Mark has lived just down the road from me for 30yrs or so. He is as kind and down to earth family as he is talented. I do not give my admiration or comments lightly and I admire Mark greatly.
Never met him but always loved him. Always came across as a real guy. Nothing fake or plastic about him Followed GFR from the first time I heard Time Machine. Mark's voice was the best of late 60's and 70's rock. The band was great, despite what the moron critics said. It's not really GFR without Mark. Living in Michigan, Mark was always a guy I would have loved to have just had a burger and a beer with and a conversation.
I believe the 3 most screwed over bands in the world were Badfinger, Grand Funk, & Creedence Clearwater Revival, in that order. Deceptive management & malicious record company execs…. I guess I should include The Animals; their manager robbed them blind & he went on to do the same to Jimi Hendrix….
Grand Funk is one of the greatest bands to come out of America. I grew up with their music and still listen to it now, it takes me back to better days.
People keep saying that even though is true, but when all three original members reunited, Mark wanted to continue as a solo artist more than twice, so the other two needed to continue touring and couldn’t afford to keep him to whenever Mark decided to join again in the band, yes is wrong what Don and Mel did but Mark was being selfish as well even though he wrote 92% of the songs.
@@metallion0738 That's not true Mark wanted to and Don and Mel didn't as they had their mark wanna be clone of Mark and did not want to unite and upset their clone and whatever so go look up the interview with Mark he tells it straight out the truth of what went down.
What I admired about Mark Farner was that he was one of the very few guitar players worldwide that never had to have his eyes on his fingers and guitar while playing. Mark the extraordinaire guitarist doing his this thing. Millions of guitar player's past, present and future have to ALWAYS keep their eyes on the guitar and their fingers while they play. Mark Farner Was Grand Funk Railroad With A Style All His Own.
he was great but he wasn't exactly george lynch or vivian campbell on guitar, farner did it all he played, sang, wrote etc. he's super talented but he's not known for melodic leads and his guitar playing.
@@westoftherockiesMark was not known or wanted to be known as a guitar hero or guitar virtuoso or guitar god, he made music and made hits, yes he is a talented guitar player that can sing, he never claim to be an Eddie Van Halen either.
saw them a couple years after they had that giant billboard for 'Closer to Home'. I thought, "this Grand Funk RR is going places". but their manager went places.
I interviewed Mark Farner a couple of weeks ago, he's a man of strong convictions and really an all around nice guy who just happens to be talented on a genius level! What a combo!
I heard something different about Mark Farner's departure from Grand Funk. That involved Don Brewer and Mel, they took advantage of Mark and had him sign the rights to the music to Don and Mel. They scammed him of all rights to his own music. Who needs enemies when you have friends like these two back stabbers.
Money = greed = flim flam. The story was repeated so many times in the 70's. Grand Funk was an amazing combo. I never saw them live but I did see Farner with Ringo's All Starr Band and he was terrific.
No Mark Farner, no Grand Funk. I heard Don Brewer wanted to be in control so they tricked Mark into signing some legal papers giving up all his rights to the band. Maybe someone can clarify this.
When I was in high school back in the late '60s, it seemed everyone owned a Grand Funk Railroad album. GFR was an awesome rock band that faded away too fast.
I have been listening to all things rock and roll, you know, bootlegs, live concerts, everything. From Zeppelin to Deep Purple. I started listening to grand funk I believe 2 years ago when I was 16. The theme I noticed, is whenever I dug super deep into a band, say zeppelin, there’s SO many stories and tales about them. Easy as they are one of the biggest bands during the 70s. Same with deep purple. That’s so much information about them. But with grand funk, I noticed so quickly they are not known at all by anyone nowadays. Sure, maybe “We’re an American Band,” but aside from that, I have yet to encounter a kid around my age to even know of their existence. And that’s devastating to me. I loved the red album as well as E pluribus funk.
This band was the soundtrack of my high school years. I remember my friends and I jamming to I'm Your Captain when we were beginner guitarists. Great band with some great music.
Seen them in 1973 and Mark in 1986 ,Mark is the driving force and noone out rocked or grooved better than this band, especially Live , should a been in RRHIF years ago, pretty sad, for noone was better! Don't know why they never got in, for they deserve to be in more than anyone!
