Behind the Scenes of Grateful Dead’s Iconic Music Video and a Drunken Duck Incident

Behind the Scenes of Grateful Dead’s Iconic Music Video and a Drunken Duck Incident

Filming the Grateful Dead’s music video for the hit song ‘Hell in a Bucket’ was anything but conventional. The experience was marked by a blend of creativity, humor, and a surprisingly inebriated duck on set.

Len Dell’Amico, known as the band’s film and video guy, shared captivating insights from his new memoir, ‘Friend of the Devil: My Wild Ride with Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead.’ Spanning from 1980 until the passing of frontman Jerry Garcia in 1995, Dell’Amico’s memoir captures an era filled with love, joyous chaos, and an abundance of cannabis.

A Peculiar Incident on Set

During the shooting of the 1987 music video, Dell’Amico revealed to Fox News Digital that a duck, which appeared in the video wearing a leather collar, managed to get drunk on champagne. The incident, while amusing, raised eyebrows on set.

“I believe [founding member] Bob Weir was to blame for this peculiar situation,” Dell’Amico mused. “He had just returned from a vacation and was well aware of the importance of the video shoot. I recall Mountain Girl, Garcia’s wife, commenting on how handsome and fit Bobby looked.”

The choice of venue for the shoot was intentional. “We all realized we were filming in a bar,