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They came into the studio with “We’re an American Band” already written. They hired wunderkind Todd Rundgren to produce. “Survival” was laughable, and “E Pluribus Funk” and “Phoenix” were ignored in an era when Jethro Tull and Rod Stewart and other classic rock legends were breaking through. Forget the RIAA certifications, those numbers were manipulated. They were feeding the machine.Īnd then just six months after “Grand Funk” came “Closer to Home,” which actually had a good track, the closer, “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home),” so good that even New York City rock stations played it, whereas they’d played nothing by Grand Funk Railroad before.Īnd five months after “Closer to Home,” just in time for the Christmas season, Capitol released a double live album, creatively entitled “Live Album,” that became a joke, if you saw it in someone’s collection you realized they hadn’t gotten the memo, back in an era when your record collection stood for your identity.īut it was way too much too soon and Grand Funk started to fade from favor.
Right after August ’69’s “On Time” came “Grand Funk,” just four months later. That’s where Grand Funk Railroad focused its efforts, and it worked. In hamlets many big acts didn’t bother to go to. There were still kids going to their first concert. FM rock was still new in the hinterlands. That’s the world we lived in, one of concentration, where it was hard to get into the game and if you got on the radio people knew your name.īut radio was still regional. Then again, there’s not a single act today as big as Grand Funk was yesterday. Now today you just go online and find out the band sucks. Knight spoke of Grand Funk Railroad’s triumphs in every burg but your own, you had to see them. It started with their debut album “On Time.” Reviled by critics, Knight put money into something most other managers didn’t bother with, radio advertising. Controlled by Terry Knight, an almost made it rock star himself, the band made it on hype more than ability/songs/records, but for a moment there, around 1970, they were a big deal. Grand Funk Railroad was an American band on the decline. She had the whole show and that’s a natural fact” Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze