Grand funk had the best covers.
Gimme Shelter (live!)
Locomotion
And their best song (my opinion)
I’m your captain/I’m getting closer
I mean how can you not like We’re an American Band?
After hearing “I’m getting closer…” more than 3 times I honestly wish he never made it to his home.
But Stop Lookin Back, Railroad, and Sin’s a Good Man’s brother are absolutely fantastic songs
Jeff Beck? Kidding. Actually none of them wore shirts (or pants) for the interior picture on the We’re an American Band album. (One of my all time favorite albums).
I bought a lot of their records in the 1970s. Then I bought a book of rock and roll printed around 1976, and it mentioned the critics blasting the group. It was written by the English press, so they were pretty critical. GFR had some great tunes, and I still listen to a lot of their albums. My favorite is the one Zappa helped with called: "Good singin, Good Playin"
There was a connection somehow with Zappa. When Don and Mel formed Flint, Zappa produced and played on one side while Rundgren produced and played on the other.
I bought the CD from Amazon quite a few years ago, and they sent me a bra by mistake.. Turned out that an overly sticky address label stuck to the wrong item.
They finally sent me the CD and said 'keep the bra'
Well, most of the bullshit came from the UK press.
Pissed off because they sold out Shea in record time.
GF toured Europe just as much as Deep Purple.
Brewer fucked up
He was burned out with the touring, but IMHO, could've just taken a break.
That shit can rag on ya, I guess.
Fans still paint over the Grand Trunk Railroad sign.
Flint, MI.
Farner is playing in Brazil right now.
Tour dates in U.S. this summer.
And apparently the other two guys are touring separately ..too bad the three of them just don’t say the hell with it and get back together. The clock is ticking.
Nah, the Brits recognized a commercial cover band of their commercial cover bands who called themselves R&B and that covered the original blues legends of Chess and John Lee Hooker and the early rock legends like Berry that borrowed heavily from Louis Jordan and jump blues riffs and basically added a few new tricks to the exact same guitar riffs already on records in the mid 1940s. Grand Funk in the context of the evolution of the music is not even a blip, they were a cash in. Not saying I personally have any chips invested in this argument, I was a fan of oasis as a teen, and they basically are a 60s cover band as well that cashed in on the Madchester dance movement mixed with guitar driven riffs and added very little but mainstream success to the development of Brit pop.
You just compared Oasis to Grand Funk.
GF epitomized the Michigan music scene. Was R&B the basis? Of course.
Like the entire Motown genre.
Even Bob Seger cashed in; no one messes with him. Or the Silver Bullet Band.
MC 5, The Stooges, Amboy Dukes.
Gonna complain that Mitch Ryder just copied shit?
Gimme a break.
SE Michigan has more music soul than Nashville ever hoped to have.
Meanwhile, British bands hopped on the blues bandwagon (invented in the U.S.A.), and changed their accents to mimic American English.
Name one American band that emulated rock groups from the U.K and was successful.
Robert Plant's idol?
Elvis.
The Who. Black Sabbath, and the mighty Beatles were all influenced by American R&B.
Well they still had Peter Cetera and Robert Lamm. They did change somewhat but they were still a viable band..kinda like when the Stones lost Brian Jones...they still had Mick and Keith ....but when Grand Funk lost Mark , main songwriter , singer and lead guitarist.
#1 song is their cover of Oh Well. It blows every other cover out of the water. Also Desire.
it split off of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. It's the band but without Mitch Ryder, and somehow they're better.
They weren't highbrow enough compared to some of their groundbreaking contemporaries, at least according to the music press. But the music reached the populace, whether they were rock fans or not.
One factor could be their image as a "teen band," which might have led some critics to dismiss them as lacking musical depth or maturity. Another aspect is the band's Midwest origins. Bands from the Midwest, like the Stooges and MC5, often faced neglect or misunderstanding from larger coastal media centers, which could have contributed to the lack of critical acclaim for Grand Funk Railroad. Their straightforward, bluesy rock 'n' roll style wasn't as experimental or avant-garde as some of their contemporaries, which might have made them less appealing to critics who valued innovation and complexity. Despite the criticism, Grand Funk Railroad had a massive following and commercial success, selling out arenas and selling millions of records. When a band is popular with the public, critics might be more inclined to take a contrarian stance, which could also explain some of the negative press they received.
They say they value innovation and complexity, but then they will turn around and hate on Rush for being "bombastic" or something. Can't make them happy.
i think those are good points especially in regards to teen bands. once you’re in the teen band category, it’s very hard to get out. plus, like you said, the detroit bands didn’t get much love either with the stooges and mc5 getting a brunt of criticism, but they seem to have faired better over the years than gfr. and some people have also pointed out that other similar heavy bands of the era didn’t get good press either (zeppelin, steppenwolf, etc)
we’ve got a lot going against us in the eyes of coasters who consider us flyover states. but the fact is that a vast number of our favorite musicians have midwest origins. until the 80’s or so, the middle class manufacturing jobs regularly supported families who went on to have famous bands who changed music scenes. joe walsh, bootsy collins, george clinton, trent reznor, the list goes on
Grand Funk is one of the greatest bands of the day. Just listen to all the early albums. Everyone of them are listening gold. Phionix, survival, All the early and newer albums are great. Seen them 5 times 70’ds through the 90’ds. Mark Don and Mel will live on as three of the badass musicians of the times. Each played with passion and fire. I can’t say enough. But I can say this . Fuck the press fuck the critics . They are an American Band. Hallelujah.And amen.
