Grand Funk Railroad

Grand Funk Railroad
Mark Farner, Don Brewer & Mel Schacher - The Original Grand Funk Railroad
Background information
Also known as	Grand Funk
Origin	Flint, Michigan, United States
Genres	Hard rock, boogie rock, blues rock
Years active	1969–1976, 1981–1983, 1996–present
Labels	Capitol, MCA, Full Moon
Website	grandfunkrailroad.com
Members
Don Brewer Mel Schacher Max Carl Bruce Kulick Timothy "Tim" Cashion
Past members
Mark Farner Craig Frost Dennis Bellinger Howard Eddy, Jr.

Grand Funk Railroad (also known as Grand Funk) is an American rock band that was highly popular during the 1970s. Grand Funk Railroad toured constantly to packed arenas worldwide. A popular take on the band during its heyday was that, although the critics hated them, audiences loved them.^[1] The band's name is a play on words of the Grand Trunk Railroad, a railroad line that ran through the band's home town of Flint, Michigan.

History

Formation (1969)

The band was formed in 1969 by Mark Farner (guitars, keyboards, lead vocals) and Don Brewer (drums, lead vocals) from Terry Knight and the Pack and Mel Schacher (bass guitar) from Question Mark & the Mysterians. Terry Knight, a former band-mate of Farner and Brewer, soon became the band's manager. Knight named the band after the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known rail line in Michigan. First achieving recognition at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival, the band was signed by Capitol Records. After a raucous, well-received set on the first day of the festival, Grand Funk Railroad was asked back to play two additional days. Patterned after hard rock power trios such as Cream, Grand Funk Railroad, with Terry Knight's marketing savvy, developed its own popular style. In 1970, they sold more albums than any other American band and became a major concert attraction. In 1969, the band released its first album titled On Time, which sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record in 1970.^[2] During the same year, a second album, Grand Funk (aka "The Red Album"), was awarded gold status.^[2] The hit single "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)", from the album Closer to Home, was also released in 1970 and was considered stylistically representative of Terry Knight and the Pack's recordings. The band spent $100,000 on a New York Times Square billboard to advertise Closer to Home.^[3] By 1971, Grand Funk broke The Beatles' Shea Stadium attendance record by selling out in just 72 hours.^[4]

Despite critical pans and a lack of airplay, the group's first six albums (five studio releases and one live album) were quite successful. In 1970, Knight launched an intensive advertising campaign to promote the album Closer To Home. That album was certified multi-platinum despite a lack of critical approval.^[2] Following Closer To Home, Live Album was also released in 1970, and was another gold disc recipient.^[2] Survival and E Pluribus Funk were both released in 1971. E Pluribus Funk celebrated the Shea Stadium show with a die-cut depiction of the stadium on the album cover's reverse.

Early 1970s

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 and the band dropping the word "Railroad" from their name(In his 2001 autobiography, "From Grand Funk to Grace", Farner stated that the shortening of the band's name was done after most of their fans began to refer to them as Grand Funk). At one point, Knight repossessed the band's gear 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 three months, and that the smart decision for the band would have been to just wait out the time.^[5]

In 1972, Grand Funk Railroad added Craig Frost on keyboards as a full-time member. Although Farner and Brewer had known Frost from the Terry Knight and the Pack days and Frost had both recorded and toured with Grand Funk as a sideman, he was not the band's first choice. Originally, Grand Funk attempted to attract Peter Frampton, late of Humble Pie; however, Frampton was not available due to signing a solo-record deal with A&M Records. The addition of Frost, however, brought 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 its sixth album of original music Phoenix in 1972.^[6]

To refine Grand Funk's sound, the band secured veteran musician Todd Rundgren as a producer. Two successful albums and two #1 hit singles resulted: the Don Brewer penned, "We're an American Band" (from We're an American Band) and "The Loco-Motion" (from Shinin' On, written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and originally recorded by Little Eva). The album We're an American Band topped out at #2 on the charts, while the "We're an American Band" single, released during summer 1973, was Grand Funk's first #1 hit. "The Loco-Motion" followed in 1974 as Grand Funk's second chart topping single.^[7]

Mid 1970s

In 1975, Grand Funk switched to Jimmy Ienner as producer and reverted to using their full name: "Grand Funk Railroad." The band released the album All the Girls in the World Beware!!!, which depicted the band member's heads superimposed on the bodies of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu. This album spawned the band's last two top ten hits, "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "Bad Time."

