Voting Station

Owsley Stanley

Please vote to return to collections.

Outlaw

The Resume

    (January 19, 1935-March 13, 2011)
    Born in Kentucky
    Birth name was Augustus Oswley Stanley III
    One of the largest suppliers of LSD during the mid-60s
    Total production estimated at 5 million 'hits'
    Served three years in jail on drug charges (1967-70)
    Sound engineer for the Grateful Dead
    Died in a car crash in Queensland, Australia

Why he might be annoying:

    In the eighth grade, he was thrown out of military school for drinking.
    Paul Kantner said, 'He can be very anal retentive... I've seen him send his eggs back three times at Howard Johnson's.'
    He became convinced humans were meant to be exclusively carnivorous, and from his mid-20s on, ate almost nothing but meat, eggs, milk and cheese.
    When he suffered a heart attack, he declared it the result of his mother making him eat 'poisonous broccoli' when he was a kid.
    He named one of his sons Starfinder and one of his daughters Redbird.
    He became reclusive, rarely giving interviews and avoiding being photographed.
    He moved to Queensland in the early 80s because he believed that an 'ultra-cyclone' would usher in a new ice age and Australia's tropical northern coast would be one of the few places to survive.

Why he might not be annoying:

    After his first drug bust in 1965, he not only was let go, he successfully sued the police to return his lab equipment (since the cops were looking for methamphetamine, while Stanley was making LSD which was not yet illegal).
    As the Dead's soundman, he was responsible for fundamental advances in audio technology, including basics such as monitor speakers that allow vocalists to hear themselves onstage.
    He and friend Bob Thomas designed the Dead's lightning bolt/skull logo.
    Bob Weir said, 'He's good for a different point of view at about any given time. He's brilliant. He knows everything.'
    He conceded, 'I might be right about the ice age thing, I might be wrong.'
    He inspired the songs 'Alice D. Millionaire' by the Grateful Dead and 'Kid Charlemagne' by Steely Dan.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 17 Votes: 47.06% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 25 Votes: 72.00% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 76 Votes: 72.37% Annoying