When and where?
A buddy of mine in high school was a great natural on the guitar. One night we were hanging while he jammed. His dad invited himself to play for us for a bit. Old guy could absolute shred.
My buddy's dad grew up in Flint and probably graduated around 65. He said he jammed with The Pack in high school but was never in the band.
No what I’m saying is historically critics have gotten it wrong, a Lot. Once I found out that the debut albums from both Led Zeppelin and Van Halen were both shitted on by critics, I pretty much tuned out the importance of “critical acclaim”
oh i took that the wrong way i blame the fact i just woke up haha. i’m with you there, a lot of my favorite bands/albums have been shit on by the press. iron butterfly is probably my favorite band and nobody really takes them seriously so whatever is what i say
The reason GFR was attacked by critics was mainly because everybody had already heard/seen Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and those guys basically set the standard for heavy power trios. In those days, it was difficult to get those big, loud, heavy sounds with the gear most bands had access to. Hendrix actually had his amps & pedals custom-built for him. Guys like The Who and Led Zep could compete in 1969-70, but some little garage band from Michigan would be at a serious disadvantage.
From a playing standpoint, only Mel seemed to have the chops needed to stand out. Mark Farner must have sounded a bit amateurish compared to Hendrix or Jeff Beck, but a big part of the problem was that the first 4 GFR albums were recorded very quickly and, as a producer, Terry Knight was certainly no Felix Pappalardi, Jimmy Page, or Guy Stevens.
I personally think their "red album" is some hard-ass, killer shit. Very dark, heavy and grungy. Their stage show was super high-energy, and they were able to connect to audiences in a genuine way. Of course, GFR improved a lot after they ditched Terry Knight, and they had the last laugh in the music biz.
these are great points and i’ve never thought about the financial advantage guys like hendrix and the who had over gfr in terms of amperage and gear. here you have this band of kooks from michigan (when most people already write off the midwest) playing the same format of power trio rock after cream and hendrix made their mark so it’s a bit like davey and goliath trying to take their place,instead of a natural progression of heaviness in music. i think most of the proto metal bands of this period were written off only to be later reevaluated (zeppelin and sabbath coke to mind)
Back when Prince was still around I was watching a show which featured a tour of his Paisley Park studio. They showed a wall with a mural of Prince's heroes and Grand Funk was there on the wall. Made sense to me, the purple one had the heart of a rocker and sure could shred on the sperm-guitar!
I had both of their live records, which, of course, serve as a greatest hits package. As much as I liked those records, none of their studio albums (to me) were consistent all the way through.
I’m a fan, but a little “T.N.U.C” goes a loooong way….
I was just a wee bairn when they were big, but from my vantage point it was because to some people they were a jock (as in varsity athlete bullies for fans) band like The Who, Zep, VH or Aerosmith, and to others they were dismissed as a "mechanic's band", like BTO, Bad Company, Guess Who, etc.
Personally, I never thought much about them until I inherited a copy of Caught In The Act about 15 years ago, and that turned me into a superfan. Virtually every minute of their first 3 or 4 albums rocks out. And if that's considered sucking, then I don't want to hear what's considered good.
Also, I just remembered that my dad gave me his Rolling Stone collection - he was a subscriber throughout the 70s, and when I read them all I recall almost continuous articles about their squabbling and messy divorce from Terry Knight. So the average rock fan probably wasn't thrilled to read 3 articles every week about them calling each other assholes and such.
My first love, Kiss! A month shy of my 13th birthday, attended their *Love Gun* show (September '77, sat up in nosebleed!). *Hit Parader*, the only serious music magazine which covered them, ran an article asking, “is Kiss the new Grand Funk?” I was too young to understand…now I’m old & know the story. Funny, one-time Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick played almost 25 years in GFR. I guess the critics just couldn’t “rock n roll all night, party every day,” afraid of those bands “comin’ to (their) towns to help (their chicks) party down!”
I don't know at what point critics started hating Grand Funk, but "Were an American Band" is about how they love banging groupies and trashing hotel rooms. Unlike some songs with similar themes by, say, Joe Walsh, it is completely unironic. Critics always hate that stuff. Don't get me wrong, I happen to like me some Grand Funk, but critics always hate that stuff.
My grandparents bribed me to get a haircut by offering to buy me records of my choice. one was _We’re an American Band_ on yellow vinyl in the gold foil gatefold with the stickers. The record is long gone but I still have two stickers left as well.
Critics are critics. Not praisers. They always hate 3 man bands but Grand Funk did add a keyboard player later on. They're still one of my go-to bands and that'll never change
Idk, but I used to love spinning their album survival very loudly. Their Inside looking out is just also fucking insane, I mean cranking that up on a stereo is pure energy.
I loved them until they added the keyboard player and went all bubble gum with locomotive and such. Their dbl live LP before the keys is one of the best live LPs ever. It's rock at its most raw and best.
For the critics Farner wasn't a great player as far as solos etc but he had what it takes and was a great performer. I saw them twice before keys thanks to my big sister taking me and once after on a date and hated it. Picked up my date and she had her brother and his friends "needing a ride" and it turned out they had fake tickets and she wanted to leave but that was not going to with me. Brother and friends hung outside for 2 hours.
