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1 Footstompin' Music - E Pluribus Funk 1971 2 Rock & Roll Soul (4:08) Phoenix 1972 3 Heartbreaker (8:08) On Time 1969 4 Shinin' On (16:00) Shinin' On 1974 5 The Loco-Motion (21:54) with Wet Willie 6 GFR Promotional Video (25:02) 7 We're an American Band (28:06) 1973 8 ./Drum solo (31:45) On Time 9 Inside Looking Out (42:12) Grand Funk 1969 Grand Funk Railroad was live in an enhanced, complete concert at the Los Angeles Forum, Inglewood, CA on June 1, 1974. GFR original power-trio band members are Mark Farner - vocals/guitar/keyboards, Don Brewer - drums/vocals, and Mel Schacher - bass guitar. Craig Frost - keyboards joined the hard rock band in 1972. Early GFR videotapes are practically non-existent because producer Terry Knight did not allow concerts to be filmed. He believed live concert ticket sales would be negatively affected by them. Watch more Grand Funk on Cal Vid: article: Grand Funk concerts ended in riots, with police storming the venues. When they played Detroit, GFR sold out a 30,000-seat arena in two hours, 15 minutes. Previously it had taken The Rolling Stones five weeks, Elvis Presley nine days, and The Beatles two days to sell out the same venue. Still breaking box office attendances Grand Funk took their brand of Flint/Motor City madness across the Atlantic in ’71 and were met with the hysterical responses in both Europe and Asia. In Japan, the normally reserved fans went crazy and smashed the doors of a sold-out show, using telephone poles as battering rams. On their return to the US, the band played their biggest show yet, at New York’s legendary Shea Stadium. Fifty-five thousand seats sold out in 72 hours. Incredible. Wikipedia: To refine Grand Funk's sound, the band secured veteran musician Todd Rundgren as a producer. It's 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). “We're an American Band“ became Grand Funk's first number-one hit on Farner's 25th birthday. “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. The rock group split up in 1976, soon after the release of their Frank Zappa-produced 'Good Singin', Good Playin'. The album netted them some of their best critical reviews ever but yielded little success. After this, a totally disillusioned Grand Funk Railroad decided to disband in earnest in late 1976. “It was Don Brewer who broke up the band.“ Mark Farner said, “He was late to a rehearsal. Finally, he walked in and said 'I've got to find something more stable to do with my life. ' That was it. David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine once said, “You cannot talk about rock in the 1970s without talking about Grand Funk Railroad!“ Opinion: Despite the millions of albums sold, the legendary concerts attended by Baby Boomers, and being the classic rock band for blue-collar America, Grand Funk Railroad has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although the American Band already immortalized itself in Rock and Roll History, an induction into the Hall of Fame would prove appropriate and consummate the Grand Funk’s legendary status.
