The following year, the group reverted to its original name of Grand Funk Railroad and signed with MCA Records to record "Good Singin', Good Playin", produced by Frank Zappa.
#Grand funk railroad on time full
Later that year, they scored another smash hit with "Bad Time", which rose to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.īy the time 1975 rolled around, and the Disco craze in full swing, the band found that their style of garage band music had lost much of its appeal. It marked the first time in US chart history that a cover version of a song that had previously reached number one also attained that position. In 1974, a major revision of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" also reached the top.
#Grand funk railroad on time cracked
Now produced by Todd Rundgren, they finally cracked the singles market, reaching number one with the album title track "We're An American Band", a celebration of the group's times on the road. In 1973, the group shortened its name officially to Grand Funk, and added a fourth member, former Fabulous Pack member, keyboard player Craig Frost. The band eventually got to keep their name, but had to pay Knight a huge settlement. The next few years were spent in litigation over the rights to the name Grand Funk Railroad and song royalties. Andy Cavaliere and later, John Eastman, father of Linda McCartney, were hired to take his place. Around the time of recording "E Pluribus Funk", it was decided to replace Terry Knight as manager. The next year saw the release of "Survival" and "E Pluribus Funk", the latter most notable for its round album cover. 1970's "Live" album reached #5 and included another concert and radio favorite in Farner's "Mean Mistreater". Their recordings sold in greater quantity, even though many radio stations ignored their releases. In June 1971, Grand Funk became only the second group (after the Beatles ) to sell out New York's Shea Stadium. In 1970 for example, Knight reportedly paid $100,000 for a huge billboard in New York City's Times Square to promote the group's "Closer To Home" LP, which subsequently became their first Top 10 album, reaching #6 and spawning the FM radio-staple title track. The group's huge success is often attributed to the public relations expertise of manager Terry Knight. By the Summer of that year they had become a major concert attraction, and their albums routinely reached the Top 10 for the next four years. "On Time" reached #27 in 1969, followed by the #11 "Grand Funk" in 1970. Their first singles reached the charts, but Grand Funk soon proved its real strength in the album market. After a wildly successful performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival on July 4, 1969, the band landed a recording contract with Capitol Records and immediately began making its name by performing at several large Pop festivals. By this time, Terry Knight had landed a job at Capitol Records in New York, but accepted an invitation to become the trio's manager. They recruited bass player Mel Schacher from Question Mark And The Mysterians and renamed themselves Grand Funk Railroad, inspired by a Michigan landmark, The Grand Trunk Railroad.
Eventually, Terry Knight left the band and The Pack continued on without him.īy 1968, Farner and Brewer decided to leave and form a new band of their own. Herman Jackson was drafted and was replaced by a local kid named Mark Farner. The group soon developed a large local following and reached #46 on the Billboard Pop chart with a song called "I Who Have Nothing", released on the small Lucky Eleven label. To sound more English, they renamed the band The Pack, and Richard Knapp started using Terry Knight as his stage name. Because of this and his radio connections, the band invited him to join the group as their lead singer. After deejaying at record hops with a local band named The Jazz Masters, which consisted of Don Brewer (drums), Al Pippins (guitar), Bob Caldwell (keyboards) and Herm Jackson (bass), Knapp lied to them and said that he was personal friends with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. who decided to leave radio to enter the music end of the business. Richard Terrance Knapp was a popular local D.J. The foundation of what was to become Grand Funk Railroad was laid in Flint, Michigan in the mid 1960s.
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