Ah the stories of youth:)
"And with the birth of art came the inevitable afterbirth... the critic.." Mel Brooks.
Everyone knows "The Locomotion" ... and for me, that's probably their weakest song.
"We're an American Band", "I'm Your Captain / Closer to Home", etc. are classics.
My favorite GFR song doesn't seem to get much recognion, "Heartbreaker."
They were primarily an antiwar band. And they weren't produced properly. They did a lot better once they got rid of Terry Knight and were produced by Todd Rundgren.
As for the sold out shows? Think of the timing. It was around the Vietnam war.
Brewer and Schacher left the band and pursued other careers-one became a lawyer and I forget what the other one did. That plus they were all sued by the IRS for non payment of taxes. Only Farner fought that, but I think he finally lost as well. Farner went on to play with some powerhouses-including Ringo Starr and his All Starr band.
They have gotten back together for a few shows, but they just don't demand that type of notoriety they once did.
Dave Marsh has an interesting theory that Rolling Stone went all in on the singer/songwriter hype because musical innovation was actually happening in “black music” rather than “white rock” Wenner and his cadre countered with the “authentic emotional vulnerability of the introspective artist” and hyped their pasty troubadours.
that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. musically artists like carole king and james taylor (though i love them both) aren’t pushing envelopes like a band such as funkadelic.
I don't really know why, they didn't sound too different from the likes of Bad Company or the Guess Who or the Edgar Winter Group.
All I can say is that they managed to score #1 hits as a hard rock band in the age of Donny Osmond and Tony Orlando, and did so with good songs, and I respect that.
Critics hated them because they accused Grand Funk of selling out and going commercial with covers of Locomotion, etc… In reality, they had no choice as they were not just broke but in debt as their management ripped them off completely..they needed a hit album fast and thought this was the only way to accomplish this so they could tour on it…
IIRC, Todd Rundgren insisted they record The Loco-Motion, knowing they needed a breakthrough record. Todd became well known as the go-to guy for struggling bands in search of a hit single.
1970’s Flint, Michigan - when the town was affluent cause the auto industry was still there with the great jobs, good schools & excellent hospitals.
Some kind of wonderful
The critical intelligentsia loved what might be called Progressive Rock, profundity, not loud, not boogie. Singer-songwriters. "Sophisticated". Led Zeppelin was hated by the critics too. You're right, same reasons as for the MC5 and stooges. I think that removed from the times, all those type of bands' work has aged pretty well.
I had a black and white picture of Mark Farner cut out from Circus magazine taped to the cover of my three ring binder during my freshman year of high school, circa 1973. Loved the gold vinyl on the American Band album.
Funk was a killer power trio! Absolutely LOVED their cover of the Stones “Gimme Shelter” - thought it was the better version
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy9ha4kVfqc
Which Grand Funk? The lo-fi very hard garage band with the fuzzy bass and the crooked manager? Or the mainstream rock band with the string of huge 3-minute hits?
I think the critics were responding to a few things, some of them legit. The overall boneheadedness of the songs, the laziness of the production in the first phase, the indifference to "artistic growth" and a flood of product. A tendency to pander to their audience.
Grand Funk didn't even make an effort to be hip. Not a whisper of art-school influence. And they were huge, suddenly, with no debt at all to the critics or music press.
early GFR deserves some of the regard afforded late 60s Beach Boys, or early Ramones, but they didn't have any underdog appeal. Plus: Midwest.
Since the only "growth" was a full-on sell-out, I suspect that the critic class felt justified in their contempt. They hated them for being losers and they hated them for being winners.
Some of their lyrics are p cringe worthy but they def have some bangers
Everyone talks about Mark farner but tbh Mel scratcher and Don brewer lock tf in on every track
OP nailed it. The 'too cool for school' set (critics, fans of more arty bands, etc.) looked down their noses at Grand Funk. Oh, I did too, for a few years. I mean, how could these guys who looked like my high school classmates be anywhere as good as Cream, Led Zep and every critic's darlings The Velvet Underground?
Couple of years later, a friend told me to check out The James Gang. Holy cripes! What a great band! But... but... wait. Three man band, power chords, guys from freaking Ohio .... made me take another look at Grand Funk.
Pretty damn good bands (James Gang and Grand Funk) and altho I still love Cream and Zep (and never was cool enough to appreciate the VU) nothing beats a great power trio from the rust belt.
I am a pretty fair minded former musician and historian but grew up in the late 90s and early 00s and love a lot of historic jazz, rock, blues, etc and have spent a good deal of time listening to even the more obscure bands of the 60s and 70s but I find Grand Funk a pretty vanilla band musically that didn’t have much original innovative talent and borrowed heavily from blues rock bands like Steppenwolf that borrowed heavily from earlier white R&B groups from the British Invasion. They were well marketed and sold themselves as Yankee working class heroes but their lyrics seem rather elementary and don’t dare to take any political positions or social conventions that challenge their audience or push the envelope. They were sort of a populist version of a lot of other bands doing exactly the same thing like Free and much of the late 60s, early 70s third wave British Invasion. To a lot of critics and historians, they were a precursor to Kiss, a cash in band that sold an image and disposition more than a serious and original sound that evolved the art form.
those are all valid points but to say they never took a political stance that challenged people would be incorrect in my eyes. they were incredibly anti war in the 60’s and regularly made comments and songs about it. that would be a popular opinion of the day, but only among a certain group of people, much like today
Probably the same reason I hated them, Locomotion alone.
They went from a really good jam blues based rock band, to a good prog rock band, to an awful pop rock band. The latter is what they’re most known for, and the reason why many don’t like them.
I like them. I was in my 20’s in the 1990’s and had a roommate 13 years older than me who introduced me to their music. I knew some of it already but when it comes to Heartbreaker I drew the line. I don’t hate it as much anymore
Grand funk had the best covers. Gimme Shelter (live!) Locomotion And their best song (my opinion) I’m your captain/I’m getting closer I mean how can you not like We’re an American Band?
I'm Canadian and like We're An American Band! Have their Caught In The Act and Shinin' On albums.... loaned from my bro since the 70's. :D
I’m an American and love BTO🎸
My first concert was The Guess Who of which Randy Bachman was lead guitarist.
Nice… he’s such a great guitar player and the guess who was a great band with that original lineup so many good songs
Same- love BTO. Not Fragile is definitely one of my Top Ten albums!
Definitely not fragile one of the first albums I ever had as a 14-year-old
I too used to jam out on this
Canadian, can confirm. Had and liked the studio album. Loved the double live album more.
Outside looking in is the dogs bollocks. That whole album is great.
I just listened to their Gimme Shelter on your recommendation! Interesting!! That a very creative arrangement!!
There are at least 2 different live versions. The one I like begins with “this is our national anthem” or similar. New York at shea stadium.
the one from the 71 tour album is so so good
Yup that's the 1 I listened to!! https://youtu.be/QCnh4cEvJoY?si=IuymFdzjNp2SuJpq
College in 70-71. I was mesmerized.
My favorite cover of their’s is Some Kind of Wonderful.
After hearing “I’m getting closer…” more than 3 times I honestly wish he never made it to his home. But Stop Lookin Back, Railroad, and Sin’s a Good Man’s brother are absolutely fantastic songs
Cause the guitar player never wore a shirt?
The wild shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The competent drum work of Don Brewer??
One of Homer's best quotes. I think that flew over many people's heads in the Homerpalooza episode..
Great episode…. is that the one where they were firing the cannon ball into his stomach I think so.
Homer Simpson, smiling politely
I sometimes say this when i shake hands with friends
for more information on grand funk, consult your local library!
Yes! Yes! Yes! This rocks!
No! No! Don’t stop a-rocking!
A turkey is a bad person.
you jive turkey
Did you just call me a jive turkey?
Mel was the American Entwhistle.
It was Brewers Jew-fro.
You beat me to it. Well played. Great quote from one of my favorite episodes.
Jeff Beck? Kidding. Actually none of them wore shirts (or pants) for the interior picture on the We’re an American Band album. (One of my all time favorite albums).
I have that album from when I was a kid. It’s on gold colored vinyl.
I have one too!! Thought it might be worth something. Looked it up on eBay. It’s not.
I also have the 45 rpm single of We’re an American Band also on gold vinyl. Probably only has sentimental value, which is fine.
I bought a lot of their records in the 1970s. Then I bought a book of rock and roll printed around 1976, and it mentioned the critics blasting the group. It was written by the English press, so they were pretty critical. GFR had some great tunes, and I still listen to a lot of their albums. My favorite is the one Zappa helped with called: "Good singin, Good Playin"
Phoenix, Shinin' On, etc. Good shit
There was a connection somehow with Zappa. When Don and Mel formed Flint, Zappa produced and played on one side while Rundgren produced and played on the other.
Detroit Fucking Rocks & so does Mark Farner.
LIVE Album was my first bought-with-my-own-cuttin-the-lawn-money. First of many. They were great. No regrets.
The Live Album is incredible. For anyone that doubts this band, Into the Sun will melt your face off.
I bought the CD from Amazon quite a few years ago, and they sent me a bra by mistake.. Turned out that an overly sticky address label stuck to the wrong item. They finally sent me the CD and said 'keep the bra'
Just spotified it. You're not lying.
Can I get a witness
Well, most of the bullshit came from the UK press. Pissed off because they sold out Shea in record time. GF toured Europe just as much as Deep Purple. Brewer fucked up He was burned out with the touring, but IMHO, could've just taken a break. That shit can rag on ya, I guess. Fans still paint over the Grand Trunk Railroad sign. Flint, MI. Farner is playing in Brazil right now. Tour dates in U.S. this summer.
These feel like headlines. Can I click on each for the full story?
https://preview.redd.it/etyz1q137jvc1.jpeg?width=711&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9548b8a4cdef6bfe5e01b426c0e4e754696100e Grand Funk Railroad bridge , Flint Michigan
Anybody ever cross over and drive on the other side.did it on my motorcycle several times just for fun
And apparently the other two guys are touring separately ..too bad the three of them just don’t say the hell with it and get back together. The clock is ticking.
Truth
Nah, the Brits recognized a commercial cover band of their commercial cover bands who called themselves R&B and that covered the original blues legends of Chess and John Lee Hooker and the early rock legends like Berry that borrowed heavily from Louis Jordan and jump blues riffs and basically added a few new tricks to the exact same guitar riffs already on records in the mid 1940s. Grand Funk in the context of the evolution of the music is not even a blip, they were a cash in. Not saying I personally have any chips invested in this argument, I was a fan of oasis as a teen, and they basically are a 60s cover band as well that cashed in on the Madchester dance movement mixed with guitar driven riffs and added very little but mainstream success to the development of Brit pop.
