Known for a crowd-pleasing arena rock style, the band toured extensively and played to packed arenas worldwide, and was well-regarded by audiences despite a relative lack of critical praise.[4] The original trio reunited at various times later into the band's career; after Farner's final departure in 1998, Brewer and Schacher have continued touring as Grand Funk Railroad.
History
A Grand Trunk Western Railroad bridge (located at 42°59'56.2"N 83°41'35.6"W) in Grand Funk's hometown of Flint, Michigan, that was re-painted to instead show the band's name, as well as the first names of founding members Mark Farner and Don Brewer, and early 1980s bassist Dennis Bellinger
Formation (1969)
Grand Funk Railroad was formed as a trio in 1969 by Mark Farner and Don Brewer from Terry Knight and the Pack and Mel Schacher from Question Mark & the Mysterians.[5]Terry Knight, after being approached by Brewer, soon became the band's manager and also named the band originally "Grand Trunk Railroad" as a play on words for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known rail line in Michigan.[2] The railroad objected to using their name, and the band was forced to change the name to Grand Funk Railroad. [6]
Mark Farner talks of the circumstances leading up to the formation of Grand Funk Railroad:
"We were actually a five-piece, I was the singer, there were four other musicians (including Brewer), but I wasn't playing anything in that band, the Fabulous Pack (so renamed after Knight had gone). I just stood up front and sang. We got waylaid; we were out in Cape Cod in a summer beach house, a little cabin, and it was winter. We had the worst snowstorm in the history of the world and we got stranded there for weeks in February of 1969. We were melting down snow to have water to drink and mix with our oatmeal that didn't have any butter or sugar and that's all we were living on. These two other players were married. When we got home (to Flint), the two guys that were married, their wives were gonna divorce them and the band broke up. We got all these gigs coming up and now we don't have a band. I said, 'We ought just do a three-piece' and Don said, 'Do you think we can?' And I said, 'If we get the right bass player we can.' We started looking and went out to Delta Promotions in Bay City where this company that sent us out to the Boston area to do these gigs [was located] and we were going to give them a piece of our minds. But while we were sitting in the outer office waiting to get in, there was somebody in their rehearsal hall playing. You couldn't hear it very good, but you could feel the bass coming through the wall and I said, 'Ooh, listen to that bass player, that guy's getting down under that. We gotta see who that is.'
"So, they took a break and it was? and the Mysterians and Mel Schacher was playing bass. Mel and I had grown up together, rode dirt bikes, hung out together and I said, 'Mel, are you playing with him now?' and he said, 'Yeah, but I'm not liking it.' I said, 'Brewer and I were talking about putting together a three-piece. Would you be interested in being the bass player?' He said, 'Hell, yeah, when are you gonna do it?' and I said, 'Next week we're gonna start.' We joined the Flint Federation of Musicians on Avril Street. A lot of the first album was written, right there in that Union Hall."[7]
The band first achieved recognition at the 1969 Atlanta International Pop Festival, after their local promoter, Jeep Holland, got them the slot for no monetary compensation, and after opening the first day, the band went down so well that they were invited to appear on all three days.[8] This exposure proved to be invaluable, and the band was signed by Capitol Records, where their manager, Knight, was working as an A&R person. After a raucous, well-received set on the first day of the festival, Grand Funk was asked back to play at the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival II the following year. Patterned after hard-rock power trios such as Cream, the band, with Terry Knight's marketing savvy, developed its popular style.
In August 1969, the band released its first album titled On Time, which sold over 1,000,000 copies and was awarded a gold record in 1970.[9] The album topped the American album charts. [10]
In February 1970, a second album, Grand Funk (or The Red Album), was awarded gold status less than 2 months after its release.[9] Despite critical pans and little airplay, the group's first eight albums (seven studio releases and one live album) were quite successful.
Early 1970s
The hit single "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)", from the album Closer to Home, released in June 1970, was considered stylistically representative of Terry Knight and the Pack's recordings. In the spring of 1970, Knight launched an intensive advertising campaign to promote the album Closer to Home.[2] That album was certified multiplatinum despite a lack of critical approval.[9] The band spent $100,000 on a New York City Times Squarebillboard to advertise Closer to Home.[11]
By 1971, Grand Funk equaled the Beatles' Shea Stadium attendance record but sold out the venue in just 72 hours, whereas the Beatles concert took a few weeks to sell out.[12] Following Closer to Home, The double disc Live Album was also released later in 1970 and was another gold disc recipient.[9]Survival and E Pluribus Funk were both released in 1971. E Pluribus Funk celebrated the Shea Stadium show with an embossed depiction of the stadium on the album cover's reverse.
