Imagine a time when a band could sell out Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles, without the support of radio airplay or the blessing of music critics– and no social media. Grand Funk Railroad did just that, and in this episode, we’re back with another look at the high-octane world of live rock concerts. Discover how Grand Funk Railroad became a music phenomenon, becoming one of the biggest bands of the ’70’s. We’re delving into a live album where the opening tracks weren’t just songs but declarations of a rock and roll manifesto. From the adrenaline rush of “Footstompin’ Music” to the soulful grooves of “Rock ‘N Roll Soul,” this episode isn’t just a history lesson– it’s a backstage pass to one of the greatest shows on earth.
“Footstompin’ Music” (Mark Farner) Copyright 1971 Storybook Music – BMI
“Rock ‘N Roll Soul” (Mark Farner) Copyright 1972 Cram Renraff Co. – BMI
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TRANSCRIPT:
We’re coming to your town, we’ll help you party it down– we’re the Pantheon Podcast Network, and this is the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page– I’ve got the whole show, that’s a natural fact. In this episode here, we explore one of my favorite songs, getting a deeper understanding of what makes them tick, what makes them a great song.
On the last few episodes, we’ve been looking specifically at live recordings, how a song can come to life when played by a real band in front of a real audience. We’ve been looking at some of the different aspects of live music, how a song can be reinterpreted live, how a band can really take flight live and just play.
And one of the other aspects is the full concert experience itself, from the opening number to the final encore, how a show is built and paced. Some of my favorite moments on live albums are the first tracks; the show openers — from the way deep purple tear into “Highway Star” on their classic “Made In Japan” album; Cheap Trick, kicking off “At Budokan” with “Hello There”, the perfect opening track; when Paul McCartney and Wings open the “Wings Over America” live album with the medley of “Venus and Mars” into “Rock Show” into “Jet”– It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard.
Another one of my favorite one-two punch opening numbers is when Grand Funk Railroad opens their live album, “Caught In The Act” with two back-to-back tracks that set the tone for a rock and roll celebration. So this time, on this episode, we’re going to be listening to not one, but two songs. So let’s get this party started with “Footstompin’ Music” and “Rock ,N Roll Soul” by Grand Funk Railroad.
You may think I’m exaggerating when I say that for a time, Grand Funk Railroad was the biggest rock band in the world. But in the early seventies, they were bigger than Black Sabbath or Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin. They had at least six platinum-selling albums in a row and sold out Shea Stadium in 72 hours– that was faster than the Beatles did. And they did this with virtually no help from the critics or the radio. The critics hated them, and they got almost no airplay on the radio until their 7th album. But let’s start at the beginning.
Terry Knight was a local DJ in Flint, Michigan and a Grade A hustler. He formed a band called Terry Knight and The Pack, which included a drummer named Don Brewer and a bass player named Mark Farner. The Pack never had much success, though they released two albums and some singles and gigged around a lot. Eventually, Terry Knight left the band to start a solo career in New York and ended up as a producer. Meanwhile, Brewer and Farner carried on with The Pack, but eventually they hit rock bottom. Stranded on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in February, in the middle of a blizzard, with no gig and no money, they returned home to Flint and contacted Terry Knight because they knew he had contacts.
Knight agreed to manage them, but at a cost: he wanted complete control as manager and producer. But with no other options, they agreed. By now, Mark Farner had switched to playing guitar, so the first thing they did was recruit a bass player, Mel Schacher, who had been playing with Question Mark and The Mysterians.
The next thing they did was change their name. Terry Knight rechristened them Grand Funk Railroad. It’s kind of a pun, based on the Grand Trunk and Western Railroad, which ran through the Midwest.
Their first big break came when they were able to get on the bill at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969. They weren’t even paid for the gig, but they made the most of it by playing their asses off and earning a standing ovation. They went over so well that they were invited back the next day, and the day after that. By the end of the festival, they were the hot new thing and immediately signed to Capitol Records.
Their first album, “On Time”, came out in August 1969. In December, only four months later, they released their second album. It’s just called “Grand Funk”, but fans like to refer to it as “the Red Album”.
They steamrolled across the country, selling out shows, some concerts ending in riots. They released their third album, “Closer To Home” in March. That’s three albums in less than a year. But they were actually getting better. This was their strongest album yet.
Terry Knight celebrated their success by erecting a 60-foot-high billboard in Times Square to promote the “Closer To Home” album. Terry Knight kept up the hype, and he kept the boys busy by constantly being on the road… and away from their books. Knight was taking a big cut of their royalties and performance fees. Mark, Don and Mel were essentially just employees of Grand Funk Railroad enterprises. Terry had all the control.
By now, the band were selling out shows not just in the US, but in the UK and Japan. It was in July 1971 when they sold out Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles. More records followed, including “E Pluribus Funk”, in my opinion, the best of their early albums.
But trouble was brewing. The band was chafing under Knight’s control, and they started wondering, “where’s all the money?” A bitter dispute followed. They sued Knight, and he sued them back. This legal battle went on for two years, and in the end, Knight ended up with a big load of cash and the rights to all their recordings and their songwriting royalties. All the band was left with was the rights to the name Grand Funk Railroad. Ironically, if they had just waited three more months instead of suing, that contract would have expired.
In 1972, they brought in a fourth member, keyboard player Craig Frost, and they released album number six, “Phoenix”. This is kind of a dividing line for fans, from “Phoenix” on. They embraced their R&B roots more, and their sound got just a little more melodic, more hooks. To some fans, this is where they get off the Grand Funk train. But for me, this is where the records get better.
It’s certainly where the records get more popular. In 1973, they bring in Todd Rundgren to produce their next album, “We’re An American Band”, and the title cut is their first number one hit.