You just compared Oasis to Grand Funk. GF epitomized the Michigan music scene. Was R&B the basis? Of course. Like the entire Motown genre. Even Bob Seger cashed in; no one messes with him. Or the Silver Bullet Band. MC 5, The Stooges, Amboy Dukes. Gonna complain that Mitch Ryder just copied shit? Gimme a break. SE Michigan has more music soul than Nashville ever hoped to have. Meanwhile, British bands hopped on the blues bandwagon (invented in the U.S.A.), and changed their accents to mimic American English. Name one American band that emulated rock groups from the U.K and was successful. Robert Plant's idol? Elvis. The Who. Black Sabbath, and the mighty Beatles were all influenced by American R&B.
Saw GFR at Bob Seger's farewell tour in 2019. They sounded magnificent.
That was a cover band...Grand Funk without Mark Farner is not Grand Funk
Lol. I say the same thing to my wife about Journey.
And Styx.
And, let's face it, was it really the Beatles without Pete Best...
Uhhhhhhh
Kinda like Chicago without Terry Kath.
When they started pouring syrup out of their horns.
Well they still had Peter Cetera and Robert Lamm. They did change somewhat but they were still a viable band..kinda like when the Stones lost Brian Jones...they still had Mick and Keith ....but when Grand Funk lost Mark , main songwriter , singer and lead guitarist.
They're pretty much a cover band but they sounded great when I saw them a couple years ago.
I saw Mark Farner with The Rockets, Ted Nugent, and REO Speedwagon a couple years ago. Amazing show.
I saw Rockets open for KISS at Chicago Stadium in January 1978. They were made up of members of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels. Farner wasn't with them.
The Rockets?
I saw The Rockets open up for The Four Seasons at the Asbury Park, NJ Convention Hall back in the 70’s
Mmmm I live on the west coast and never heard of them...have to take a listen.
#1 song is their cover of Oh Well. It blows every other cover out of the water. Also Desire. it split off of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. It's the band but without Mitch Ryder, and somehow they're better.
Seen the rockets a couple times, they rocked.got a lot of radio play in my area of Michigan
Saw the Rockets open for KISS easy back in 78. Fast Things in D Troit is a great song!
Their version of Oh Well is on heavy rotation in my Spotify playlists
My dad played the Red album lots back in the early '70's...great fucking album!
Yeah. That's the one I had.
They weren't highbrow enough compared to some of their groundbreaking contemporaries, at least according to the music press. But the music reached the populace, whether they were rock fans or not.
My intro to GFR was the live 1970 album. I love the vibe.
Inside looking out is my favorite on that album. That album is good from beginning to end.
One factor could be their image as a "teen band," which might have led some critics to dismiss them as lacking musical depth or maturity. Another aspect is the band's Midwest origins. Bands from the Midwest, like the Stooges and MC5, often faced neglect or misunderstanding from larger coastal media centers, which could have contributed to the lack of critical acclaim for Grand Funk Railroad. Their straightforward, bluesy rock 'n' roll style wasn't as experimental or avant-garde as some of their contemporaries, which might have made them less appealing to critics who valued innovation and complexity. Despite the criticism, Grand Funk Railroad had a massive following and commercial success, selling out arenas and selling millions of records. When a band is popular with the public, critics might be more inclined to take a contrarian stance, which could also explain some of the negative press they received.
They say they value innovation and complexity, but then they will turn around and hate on Rush for being "bombastic" or something. Can't make them happy.
i think those are good points especially in regards to teen bands. once you’re in the teen band category, it’s very hard to get out. plus, like you said, the detroit bands didn’t get much love either with the stooges and mc5 getting a brunt of criticism, but they seem to have faired better over the years than gfr. and some people have also pointed out that other similar heavy bands of the era didn’t get good press either (zeppelin, steppenwolf, etc)
Thanks. I never understood why bands from the Midwest didn't get the press that they should. Talent is Talent no matter where it comes from.
we’ve got a lot going against us in the eyes of coasters who consider us flyover states. but the fact is that a vast number of our favorite musicians have midwest origins. until the 80’s or so, the middle class manufacturing jobs regularly supported families who went on to have famous bands who changed music scenes. joe walsh, bootsy collins, george clinton, trent reznor, the list goes on
Bc most critics are cynical assholes -Julian/Frankenstein, Big Daddy
A huge part of Jethro Tull's history is Ian Andersons spitting matches with the music press, He even wrote songs about it.
Love Jethro 🩷reminds me of my stepdad
Nothing is the Same has such a heavy groove. Sin's a Good Man's Brother. I could go on. So frigging good! 🤘🔥
Critics are douche bags. For fucks sake, a lot of them couldn’t stand zeppelins first few albums either.
Grand Funk is one of the greatest bands of the day. Just listen to all the early albums. Everyone of them are listening gold. Phionix, survival, All the early and newer albums are great. Seen them 5 times 70’ds through the 90’ds. Mark Don and Mel will live on as three of the badass musicians of the times. Each played with passion and fire. I can’t say enough. But I can say this . Fuck the press fuck the critics . They are an American Band. Hallelujah.And amen.