By late 1971, the band was concerned with Knight's managerial style and fiscal responsibility. This growing dissatisfaction led Grand Funk Railroad to fire Knight in early 1972. Knight sued for breach of contract, which resulted in a protracted legal battle. Knight repossessed the band's gear at one point before a gig at Madison Square Garden. In VH1's Behind the Music Grand Funk Railroad episode, Knight stated that the original contract would have run out in about 3 months and that the wise decision for the band would have been to wait out the time.[13] However, at that moment, the band members felt they had no choice but to continue and fight for the rights to their careers and name. The legal battle with Knight lasted 2 years and ended when the band settled out of court. Knight became the clear winner with the copyrights and publisher's royalties to every Grand Funk recording made from March 1969 through March 1972, not to mention an enormous payoff in cash and oil wells. Farner, Brewer, and Schacher were given the rights to the name Grand Funk Railroad.[14]
In 1972, Grand Funk Railroad added former Fabulous Pack bandmate Craig Frost on keyboards full-time.[15] Originally, the band had attempted to attract Peter Frampton, late of Humble Pie; however, he was not available due to signing a solo record deal with A&M Records. The addition of Frost, however, was a stylistic shift from Grand Funk's original garage-band-based rock & roll roots to a more rhythm & blues/pop rock-oriented style. With the new lineup, Grand Funk released Phoenix, its sixth album of original music, in September 1972.[16]
To refine Grand Funk's sound, the band secured veteran musician Todd Rundgren as a producer. With the band’s name shortened to Grand Funk,[17] its two most successful albums and two number-one hit singles resulted: the Don Brewer-penned "We're an American Band" (from the number two album We're an American Band, released in July 1973) and "The Loco-Motion" (from their 1974 number five album Shinin' On, written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and originally recorded by Little Eva).[2] "We're an American Band" became Grand Funk's first number-one hit on Farner's 25th birthday, followed by Brewer's number-19 hit "Walk Like a Man." "The Loco-Motion" in 1974 was Grand Funk's second chart-topping single, followed by Brewer's number-11 hit "Shinin' On". The band continued touring the U.S., Europe, and Japan.[18]
Although they were highly successful in the mid-1970s, tensions mounted within the band due to personal issues, burn-out, and disputes over musical direction. Despite these issues, Grand Funk forged ahead. Needing 2 more albums to complete their record deal with Capitol, Grand Funk embarked on a major tour and decided to record a double live album, Caught in the Act (August 1975).[14]
The double album should have fulfilled the contract with Capitol; however, because it contained previously released material, Capitol requested an additional album to complete Grand Funk's contractual obligation. While pressures between the band members still existed, they agreed to move forward and complete one more album for Capitol to avoid legalities similar to those they endured with Terry Knight in 1972. The band recorded Born to Die (January 1976), but its lower sales (it only managed to reach #47 on the Billboard chart) and lack of hit singles disappointed the group. They began to drift apart, and rumours of a breakup were circulating.[19]
However, Grand Funk found new life from interest by Frank Zappa in producing the band. Signing with MCA Records, the resulting album Good Singin', Good Playin' (August 1976), although it netted them some of their best critical reviews ever, yielded little success.[2] After this, a disillusioned Grand Funk Railroad disbanded in earnest in late 1976.[20] Farner recalled what happened then: "Things were disenfranchised within the band. I don't want to speculate about what was going on in Brewer's life—his first wife died, and that was rough—but one day he walked into the studio and said, 'I've had it. I need to find something to do with my life that's more stable.' He was done. He walked out and slammed the door. It was him, not me. Everybody thinks I broke the band up, but it was him."[21]
First disbanding, 1976–1981; new lineup in the early 1980s
Following the breakup, Farner began a solo career and signed with Atlantic Records, which resulted in two albums: Mark Farner (1977) and No Frills (1978). Brewer, Schacher and Frost remained intact and formed the band Flint. Flint released one 1978 album on Columbia Records; a second record was finished but never released.[citation needed]
In 1981, Grand Funk Railroad reunited after being approached by their former manager Andy Caviliere (who had taken over from Terry Knight in 1972). The reunion took place without Frost (who was playing with Bob Seger) and with Dennis Bellinger replacing Schacher on bass. Schacher begged off saying he had developed a fear of flying but later admitted that he had no longer wanted to be involved with Caviliere.[14]
