GRAND FUNK RAILROAD: "Inside Looking Out", "We're An American Band", "Black Brass", "I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)", "Heartbreaker", "The Loco- Motion"& "Mark Farner Interview"

Grand Funk Railroad concert @ Shea Stadium, NYC, 09 July 1971 **** Grand Funk sold out this concert in 72 hours ... taking the previous sellout concert at this stadium in 1965, of The Beatles, weeks to sell it out.

***** markfarner.com         ***** grandfunkrailroad.com



This entry into the music/ arts honour roll society of this journal/ blog, will feature the original Grand Funk Railroad/ Grand Funk (wikipedia) out of Flint, MI, who I been wanting in this journal for some time now. The history of this band with the ups and downs, such as legal disputes/ lawsuits, along with break ups and make ups, multiple producers, which included well known artists such as Todd Rundgren (wikipedia), and Frank Zappa, is very lengthy, so I'll let the link handle most of that. I wondered, why this band didn't make it already into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? (although they did, only locally in Michigan), as tens of thousands of others wondered. I mean, the R&R Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, features one of Mark Farner's guitars, yet not the band ... a petition been floating around for folks demanding that they be included. Much speculation surrounds on why they didn't make it in there ... but I won't speculate, because I still feel they will one day be inducted into it ... there are several other artists/ crews, that I wonder why they're not in there too. What was surprising to many about the original GFRR 3 member lineup, is how fast they went from a garage band, to a mega headliner, selling out arenas/ stadiums ... I mean, this is a crew that was rehearsing in a farm house, and then suddenly filling a slot months later at the 1969 Atlanta International Pop Festival ... which made Capitol Records want to sign them. Frankly, it was the exposure and public demand, they had a sound and lyrics that related to so many, this crew was opening for large acts such as Led Zeppelin, yet getting standing ovations as a warm up crew ... yet all your big music media critics downplayed the group ... it was word of mouth among concert goers, and the will of the people, that boosted them. GFRR had all the chemistry of a mega arena hard rock crew ... they were good at being naturally themselves, with explosive raw sound and performance, and that relates to concert goers. I will give some credit here to their first manager/ producer, Terry Knight, simply because he recommended that they bring in Mel Schacher to play bass guitar, and Terry done well at promoting them. Keyboardist Craig Frost also came later as a fourth member, adding a new dimension to their sound, Craig is also keyboardist for Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. Don (drummer) and Mark (songwriter/ guitar/ vocalist), were previously with another crew, called "Terry Knight and The Pack". Also, Terry being an ex radio DJ, and singer, really had a knack for marketing, and the Capitol Records connection. On the other hand, I have plenty of criticism for Terry Knight, and glad that Grand Funk dumped him, he was shortchanging the shit out of these guys, who were about 20 yrs old, and didn't look at contracts closely, screwing them out of millions, which includes bad and unauthorized investments of earnings through GFRR as a corporation ... but I'll just leave that there.

Grand Funk Railroad's name changed to Grand Funk, then back to GFRR, around when Mark and Don dumped Terry, and then the problems started over rights of song ownership, etc. Capitol Records, because of original contract, could not deal directly with the band, they had to go through Terry. Terry came back suing GFRR for over $50+ million for breach of contract, which both parties agreed to a settlement ... but this also created conflict in the band, and by another contract, Don and Mel ended up voting Mark out of the band. Today GF still puts out music, with 3 new members, besides Mel and Don, but for me, GF is not GF without Mark Farner, and Mark wrote most of the music, Mark was also a great frontman, and a multi- instrumentalist. Mark Farner has his own solo project and crew, both groups play newer materials, as well as GFRR classics on their tours, and they have had reunion shows too. I found a YouTube video I included below, of a song called "Black Brass", I never heard of it, so looked it up, and nothing on it ever being published as a song, I read it was just some piece they done for some "In Concert" series special, it was intense, especially the keyboards work that Craig done in it, and the drumming by Don, Mark also played drums with Don on it. I opened below with "Inside Looking Out" from the early dayz, which was a favourite of mine (this was first done by Eric Burdon and The Animals, out of Newcastle, England, 1966, YouTube) ... Mark added slight modifications to lyrics and instrumental, and one of the first hard rock songs I learned as a kid/ teen. In particular, the intense and soulful vocal work on it by Mark, and alwayz loved the bass that Mel does on this, but overall I really liked Mel's bass guitar work alot, period. After Todd Rundgren started producing with the band, and the addition of Craig on keyboards, they started to play a more pop sounding music, which also turned over well, giving them some top chart hits. The music overall (early 1970s), especially in hard rock music, started expanding into other areas, and you also had the new disco, glam, and pop music that was growing at the time, so a growing demand for more pop rock leaning stuff as well. You could clearly see this in "The Loco- Motion" (originally wrote by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1962, and recorded by pop singer Little Eva, YouTube), along with other later songs, as far as comparing to the structure they started with on songs like "I'm Your Captain" or "Heartbreaker". I also included the classic hit, "We're an American Band", along with a Mark Farner interview at the bottom, where Mark talks about some of his gear, the band, and working with producers Frank Zappa and Todd Rundgren. Interesting, was the part about the incorrect accidental wiring of Dave West's "West" amplifiers, that Mark ended up wanting to buy, because that unintentional wiring when building that amp, is what gave Mark the guitar sound he was looking for. Thanks to these guys for all the great music and inspiration ... Enjoy!




GRAND FUNK RAILROAD- Inside Looking Out 1969  ... Thanx to The 1 stGunner **** this is Live from West Palm Beach, FL 1970





Grand Funk Railroad- We're An American Band ... Thanx to TurnItUp **** this was Live @ The Forum in LA, 1974





Grand Funk Railroad- Black Brass- MSG 12/23/72 ... Thanx to T.J. Ash




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Grand Funk Railroad- I'm Your Captain- Shea Stadium 1971 ... Thanx to T.J. Ash





Grand Funk Railroad- Heartbreaker ... Thanx to TurnItUp **** this was Live @ The Forum in LA, 1974





Grand Funk Railroad- The Locomotion ... Thanx to Dario Paccagnella





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Mark Farner Interview ... Thanx to Musician's Friend




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