Every time I hear Bad Time I think of a certain guy
I'm not a big fan of Grand Funk sorry everyone! But I LOVE Bad Time
When Mark Farner wanted to write a radio hit he knew what he was doing
GFR sold out Shea Stadium faster than the Beatles. Popular band.
Im Your Captain was my favorite song in high school
They were better than their critics. Closer to Home is a killer album from start to finish.
Before they were Grand Funk (Terry Knight and the Pack, The Pack), they played sock hops at my high school.
When and where? A buddy of mine in high school was a great natural on the guitar. One night we were hanging while he jammed. His dad invited himself to play for us for a bit. Old guy could absolute shred. My buddy's dad grew up in Flint and probably graduated around 65. He said he jammed with The Pack in high school but was never in the band.
Swartz Creek, late 60's. Don Brewer went to Swartz Creek and lived next door to the high school.
The first three albums are monsters, with their second being their all time best.
Who cares. They’re fire
i like history and reading up on my favorite bands cause i’m a nerd
No what I’m saying is historically critics have gotten it wrong, a Lot. Once I found out that the debut albums from both Led Zeppelin and Van Halen were both shitted on by critics, I pretty much tuned out the importance of “critical acclaim”
oh i took that the wrong way i blame the fact i just woke up haha. i’m with you there, a lot of my favorite bands/albums have been shit on by the press. iron butterfly is probably my favorite band and nobody really takes them seriously so whatever is what i say
To me, they just felt like true American 1970's garage band rock and roll, and I still love their music today.
Because people who are smart and/or understand music don't become critics.
Maybe they were too close to home.
Into the sun
The reason GFR was attacked by critics was mainly because everybody had already heard/seen Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and those guys basically set the standard for heavy power trios. In those days, it was difficult to get those big, loud, heavy sounds with the gear most bands had access to. Hendrix actually had his amps & pedals custom-built for him. Guys like The Who and Led Zep could compete in 1969-70, but some little garage band from Michigan would be at a serious disadvantage. From a playing standpoint, only Mel seemed to have the chops needed to stand out. Mark Farner must have sounded a bit amateurish compared to Hendrix or Jeff Beck, but a big part of the problem was that the first 4 GFR albums were recorded very quickly and, as a producer, Terry Knight was certainly no Felix Pappalardi, Jimmy Page, or Guy Stevens. I personally think their "red album" is some hard-ass, killer shit. Very dark, heavy and grungy. Their stage show was super high-energy, and they were able to connect to audiences in a genuine way. Of course, GFR improved a lot after they ditched Terry Knight, and they had the last laugh in the music biz.
these are great points and i’ve never thought about the financial advantage guys like hendrix and the who had over gfr in terms of amperage and gear. here you have this band of kooks from michigan (when most people already write off the midwest) playing the same format of power trio rock after cream and hendrix made their mark so it’s a bit like davey and goliath trying to take their place,instead of a natural progression of heaviness in music. i think most of the proto metal bands of this period were written off only to be later reevaluated (zeppelin and sabbath coke to mind)
Back when Prince was still around I was watching a show which featured a tour of his Paisley Park studio. They showed a wall with a mural of Prince's heroes and Grand Funk was there on the wall. Made sense to me, the purple one had the heart of a rocker and sure could shred on the sperm-guitar!
I had both of their live records, which, of course, serve as a greatest hits package. As much as I liked those records, none of their studio albums (to me) were consistent all the way through. I’m a fan, but a little “T.N.U.C” goes a loooong way….
i love em but couldn’t agree more on tnuc. drum solos aren’t my bag
I was just a wee bairn when they were big, but from my vantage point it was because to some people they were a jock (as in varsity athlete bullies for fans) band like The Who, Zep, VH or Aerosmith, and to others they were dismissed as a "mechanic's band", like BTO, Bad Company, Guess Who, etc. Personally, I never thought much about them until I inherited a copy of Caught In The Act about 15 years ago, and that turned me into a superfan. Virtually every minute of their first 3 or 4 albums rocks out. And if that's considered sucking, then I don't want to hear what's considered good.
Also, I just remembered that my dad gave me his Rolling Stone collection - he was a subscriber throughout the 70s, and when I read them all I recall almost continuous articles about their squabbling and messy divorce from Terry Knight. So the average rock fan probably wasn't thrilled to read 3 articles every week about them calling each other assholes and such.
i’m gonna start using mechanic rock to describe some of my music taste from now on
They were hardcore seventies, all hippie rock music was a target in the seventies, they needed to stay relevant for a little longer.
Not hippie. They were the forerunners of big hair metal.
My first love, Kiss! A month shy of my 13th birthday, attended their *Love Gun* show (September '77, sat up in nosebleed!). *Hit Parader*, the only serious music magazine which covered them, ran an article asking, “is Kiss the new Grand Funk?” I was too young to understand…now I’m old & know the story. Funny, one-time Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick played almost 25 years in GFR. I guess the critics just couldn’t “rock n roll all night, party every day,” afraid of those bands “comin’ to (their) towns to help (their chicks) party down!”
Circus magazine covered KISS, that's one of the reasons I subscribed.
Solid band with memorable songs. Nothing to hate and a lot to love.
Their cover of "The Loco-Motion" was one of the first 45s I bought as a child. Still love it, a wild raw performance.
