of all time.
The cover was designed by a famous artist of the time, Rick Griffin, and is composed entirely of elements with a double meaning. The central skull with its decidedly phallic shape, the mushrooms that allude to the use of hallucinogens, the title of the record itself, which is a palindrome with an obscure meaning, and also the band’s name written large at the top of the cover.
For the latter Griffin succeeds in achieving an ambigram, in fact if you look at the writing quickly the name of the band is
is quite obvious, but if you try to decipher it better by going to read letter by letter, you can no longer make out the interlocking letters written by Griffin imitating English miniature-style characters.
The end result then is a lysergic ambigram, Grateful Dead becomesWe ate the acid..
In 2003, a new version of the album based on the 1971 remix and with some bonus tracks recorded live was released on CD.
Track list of 1969 original version
Side 1
St. Stephen 4:26
Dupree’s Diamond Blues 3:32
Rosemary 1:58
Doin’ That Rag 4:41
Mountains of the Moon 4:02
Side 2
China Cat Sunflower 3:40
What’s Become of the Baby 8:12
Cosmic Charlie 5:29
List of tracks added in the 2003 edition
Clementine Jam 10:46 – Recorded live Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, California August 1968
Nobody’s Spoonful Jam – 10:04 – Recorded live Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, California August 1968
The Eleven Jam – 15:00 – Recorded live Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, California August 1968
Cosmic Charlie – 6:47 – Recorded live at Avalon ballroom San Francisco , January 1969
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