@@Arturo-sm1tb not a stretch, I lived in LA during the 60s-70s saw every band that toured. I'm a musician and so are my friends who saw them. For a trio they were the very best live band, they got every one out of there seats and rocking.
I saw them live back in 1996 on what would turn out to be Mark Farner's last tour with them. They were still a great live band that could get people up and dancing in the aisles. I find it disturbing to hear how Farner was forced out of the band by Don and Mel even though he was the driving force behind much of their music. Without Mark it is just not the same band. A locomotive failing to produce steam any more. My apologies to Don and Mel, but you guys could still be a great live band today had you not decided to jettison Mark out of the picture.
I think the original lineup toured until 1998. I last saw them in 1997. Don is squashing any chance of a reunion for ridiculously stupid and selfish reasons 🙄
@@steverherb I saw them on that tour here in NYC/Long Island in 98 as well. The Westbury Music Fair was the venue. I had seen them originally at Madison Square Garden in NYC in 72. One could make the argument the 98 show was actually better than the 72 show and that show was great. It is a pity that Brewer and Schacher took advantage of Farner and legally pushed him out of the band. What they call Grand Funk now is nothing more than a poor tribute band. I've heard them here on RU-vid and they should be embarrassed. The funny thing is I have seen Farner interviewed in the last couple years and when asked if there would be a reunion of the three he said he was open to it but it was up to the other two!!! A testament to his Christian Faith to forgive the egregious wrong done to him. Farner still tours with his own band who have been with him for years, playing his own solo music as well as plenty of Grand Funk hits. He has income from touring what I imagine to be a modest income. He still gets royalties from every Grand Funk Album sale but there too probably not a lot seeing as they can't be selling many these days. He's got a total net worth of 16 million so he's set for life and with his modestt lifestyle he has no financial worries. Amazing how God has provided for him even when the others looked to do him in!!!! Grand Funk isn;t Grand Funk w/o Mark Farner!
Born to die Survival and We're an american band are MASTERPIECES!!! The incredible high pitched soulful voice of Mark Farner is one of the best EVER!!!!
@@kevhead1525 Hey, I didn't think of that! Hey, I didn't think of that! Hey, I didn't think of that! Hey, I didn't think of that! Hey, I didn't think of that! Hey, I didn't think of that!
One of the great power trios of all time, Mark Farner is a world musical treasure, the work horse, the fabric that wove the band together, cant say enough about "grand funk railroad, love them, still listen to them on, special get togethers, reunions, or just kicking back on the deck with a cold one, listening to Mark & grand Funk while watching the grand kids play, awesome, feelin allright,,WOW!!!
Grew up in a little town just west of Fenton, Michigan. Whenever we heard the train horn, we would jump on our Sting Rays and watch another Grand Trunk go by. Sometimes the crew on the caboose would throw us big sticks of yellow chalk, that we decorated our driveways with. When Grand Funk Railroad came along some years later, we knew exactly where the inspiration came from. And yes, "We're an American Band" was a monster hit, and still a favorite!
And they wrote a song[ We're An American Band] to " SWEET SWEET CONNIE" from my hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas.Connie Hamzy passed away 💔 August 21, 2021 at age 66 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The very sad part Connie being a rock n roll GROUPIE, and one of the most famous; she died in a very run down home barely 580 square feet and in hospice.
Pretty sad to be remembered as the babe whose claim to fame was that she was the Blow Job Queen to the rock stars of the 70's. Grand Funk should have cut her a royalty check
I met her in St Louis county one night at a bar where they (short lived play famous RnR bands) she was nice. I liked her. Didn't they have her on some show like Sally Jesse Rafael back in the late 80's ,early 90's. Sad really, but it's always a sad day when someone is taken who's a decent person.
My future wife and I saw them at Pirates World in Dania Beach Florida in March of 1971. Great concert. Always loved um. Thanks for this interesting and educational post. P.S. We saw Frank Zappa at the Miami Pop Festival 1968. Frank was great also.
