1968 Hit Ranked 'Greatest Psychedelic Rock Song of the 20th Century'

The beloved jam band, The Grateful Dead, is known for its psychedelic discography. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise to fans that the band's 1968 hit, "That's It for the Other One," which is nearly eight minutes long, topped Far Out's February 2026 list of "the 10 greatest psychedelic rock songs of the 20th century."

According to the publication, the tune, off the album Anthem of the Sun, is the number one psychedelic rock song released in the 20th century because fans get an almost mystical listening experience, elevated by The Grateful Dead's impressive musical abilities.

Other songs from the genre featured on the ranking included "Bold as Love" by Jimi Hendrix, "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles, "Light My Fire" by The Doors, and "The Great Gig In The Sky" by Pink Floyd.

Robert Hunter Shared that Jerry Garcia Wrote a Verse of 'That's It For The Other One'

In a 2014 interview with The Wall Street Journal Online, Robert Hunter, the lyricist of The Grateful Dead, discussed his and the band's vocalist and guitarist, Jerry Garcia's long-standing collaboration. He said that while Garcia, who died in 1995 at the age of 53, excelled at composing songs, he rarely penned lyrics, with the exception of a verse from "That's It for the Other One."

"He wrote a verse for 'The Other One' - the 'you know he had to die' verse - but that's about it. I believe Jerry would have been capable of it had he chosen to open his heart and soul to people through words as well as through guitar. Jerry was so brilliant that anything that he tackled, he could have done well," said Hunter, who died in 2019 when he was 78.

While speaking to the publication, Hunter noted that he and Garcia met when they "were 18 and 19 respectively."

"We started a folk duet called Bob and Jerry. We were doing our folk thing and moved into old-timey music and bluegrass. I kind of dropped out when it moved on to the next phase, jug bands. He handed me a jug and said, 'You want to play this?' and I couldn't get a tone out of it," recalled the late musician.

He said that he eventually began "writing lyrics just to perform [himself]" and "moved to New Mexico," where "it occurred to [him] to send the lyrics to those songs to Jerry because the Dead had formed."

"And he wrote back and said, 'Why don't you come back to California and be our lyricist?' So I hitchhiked back to San Francisco and met up with them in Rio Nido. They were working on 'Dark Star' and I wrote the lyrics to it right then. It just started working immediately. Everyone was glad to have a lyricist at work because they weren't doing much writing themselves," continued Hunter in the 2014 interview.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 5:33 PM.