The new lineup released two albums on Irving Azoff's Full Moon label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. These releases included Grand Funk Lives (July 1981) and What's Funk? (January 1983).[2] Neither album achieved much in the way of critical acclaim or sales; but the single "Queen Bee" was included in the film Heavy Metal and its soundtrack album.[14]
The band toured in 1981 and 1982 with Rick Baker joining them on the road to play keyboards. But the dismal sales of Grand Funk Lives and the death of manager Caviliere in 1982 caused the group to disband a second time in early 1983, shortly after What's Funk? was released.[14]
After some rehearsals in late 1995, Grand Funk Railroad's three original members (joined on tour by keyboardist/guitarist and background vocalist Howard Eddy Jr.) once again reunited in 1996 and played to 500,000 people during a three-year period.[14]
In late 1998, Farner left the band after disagreements with Brewer and returned to his solo career. And after a two-year hiatus, when Brewer and Schacher once again approached Farner about reuniting, he turned them down after they refused to honor his desire to be paid fifty percent, rather than a third of the group's revenue as in the past. He explained his reason in his autobiography, From Grand Funk to Grace: "I do a hell of a lot more work on stage. I wrote the vast majority of the songs. During the 1990s, I committed to two years with Grand Funk. That first year we only did 14 dates. I ended up putting in three years. That was my mistake. I wasn't going to lose money again. At the time, each of us individually owned the Grand Funk trademark. In 1998 Don Brewer suggested we form a corporation to limit our liability as individuals on the road and I agreed. Unfortunately this meant that two thirds of the corporation is the majority".[23] And so in late 2000, Brewer and Schacher voted to go forward without Farner, recruiting lead vocalist Max Carl (formerly of Jack Mack & the Heart Attack and 38 Special), former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick and keyboardist Tim Cashion (Bob Seger, Robert Palmer) to complete the new lineup.[23]
In 2005 Grand Funk Railroad was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[24]
In 2018 Brewer and Schacher sued Farner over illegal use of the Grand Funk trademark. The lawsuit stated that Farner had violated a 2004 agreement, which called for, among other things: that Farner's first and last names appear in capital letters before a reference to Grand Funk or Grand Funk Railroad, with only the first letters of the band capitalized, and first letters of the words, "former," "formerly" and "member" also capitalized.[25] The lawsuit was filed two days after Mark Farner's son, Jessie Farner, had passed away.
In 2019 Grand Funk's main hit writer, Mark Farner, was handed a legal victory to tour as "Mark Farner's American Band", after his ex-bandmates sued him to prevent using that name.[27]
Grand Funk Railroad continues to tour, and kicked off its "The American Band Tour 2019", "Celebrating 50 Years of Funk" tour on January 17, 2019.[28]
On January 2, 2024 Bruce Kulick announced he was departing Grand Funk Railroad after 23 years, having played his final concert with the group on December 14, 2023 in Marietta, Ohio, citing that he wanted to focus on other projects.[29] On January 4, 2024 Grand Funk Railroad announced that singer-guitarist Mark Chatfield (The Godz, Rosie, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band) would replace Bruce Kulick as permanent member of GFR.
Legacy
David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine once said, "You cannot talk about rock in the 1970s without talking about Grand Funk Railroad!"[30][31]
Band members
Current members
Don Brewer – drums, lead and backing vocals (1969–1976, 1981–1983, 1996–1998, 2000–present)
Mark Fredrick Farner is an American musician. He was the original singer and guitarist of the rock band Grand Funk Railroad, which he co-founded in 1969, and later as a contemporary Christian musician.
Good Singin' Good Playin' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The album was released on August 2, 1976, by MCA Records.
Terry Knight was an American rock and roll music producer, promoter, singer, songwriter and radio personality, who enjoyed some success in radio, modest success as a singer, but considerable success as the original manager-producer for Grand Funk Railroad and the producer for Bloodrock.
Donald George Brewer is an American drummer and singer who is a founding member and longtime original drummer of the rock band Grand Funk Railroad.
On Time is the debut studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad, released on August 25, 1969, by Capitol Records. It was recorded at Cleveland Recording Company, the album was produced by Terry Knight. "Time Machine", the band's debut single release, made it into the top 50 in the singles charts, reaching #48.