Cool video. When I was coming up Grand Funk was huge. E-Pluribus-Funk was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I will take exception with the idea that Elton John and Grand Funk stepped in to fill the vacuum left by the Beatles in 1970. Grand Funk was there for sure but Elton didn't start making an impact until a few years later. Back in the early 70s, Grand Funk, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Guess Who were jockeying for the top spot. At least in my circles. That was a great time to come of age as far as music went and when I hear anything from those bands it always triggers some memory of that time. Good old Michigan rock and roll. Grand Funk is right up there with Bob Seger, the MC Five, and all the Motown artists who played venues like the Grande Ballroom and the Michigan Palace, back when two bucks got you a decent seat. Kick out the jams and let that foot-stompin music take you down that long and lonesome highway.
The RRHOF is a private endeavor by a group of individuals. Basically, it’s a cash cow for these very shrewd folks, and they maintain control over the whole event. They choose who is nominated, when they’re nominated, and what they do at the ceremony, including how many family members they are allowed to invite free of admission charge. Furthermore, they also choose who will be excluded, as in barred, from their hallowed halls. It’s not an objective chronicle of the important contributors to the rock and roll genre, as I’m sure everyone already can surmise. I believe that there should be a legitimate institution dedicated to the cause. I’m not aware of any such undertaking, so I apologize if I’m wrong about that.
i was a clerk (in the rear with the gear) for all of 1970.....cannot remember exactly how now but i wound up with a portable record player and one record along with a pet spider monkey.....that record was grand funk.....i played it thousands of times and turned many g.i.s on to this new type of music....followed their sounds for years and still pull them out to rock with....
Gotta work on the narration. We know who this video is about. Don't begin so many sentences with "Grand Funk Railroad". It's redundant. Maybe something like "From there, the band.." or "next, the trio went on to.."
I was in a band we called, "Tyne Kyte" out of north Indiana and when we played Ohio I got to sing lead on "Inside Looking Out". LOve that song and the college editor interviewed me for the paper. Cool chick too!. 1970..yepper I am an old rocker 73 today.
I was too young to see grand funk live , but I heard hit after hit on the radio, later I saw the band in 2019 and they were fantastic, they played all their big hits as I remember hearing as a boy , very impressive
Pat wow ever lucky to have known Mark Farner.I feel like I do , too,because looking back; he was one of the biggest influences in my life , if not the biggest.I’m 63,GRAND FUNK is #1 to me since 1971 when I first heard them. Richard Flint+ Lincoln Winnipeg, Manitoba Can.
First heard GFR in Nacogdoches Texas about 1972?. I was 11. They played in old Shelton Gym on the campus of SFA, along with Three Dog Night or Doobie Brothers (I can't remember which one). I still remember how loud they were, how much pot smoke there was, and how incredible these three men were. Even an 11 year old can recognize stone cold ROCK&ROLL when it is this good, and wow were they good!
My Three Dog Night live at Colyseum in mint condition was stealed from my home some 20 years ago, The Byrds, Queen, Pink Floyd - almost complete collection, who knows what more...
On one side of the bridge, the logo said Grand Trunk Western R.R. originally then was changed to Grand Funk R.R. later. The other side of the bridge still shows a very faded Grand Trunk Western R.R. logo (at 2302 Fenton Rd Flint Michigan). So perhaps the name came from the railroad but the logo was there prior to the formation of the band.
It just amazes me the amount of out put artists produced back then. And remember artists were writing their own songs. Now artists can't put out anything worth a nickel and that takes years between any new output
What happened to Grand Funk Railroad is they went "strictly commercial" when they released "E Pluribus Funk." I often use that album as a milestone marking the end of the Classic Rock Era. Then when they covered "Loco-motion", they'd truly lost their way. I still pull out the old stuff though now and then. The Live album was great, "Paranoid;:, "inside Lookin' Out." et al, Great stuff.
The Live Album version of Mark Says Alright is phenomenal. Even though I didn't have a stereo player, the old Motorola player had great sound, especially when I used the album cover for a reflector. You could feel the crowd winding up as Mark finally said Alright!
I saw Farner play, with one of the other grand funk members, in his Christian rock band (in about 1994 i think). They did some of the grand funk classics.
I've met Mark a few times, just a great guy and his wife Lisa is a sweetheart. I'm a huge GFR fan since I saw them in 1970 in San Antonio, Texas with Bloodrock opening up.