Although highly successful in the mid 1970s, tensions mounted within the band due to personal issues, burn-out, and musical direction. Despite these issues, Grand Funk forged ahead. Needing two 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. 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, the members agreed to move forward and complete one more album for Capitol to avoid legalities similar to the ones that they endured with Terry Knight in 1972. The band recorded Born to Die and agreed not to release any information regarding their impending breakup in 1976.^[8]

However, Grand Funk found new life via interest by Frank Zappa in producing the band. Signing with MCA Records, the resulting album Good Singin', Good Playin' yielded little success. After this, Grand Funk Railroad decide once more to disband in 1976.^[9]

Mel Schacher and Bruce Kulick performing at Gulfstream Park in Hallendale, FL in January 2002

Late 1970s and 1980s

Following the breakup, Farner began a solo career and signed with Atlantic Records which resulted in two albums: Mark Farner and No Frills in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Brewer, Schacher and Frost remained intact and formed the band Flint with the addition of Billy Ellworthy. Flint released one album on Columbia Records; a second record was finished but never released. Grand Funk Railroad reunited in 1981 without Frost and with Dennis Bellinger replacing Schacher on bass. Originally Schacher had planned to rejoin the band; however, because of reservations regarding the current management, he bowed out at the last moment, citing that he had developed a phobia concerning flying. The new line-up released two albums on Irving Azoff's Full Moon label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. These releases included 1980's Grand Funk Lives and 1983's What's Funk? Neither album achieved much critical acclaim; however, a single "Queen Bee," was included in the Heavy Metal (film) soundtrack album and movie. After disbanding a second time in 1983, Farner continued as a solo performer and became a Christian recording artist. Brewer and former Grand Funk band-mate Frost joined Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band.^[10]

1990s and 2000s

In 1996, Grand Funk Railroad's three original members once again reunited and played to 250,000 people in 14 shows during a three month period. In 1997, the band played three sold-out Bosnian benefit concerts. These shows featured a full symphony orchestra that was conducted by Paul Shaffer (from the David Letterman Late Show). The band released a live two-disc benefit CD called Bosnia recorded in Auburn Hills, Michigan. This recording also featured Peter Frampton who joined the band on stage. In 1999, after three years of touring, Farner acrimoniously left the band and returned to his solo career. Although Farner had originally agreed to reunite for one year, he remained because of the original trio's comeback success. Old issues, however, re-emerged and these necessitated his exit from the band. Brewer and Schacher continued without Farner and sought new members as replacements.^[11]

In 2000, Brewer and Schacher recruited lead vocalist Max Carl (of .38 Special), former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, and keyboardist Tim Cashion to continue as Grand Funk Railroad. The band has toured steadily since then. Mark Farner also tours with his band NRG, and continues to record under his own name.

In 2005, Grand Funk Railroad was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. The band has had three of its recordings voted Legendary Michigan Songs: "We're an American Band" in 2008, and "Closer To Home/I'm Your Captain" and "Some Kind Of Wonderful" in 2009.

On the long-running series, The Simpsons, Grand Funk Railroad happens to be Homer Simpson's favorite band. He has alluded to the fact in the season seven episode "Homerpalooza", in which, upon hearing that Bart and Lisa do not know anything about GFR, says "You kids don't know Grand Funk? The wild shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The competent drumwork of Don Brewer? Oh, man!" and in the season twelve episode "A Tale of Two Springfields" when he gives The Who a list of songs to play, Roger Daltrey states that most of the songs are by GFR, and that they don't know "Pac-Man Fever". In the series premiere of season 18, "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", Bart and Lisa get on the school bus, and Bart will not share his seat (the last available one) with Lisa. Instead of dealing with her problem, Otto puts a Grand Funk tape into his Walkman and sings to "We're an American Band".

Band members

Current members

• Don Brewer – drums, lead vocals (1969–1976, 1981–1983, 1996–present)
• Mel Schacher – bass guitar (1969–1976, 1981, 1996–present)
• Max Carl – lead vocals (2000–present)
• Bruce Kulick – guitars (2000–present)
• Timothy "Tim" Cashion – keyboards (2000–present)

Former members

• Mark Farner – guitars, lead vocals, keyboard (1969–1976, 1981–1983, 1996–1998)
• Craig Frost - keyboards, backing vocals (1972-1976)
• Dennis Bellinger – bass guitar (1981–1983)
• Howard Eddy, Jr. – keyboards (1996–1998)

Discography

For more details on this topic, see Grand Funk Railroad discography.

References

1. ^ "Grand Funk Railroad interviews, articles and reviews from Rock's Backpages". Rocksbackpages.com. 1996-04-26. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/artist.html?ArtistID=grandfunkrailroad. Retrieved 2011-07-22. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 279. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
3. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 213. CN 5585. 
4. ^ James (1999), pp. 15–16, 22, 37, 60.
5. ^ James (1999), pp. 31, 36–37, 76.
6. ^ James (1999), pp. 80, 83–84.
7. ^ James (1999), pp. 90, 92–94, 104–106.
8. ^ James (1999), pp. 113–116, 123–127.
9. ^ James (1999), pp. 130–134.
10. ^ James (1999), pp. 139–149.
11. ^ James (1999), pp. 156, 163–164.

Further reading

• James, Billy (1999). An American Band: The Story of Grand Funk Railroad. SAF Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-946719-26-8. 

External links

• Official site
• The Railroad Rolls On For Grand Funk