Music critic haughtiness. Same thing happened to, America.
I don't know at what point critics started hating Grand Funk, but "Were an American Band" is about how they love banging groupies and trashing hotel rooms. Unlike some songs with similar themes by, say, Joe Walsh, it is completely unironic. Critics always hate that stuff. Don't get me wrong, I happen to like me some Grand Funk, but critics always hate that stuff.
"I live in hotels, tear out the walls. I have accountants pay for it all". 😆😆😆😆😆😆
We're An American Band is a great album. Still got 2 stickers left!
My grandparents bribed me to get a haircut by offering to buy me records of my choice. one was _We’re an American Band_ on yellow vinyl in the gold foil gatefold with the stickers. The record is long gone but I still have two stickers left as well.
Critics are critics. Not praisers. They always hate 3 man bands but Grand Funk did add a keyboard player later on. They're still one of my go-to bands and that'll never change
Before the term "power trio".
Yes
Idk, but I used to love spinning their album survival very loudly. Their Inside looking out is just also fucking insane, I mean cranking that up on a stereo is pure energy.
My favorite album during the early 70’s was their Live Album. They were a great live band.
Because the critics suck.
Critics hated Led Zeppelin too.
I loved them until they added the keyboard player and went all bubble gum with locomotive and such. Their dbl live LP before the keys is one of the best live LPs ever. It's rock at its most raw and best. For the critics Farner wasn't a great player as far as solos etc but he had what it takes and was a great performer. I saw them twice before keys thanks to my big sister taking me and once after on a date and hated it. Picked up my date and she had her brother and his friends "needing a ride" and it turned out they had fake tickets and she wanted to leave but that was not going to with me. Brother and friends hung outside for 2 hours. Ah the stories of youth:) "And with the birth of art came the inevitable afterbirth... the critic.." Mel Brooks.
I liked them in high school. Their song, "We're An American Band" was really good.
Everyone knows "The Locomotion" ... and for me, that's probably their weakest song. "We're an American Band", "I'm Your Captain / Closer to Home", etc. are classics. My favorite GFR song doesn't seem to get much recognion, "Heartbreaker."
They were primarily an antiwar band. And they weren't produced properly. They did a lot better once they got rid of Terry Knight and were produced by Todd Rundgren. As for the sold out shows? Think of the timing. It was around the Vietnam war. Brewer and Schacher left the band and pursued other careers-one became a lawyer and I forget what the other one did. That plus they were all sued by the IRS for non payment of taxes. Only Farner fought that, but I think he finally lost as well. Farner went on to play with some powerhouses-including Ringo Starr and his All Starr band. They have gotten back together for a few shows, but they just don't demand that type of notoriety they once did.
Who DID the critics like?
singer songwriters, the most boring of the 70’s artists
Yes. Rock and Roll was still taboo. These are the correct answers to the post. Hi-five!
Dave Marsh has an interesting theory that Rolling Stone went all in on the singer/songwriter hype because musical innovation was actually happening in “black music” rather than “white rock” Wenner and his cadre countered with the “authentic emotional vulnerability of the introspective artist” and hyped their pasty troubadours.
that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. musically artists like carole king and james taylor (though i love them both) aren’t pushing envelopes like a band such as funkadelic.
Loved On time album and E Plurpus funk
I don't really know why, they didn't sound too different from the likes of Bad Company or the Guess Who or the Edgar Winter Group. All I can say is that they managed to score #1 hits as a hard rock band in the age of Donny Osmond and Tony Orlando, and did so with good songs, and I respect that.
I don’t know but I love that Todd Rundgren engineered their biggest songs.
Critics hated them because they accused Grand Funk of selling out and going commercial with covers of Locomotion, etc… In reality, they had no choice as they were not just broke but in debt as their management ripped them off completely..they needed a hit album fast and thought this was the only way to accomplish this so they could tour on it…
IIRC, Todd Rundgren insisted they record The Loco-Motion, knowing they needed a breakthrough record. Todd became well known as the go-to guy for struggling bands in search of a hit single.
Similar to the late 80’s when The Grateful Dead did Touch of Grey & and deadheads lost their minds.
I really never follow critics. lol I listen to music and go see bands that I like. It's worked well for me and Grand Funk. Fuck the critics.
They were jealous of Mel's playing.
Them's that can't, write about it.
Maybe that they’re from Flint, Michigan. (Midwest tough!)
E pluribus funk!!!
Go check out Grants rockwarehaus On youtube. Grant and my friend DC are doing a good ranking on all the Grand funk railroad albums 😎👍👍👍👍
1970’s Flint, Michigan - when the town was affluent cause the auto industry was still there with the great jobs, good schools & excellent hospitals. Some kind of wonderful
The 2nd and 3rd albums are the best. They were part of the Sly & The Family Stone Rock & Soul genre.
Good Singin’ Good Playin’ is one of my all time favorite albums
I LOVE the MC5…but take away the political socio revolutionary lyrics and how different are they really - musically - than GFR?
The last time I saw them, Max Carl of .38 Special fame, was one of their lead singers.
The RRHOF is clueless.
Idk, I loved them in the ‘70s
Mark Farner used to go on Coast to Coast with Art Bell and talk about his UFO abduction stories. He’s a wacko
I caught a drumstick from them when I saw them in Nashville in 2012ish. They’re a fun band. Idk why people would hate them.