Please, please redo the narration of this video! It's painful to listen to "Grand Funk Railroad" being repeated over and over again. I'm a huge GFR fan, and I hope you will take some friendly advise from me, and some others commenting about the same thing. 😀
Agreed - worst narration I’ve ever heard about anything. Stilted, wooden, repetitive (a massive understatement, that), monotone. Sounds like a not very good computer did it.
I agree. Every sentence began with the band's name. Actually sounded like he recorded it in pieces, and then edited it together. Needs to be edited, and re-voiced.
Great band live, one of the all time best from the U. S. A. !! Seen them live when i was in the Army stationed at Fort Bragg, N. C. i am not sure if it was 1971 or 1972. Because we were smoking, drinking and eating some pills that made you see some things that were not real, if you know what i mean. i have one CD of GFR , greatest hit, love every thing they ever played !! City of Winston - Salem north east of Bragg. smaller arena sounded fantastic !!
Solamente juntos todos los miembros de la banda, son la mejor banda Americana de los 70s. En México los recordaremos siempre El buen y auténtico Rock and Roll Americano! Saludos desde México.
What happened? They made three insanely great albums and then ran out of gas. They gained huge success and continued to try and keep it with increasingly commercial (and less inspired) music. They managed a big hit written by Don and a moderate hit cover song sung by Don. In later years Don saw himself as the main man, screwed Mark out of ownership and went out with pick up musicians under the Grand Funk name so he could make a few extra bucks. That was lame, wrong and disappointing and that's where it stands today.
They were a huge hit and a 3 man band at first . It was raw heavy and good . As teenagers we listened to all albums on 8 track stereo Awesome times . Music of our youth . Still listen to them .
What happened to Grand Funk was Mark Farner is a good dude and a Christian who tries to see the best in people,and he trusted Don and Mel just like he trusted Terry Knight
OK, I'll add my experience. I used to go watch "Terry Knight And the Pack" at Mt. Holly. Never missed a time when they were there. I was 15. So many times I would go see them in venues with less than 100. I feel blessed to have those memories.
I'm thinking the biggest thing that happened to Grand Funk would be the problems that led to the band's songwriter/guitarist/singer/etc to no longer be a part of the band. I was actually hoping for an overall explanation of that, but it didn't even come up. To clarify, for me and a lot of other original Grand Funk fans, without Mark Farner, there *is no* Grand Funk. Him, I'd love to see in concert now. The act currently known as Grand Funk, I'm not sure I'd walk down the street for a free concert.
They got so screwed over on their royalties they had no choice but to split up. Their contract paid them 9 cents on the dollar for every album sold. That's 3 cents each. If a record sold for $3.00 in 1974, they only earned less than 10 cents per album for each member. And don't even get started on touring, most bands got ripped off from just about every tour they engaged in. Sabbath got paid 100k for one show in California in 1974 but were told they were only paid 10k. Their managers got the remaining 90k. The music biz was one big con game from the mid 1960s until the early 1980s.
Foot Stomping Music is my favorite Grand Funk Railroad song. I loved the album cover that was shaped like a silver dollar. It was a unique design for an album cover. I still remember when the album was released. I was a senior in high school when it was released in 1971. They were great singers and musicians !! If anyone knows what became of the band members, especially Mark Farner, please leave your answer in the comments section. 😊
I really appreciate that almost every sentence of the narration starts with the words Grand Funk Railroad. Its a steady reminder of the fact that yes! you are watching a video about GRAND FUNK RAILROAD
Terry Knight screwed the guys royally.. but they soldiered on. I prefer their earlier music up to E Pluribus Funk..Phoenix was a departure into a more pop direction..also, those earlier albums were led by Mark, who wrote 90% of the material..from We're An American Band on, Don took a more prominent role. After the Bosnia album/tour, Mark was basically kicked out of GFR by Don & Mel after signing away any rights he had to the band, which was done on the downlow. ( This is in his own words, if you want to look up the RU-vid videos.) GFR without Mark is nothing more than a tribute band, in my opinion.
The Survival Album ... Shaped my life ... By far the best album of all their offerings.... During the Vietnam war they were a long with black Sabbath my connection with sanity ...
Yup, they took me to Canada rather than 'Nam - I don't want to kill anyone. My life motto for years has been love everyone, serve everyone. But you know it don't come easy!