Grand Funk is the second studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. It was released on December 29, 1969, by Capitol Records, just four months after their debut album On Time. Recorded at Cleveland Recording Company, the album was produced by Terry Knight and engineered by Ken Hamann. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, the first for the group. It includes a cover of the Animals' 1966 song "Inside Looking Out", which is still a staple of the band's live concerts.
Closer to Home is the third studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The album was released on June 15, 1970, by Capitol Records. Recorded at Cleveland Recording Company, the album was produced by Terry Knight. This album reached RIAA gold record status in 1970, making it the group's third gold record in one year. The album's inside artwork shows a live photo of the band performing at Madison Square Garden in February 1970.
Survival is the fourth studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad, released in April 1971 by Capitol Records. Recorded at Cleveland Recording Company, the album was produced by Terry Knight. Drummer Don Brewer was not happy with the drum sound on the album, due to Knight's insistence of having Brewer cover his drum heads with tea-towels, after seeing Ringo Starr use the technique in the Beatles' film Let It Be (1970).
E Pluribus Funk is the fifth studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The album was released on November 15, 1971, by Capitol Records. Like previous Grand Funk Railroad albums, it was recorded at Cleveland Recording Company and is the final album produced by Terry Knight. The title is a play on the Latin motto of the United States of America, E pluribus unum and translates as "Out of many, Funk". The original release cover was completely round and covered with a silver-like film to resemble a large coin. The back side of the cover of this album included a die cast picture of Shea Stadium to celebrate Grand Funk beating The Beatles' Shea Stadium attendance record by selling out in just 72 hours.
Phoenix is the sixth studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad, released on September 15, 1972, by Capitol Records. The album was produced by the band and marks their first album without producer by Terry Knight. "Rock & Roll Soul" was released as a single and peaked at #29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.
We're an American Band is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad, credited as Grand Funk. The album was released by Capitol Records in July 1973, and was certified gold by the RIAA a little over a month after its release. Two singles were released from the album. The title track was the first single from the album released on July 2, 1973 and the second, "Walk Like a Man", was released on October 29, 1973. Both were sung by drummer Don Brewer. There was also an addition to the band's membership with this release - Craig Frost - who played the organ, clavinet and Moog. Prior to We're an American Band being released, Grand Funk Railroad had been a power trio. Craig was credited as an additional musician on Phoenix, which was released the previous year.
Caught in the Act is Grand Funk Railroad's second live album and was released in August 1975 by Capitol Records as a double album. It was recorded live on tour in 1975 and features "The Funkettes" – Lorraine Feather and Jana Giglio.
Live Album is the first live album by American hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad, originally released by Capitol Records on November 16, 1970. The first single released from the album, "Mean Mistreater", was released on November 23 and the second, "Inside Looking Out", was released in January 1971.
Terry Knight and the Pack was an American garage rock band formed in Flint, Michigan in 1965. The band was signed to the Lucky Eleven label through most of its brief recording career. They produced one national hit with their cover version of the song, "I ". Despite their inability to replicate their success, the band was a frequent attraction in the Michigan rock scene. The Pack was fronted by singer Terry Knight. In 1969 the group disbanded but two members, drummer/vocalist Don Brewer and guitarist Mark Farner, would go on to form another band, Grand Funk Railroad.
Classic Masters is a compilation album from Grand Funk Railroad. Released in 2002, it is one in a series by Capitol Records.
Bosnia is a live recording by the American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The concert was a benefit performance for the nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was recorded live 20 April 1997 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Thirty Years of Funk: 1969–1999 is a 1999 box set by Grand Funk Railroad, containing three new songs and several previously unreleased songs.
Melvin George Schacher is an American musician who is the bassist and a founding member of the hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad.
Grand Funk Hits is a greatest hits compilation by Grand Funk Railroad originally released in 1976 on Capitol Records (LP-ST-11579). It peaked at number 126 on the Billboard 200.
"I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)" is a 1970 song written by American musician Mark Farner and recorded by Grand Funk Railroad as the closing track to their 1970 album Closer to Home. Ten minutes in duration, it is the band's longest studio recording. One of the group's best-known songs, it is composed as two distinct but closely related movements. Its title has been rendered in various ways across many different Grand Funk albums, including "I'm Your Captain", "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home", "Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain", "Closer to Home (I'm Your Captain)", and "Closer to Home".
1 2 Engelhardt, Kristofer (2001). From Grand Funk to Grace: The Authorized Biography of Mark Farner. Collector's Guide Publishing, Incorporated. ISBN1896522742.
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