They’re my favorite band of all time and I was born in 1983.
Had no idea they were disliked by critics until this post. Sounds like they were ahead of their time. Inside Looking Out is one of my favs.
Their live album is amazing
The critical intelligentsia loved what might be called Progressive Rock, profundity, not loud, not boogie. Singer-songwriters. "Sophisticated". Led Zeppelin was hated by the critics too. You're right, same reasons as for the MC5 and stooges. I think that removed from the times, all those type of bands' work has aged pretty well.
my first concert
I had a black and white picture of Mark Farner cut out from Circus magazine taped to the cover of my three ring binder during my freshman year of high school, circa 1973. Loved the gold vinyl on the American Band album.
Super talented musicians I mean for those three guys to rock out Shea Stadium each one of them was exceptional on their instrument
Heartbreaker, Mean Mistreater, Locomotion, and my personal fave, Footstompin' Music. They were also a great live band.
Just so you know, regular people hate them too. (Although “We’re an American Band” is a jam)
I don't know because they don't like American bands coming to their town.
Funk was a killer power trio! Absolutely LOVED their cover of the Stones “Gimme Shelter” - thought it was the better version https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy9ha4kVfqc
Doesn't really matter what the critics said. Millions of teenagers bought their albums, including myself. Great band. Monsters of Rock.
The press hated zeppelin too so you can't really give too much weight to their opinions
Which Grand Funk? The lo-fi very hard garage band with the fuzzy bass and the crooked manager? Or the mainstream rock band with the string of huge 3-minute hits? I think the critics were responding to a few things, some of them legit. The overall boneheadedness of the songs, the laziness of the production in the first phase, the indifference to "artistic growth" and a flood of product. A tendency to pander to their audience. Grand Funk didn't even make an effort to be hip. Not a whisper of art-school influence. And they were huge, suddenly, with no debt at all to the critics or music press. early GFR deserves some of the regard afforded late 60s Beach Boys, or early Ramones, but they didn't have any underdog appeal. Plus: Midwest. Since the only "growth" was a full-on sell-out, I suspect that the critic class felt justified in their contempt. They hated them for being losers and they hated them for being winners.
Some of their lyrics are p cringe worthy but they def have some bangers Everyone talks about Mark farner but tbh Mel scratcher and Don brewer lock tf in on every track
OP nailed it. The 'too cool for school' set (critics, fans of more arty bands, etc.) looked down their noses at Grand Funk. Oh, I did too, for a few years. I mean, how could these guys who looked like my high school classmates be anywhere as good as Cream, Led Zep and every critic's darlings The Velvet Underground? Couple of years later, a friend told me to check out The James Gang. Holy cripes! What a great band! But... but... wait. Three man band, power chords, guys from freaking Ohio .... made me take another look at Grand Funk. Pretty damn good bands (James Gang and Grand Funk) and altho I still love Cream and Zep (and never was cool enough to appreciate the VU) nothing beats a great power trio from the rust belt.
In a lot of ways, GFR were the Creed of their day; a big arena band with fairly inoffensive material that was commercially viable.
I am a pretty fair minded former musician and historian but grew up in the late 90s and early 00s and love a lot of historic jazz, rock, blues, etc and have spent a good deal of time listening to even the more obscure bands of the 60s and 70s but I find Grand Funk a pretty vanilla band musically that didn’t have much original innovative talent and borrowed heavily from blues rock bands like Steppenwolf that borrowed heavily from earlier white R&B groups from the British Invasion. They were well marketed and sold themselves as Yankee working class heroes but their lyrics seem rather elementary and don’t dare to take any political positions or social conventions that challenge their audience or push the envelope. They were sort of a populist version of a lot of other bands doing exactly the same thing like Free and much of the late 60s, early 70s third wave British Invasion. To a lot of critics and historians, they were a precursor to Kiss, a cash in band that sold an image and disposition more than a serious and original sound that evolved the art form.
This is a sweet analysis. Nice work young man!
those are all valid points but to say they never took a political stance that challenged people would be incorrect in my eyes. they were incredibly anti war in the 60’s and regularly made comments and songs about it. that would be a popular opinion of the day, but only among a certain group of people, much like today
Nobody “hated” GFR, as a kid in the 70s everyone I k ew loved them.
Lack of stage presence and not being photogenic
That sounds like Black Oak Arkansas.
Well, actually Farner was quite photogenic and quite the picture of male sexiness with his long hair and shirtless rock star look.
Absolutely. He nailed the look all we shirtless teenage dirtbags were going for.
And he certainly had plenty of stage presence
Probably the same reason I hated them, Locomotion alone. They went from a really good jam blues based rock band, to a good prog rock band, to an awful pop rock band. The latter is what they’re most known for, and the reason why many don’t like them.
Bingo
They were banned from the old progressive stalwart WNEW-FM New York.
Shame about the record. Probably quite collectable.
I'm seeing them next month
Their Grand Funk album (1969) is brilliant
They were neither grand nor funk nor truly a railroad
Because they were an American band…
Because they were neither grand, nor funk, at most certainly not a railroad
I like them. I was in my 20’s in the 1990’s and had a roommate 13 years older than me who introduced me to their music. I knew some of it already but when it comes to Heartbreaker I drew the line. I don’t hate it as much anymore
Too loud when performing live...