Sometime in the very early '70s my older brother had the GFR Live album on 8-track. I fell in love with that sound and have been a fan ever since. Seen them in concert in 1975 and 2-3 times since 1996 without Mark (just not the same). Caught Mark live around 2006 and again in 2019. He's still got it! One of the best bands ever from the USA! R'nR Hall of Fame, what the hell is wrong with you people??
I wrote a letter to them when I was 11yr old telling them how good they was n the survival album was my favorite album. They sent me back a 8by12 glossy photo picture of the picture on the front of the survival album. I thought that was awesome of them to do that I loved them even more!!❤
Grand Funk Railroad was the best rock band and the greatest live rock act between the years 1969-1975, it's no wonder that already in 1971 they outsold the Beatles with sales on Shea Stadium, while it took the Beatles 78 days to sell one show, 55,000 tickets, it took only 72 hours for Grand Funk Railroad to sell 110,000 tickets, two full shows, and we have to remember that the Beatles were at their height of the beatlemania while GFR was a new band, GFR had two songs that got to number one on the billboard charts while Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple didn't have any song that got to number one, while Black Sabbath is my favorite heavy metal band, GFR is my favorite rock band, thanks for sharing.
@@nelsonacosta961 As you said, it's Paul Mccartney, he was and still is the most successful member in his solo career after the Beatles disbanded and he had a great success and great albums with the band Wings in the seventies, the fact that he was a member of the Beatles is just a bonus, his live tour with Wings in 1976 was one of the most successful tours in the seventies, i believe that at that tour alone he had more shows than the Beatles had in all their career, the Beatles stopped with live shows in 1965 so they didn't have too many live shows, i saw Paul Mccartney live in 2008, the show was very enjoyable, most of the songs were from his solo albums or from Wings albums, only a few songs were of the Beatles, as i said, Paul Mccartney is great because of himself, the fact that he was in the Beatles is just a bonus, and finally i have a good lesson for life, money is not everything in life!!!
The first rock concert that I ever saw was GFR at Madison Square Garden with Suzie Quatro as the opener. I think it was in 1971. I was in eighth grade.
As crazy as it sounds, I get Grand Funk, and The James Gang, confused. They were similar in a number of ways, both American, straightforward rock bands that began as power trios.
Played the live album non stop in the early ‘70’s while in high school. I still have and play that same album, along with their others. Saw them live in ‘73 at the university of Cincinnati. It’s a farce that they are not in the rock and roll HOF. If they ever make it, image when they hit the stage to play after their induction.
Thanks for another great video. Saw them at the Montreal Forum around 1970. I did not know about the Zappa connection. I have a suggestion for a future subject: Three Dog Night, unless you've already done it.
Rolling Stone magazine had a policy to trash them. For each of their first 3 albums, at least, the magazine wrote one short paragraph with nothing but sniffy put-downs. The attitude of the reviewer was always "You're nothing, you're ridiculous trash." I believe it caused distress to Farner and crew. Rolling Stone had the same approach to Led Zeppelin for a while. It was, you know, "How dare these White Gentile boys play and sing like bluesmen."
I think it was the critic from the Chicago Sun Times wrote " Any band that sings about making up nickel bags can't be trusted with our children" I knew right then they were my favorite.I was 15. Good times. High times.
Narrator, do you have to say "Grand Funk Railroad" at the start of every sentence? To tell you the truth I can't take it anymore and am leaving after 3 minutes. PS pretty much everyone who knows them called them Grand Funk...the Railroad got jettisoned in 1970 or thereabouts.
New wife and I in May 75, picked "Bad Time" to be our unofficial wedding song...was in the Army overseas then, got a 2 week leave came home got married had to go back without her--"Sure picked -a Bad Time To be In Love".....saw them play Live in 74 in Germany...oh my can they play loud, long and with passion. Thanks for the Memories and the Marriage.,
My brother bought me Grand Funk's _Survival_ album for my 15th birthday in 1973. I thought it was a joke, these dirty kind of degenerate looking guys hanging out in a cave with a bunch of bones. Even though it wasn't really the kind of music I listened to back then, I was peasantly surprised. I enjoyed that album all through the 1970s.