Game of Thrones fans have the Grateful Dead to thank for inspiring George RR Martin

The US author says he always has the band's songs 'rattling around his head'

George RR Martin is a big Grateful Dead fan (Getty Images)

George RR Martin has revealed that Game of Thrones readers have the Grateful Dead to thank for inspiring his writing.

Fans of both the fantasy novels and the psychedelic rock band have noted similarities between the two and recently, the author confirmed their eagle eyes as accurate.

“I'm certainly a fan of the Grateful Dead. Ive attended concerts and my wife Paris is perhaps even more of a fan of the Grateful Dead,” Martin said during a video interview published by Billboard, adding that his “famous rock'n'roll” novel The Armageddon Rag from 1983 was most heavily impacted by his music taste.

Interviewer Laura Miller pointed out that Martin calls his home Terrapin Station after the Dead's ninth album and the songs “Dire Wolf”, “Cassidy” and “Dark Star” all have names and references in his books. The Weirwood trees from Thrones are also said to honour the Californian group's guitarist Bob Weir.

“I do have Grateful Dead lyrics rattling around in my head all the time,” he said. “'Ripple' is one of my favourite songs of all time. 'There is a road, no simple highway'.”

The Grateful Dead are set to reunite for a string of 50th anniversary gigs this summer at Soldier Field in Chicago, the site of their last performance with the late Jerry Garcia in July 1995. The band have only toured as The Dead or The Other Ones since Garcia died of a heart attack while being treated for drug addiction.

Perhaps Martin needs to pump out some Grateful Dead tracks to help him finish hotly-awaited sixth Thrones instalment, The Winds of Winter.