They bring Todd Rundgren back to produce their next album, “Shining On”, in 1974, which includes their hit version of “The Locomotion” and the title cut, “Shining On”.
By December of 74, they release another album, “All The Girls In The World Beware”, which featured two big hits: “Some Kind Of Wonderful” and “Bad Time”.
They toured in ‘74 and ‘75 and then released their second live album. They had released a previous live album in 1970, simply called “Live Album”. This second live album is called “Caught In The Act”, and it features all the hits, plus a ton of great album cuts. The band, Mark Farner on vocals, guitar and occasionally keyboards; Craig Frost on keyboards; Mel Schacher on bass; and Don Brewer on vocals and drums, are augmented on this tour by The Funkettes, two backing vocalists named Lorraine Featherson and Jana Giglio.
The original album opens with a long introduction. The sound of the crowd and fireworks going off. That lasts almost three minutes. When the album was issued on CD, they cut most of that out, fading up the crowd just before the band kicks off their opening number “Footstompin’ Music”.
Don and Mel laying down the groove. So there’s Don on drums, Mel on bass and two keyboard parts, because both Mark and Craig are playing organ here. Mark’s keyboard is in the right channel, Craig is in the left. Sounds like Craig maybe switched to playing a clavinet while Mark stays on the organ. Let’s hear just those keyboard parts for a bit.
That’s Don Brewer with the ad libs there. It’s Mark handling the lead vocal.
Let’s focus on just the bass and the drums here, especially that great walking bass part that Mel Schacher is playing.
There’s some great dueling organ swirls there. Let’s just listen to that.
Now Mark is going to step away from the organ and do some good old-fashioned rock and roll preaching.
Now, Mark has had his guitar on this whole time, but he hasn’t played a note on it until now. On this tour, Mark was playing a Valeno 72 Standard. It’s a pretty unusual guitar; it’s made of aluminum. Mark has a fairly unique guitar tone all through this album, but how much of that is strictly due to this guitar? I don’t know.
Let’s bring up this guitar solo in the mix.
And Mark is going to switch back to the organ here.
Let’s bring those vocals to the front.
Let’s go back and just hear that drum fill.
Alright, here comes the big finale. And listen to Mel Shocker’s bass in particular; he is riffing like a madman.
Here’s another great drum fill by Don Brewer.
So “Footstompin’ Music” ends right there. But the party is just getting started. They pause for just a few seconds and then they count right into the next number. “Rock ‘N Roll Soul”. I really dig this whole introduction.
So right there, Mark says “we done this song a long time ago”. This concert was recorded in 1975; the song originally appeared on the “Phoenix” album in 1972. So I don’t know, three years doesn’t seem like a long time ago to me. But I suppose when you’re still in your twenties, releasing two to three albums a year and living at the pace these guys were, three years maybe seems like an awful long time.
I love that transition into the actual song.
Let’s bring up the vocals.
Notice how they change up the groove on this section, especially on the drums. Don Brewer is going to take over the vocals for this section. And I really like what Craig Frost is doing on the keyboards in the left channel. It’s very simple, but I love how it plays off the rhythm of the guitar and the drums.
Mark Farner takes another guitar solo. But first I want to hear what the bass and drums are doing under this section.
Okay, let’s go back and hear that with the guitar solo. More guitar. Now he’s got a flanger on his guitar.
The base goes wild again.
“Footstompin’ Music” and Rock ‘N Roll Soul” by Grand Funky Railroad.
This would be the peak for Grand Funk Railroad. They would release a couple more albums, but sales were declining, and there was tension building within the band… and by 1976, they split.
Mark Farner released a couple of solo albums and Frost, Brewer and Schacher soldiered on, releasing one album under the name “Flint”. They got back together a few times, starting in 1981, and released a couple more albums. In my opinion, those records don’t really hold up.
For quite a while, both Brewer and Frost joined Bob Seeger’s Silver Bullet Band. In fact, Frost still plays with Bob Seeger today. Mel Schacher left the music biz for a while, but he and Brewer have toured versions of Grand Funk Railroad since the late nineties. Mark Farner does his own thing with Mark Farner’s American Band.
Grand Funk can sometimes be a punchline today. They are, after all, Homer Simpson’s favorite band.
But they’re no joke to me. Yes, it’s meat and potatoes rock, but there is some great stuff in their catalog, and I legitimately love this album. As a teenager, I played it over and over, and spent many an hour playing air guitar to this record.
Thanks for joining me here on the Pantheon Podcast Network for another edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. We’ll be back in about two weeks with another new episodes, so join me again then. All of our previous shows, and there’s over 160 of them, can be found on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or find them in your favorite podcast app. Just look for us. You’ll find us in there.
Keep in touch with us on Facebook or send me an email– Lovethatsongpodcastmail.com is the address. And if you’d like to support the show, all I ask is that you tell a friend about it because your recommendation is worth more than any advertising.
I thank you again for listening to this episode. Now go find yourself a copy of “Caught In The Act” by Grand Funk Railroad; put it on your turntable and crank up those first two tracks, “Footstompin’ Music” and “Rock ‘N Roll Soul”.
RESOURCES:
Grand Funk Railroad
https://www.grandfunkrailroad.com/
Shea Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shea_Stadium
Terry Knight and the Pack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Knight_and_the_Pack
Mark Farner
http://www.markfarner.com/
Don Brewer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Brewer
Mel Schacher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Schacher
Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band
https://www.bobseger.com/
Mark Farner’s American Band
http://www.markfarner.com/
Caught in the Act (album by Grand Funk Railroad)
https://www.discogs.com/Grand-Funk-Railroad-Caught-In-The-Act/master/99202