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» Add News | Grand Funk Railroad
Hard Rock, Blues, Psychedelic |
One of the 1970s' most successful hard rock bands in spite of critical pans and somewhat reluctant radio airplay (at first),
Grand FunkRailroad built a devoted fan base with constant touring, a loud, simple take on the blues-rock power trio sound,
and strong working-classappeal. The band was formed by Flint, Michigan guitarist/songwriter Mark Farner and drummer Don
Brewer, both former members of a localband called Terry Knight and the Pack. They recruited former ? and the Mysterians'
bassist Mel Schacher in 1968, and Knight retired fromperforming to become their manager, naming the group ...read more
One of the 1970s' most successful hard rock bands in spite of critical pans and somewhat reluctant radio airplay (at first),
Grand FunkRailroad built a devoted fan base with constant touring, a loud, simple take on the blues-rock power trio sound,
and strong working-classappeal. The band was formed by Flint, Michigan guitarist/songwriter Mark Farner and drummer Don
Brewer, both former members of a localband called Terry Knight and the Pack. They recruited former ? and the Mysterians'
bassist Mel Schacher in 1968, and Knight retired fromperforming to become their manager, naming the group after Michigan's
well-known Grand Trunk Railroad. They performed for free at the1969 Atlanta Pop Festival, and their energetic, if not
technically proficient, show led Capitol Records to sign them at once. While radio shiedaway from Grand Funk Railroad, the
group's strong work ethic and commitment to touring produced a series of big-selling albums over thenext few years; five of
their eight releases from 1969 to 1972 went platinum, and the others all went gold. Meanwhile, Knight promoted theband
aggressively, going so far as to rent a Times Square billboard to advertise Closer to Home, which turned out to be the band's
firstmulti-platinum album in spite of a backlash from the rock press. However, Grand Funk Railroad fired Knight in March of
1972, who promptlysued; the band spent most of the year in a court battle that ended when they bought Knight
out.Keyboardist Craig Frost joined the group forthe Phoenix LP at the end of 1972. Following that album, the band's name was
officially shortened to Grand Funk, and the group finallyscored a big hit single (number one, in fact) with the title track of the
Todd Rundgren-produced We're an American Band. The follow-up,Shinin' On, contained another number one hit in a remake of
Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion." However, following Grand Funk's next album,All the Girls in the World Beware!!, interest in the
group began to wane. Reverting back to Grand Funk Railroad, they remained together in1976 solely to work with producer
Frank Zappa on Good Singin', Good Playin'. Farner left for a solo career, and the remainder of the bandreleased an album as
Flint with guitarist Billy Elworthy.Grand Funk Railroad re-formed in 1981 with Dennis Bellinger on bass and releasedtwo albums;
only Grand Funk Lives even managed to scrape the bottom of the charts. The group disbanded again, with Brewer and
Frostjoining Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band and Farner embarking on a new career as a contemporary Christian artist. In 1997,
Grand FunkRailroad reunited once again to record a benefit album titled Bosnia. « hide |
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Contributors: rockandmetaljunkie, Zesty Mordant, Voivod,
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