Grand Funk Railroad released their sixth album, “E Pluribus Funk”, today in 1971. The album reached #5 on the album chart and spawned a Top 40 single “Footstompin’ Music”. GFR was an enormous band in the 1970s and they are a glaring omission at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
GFR started in Flint, You Know Where in 1969. Originally formed as a three-piece consisting of Mark Farner on guitar and vocals, Don Brewer on drums and vocals and Mel Schacher on bass, GFR would add more members as the years passed. The band released nine studio albums and two live albums between 1969 and 1974 and every single one of them made the Top 40 album chart.
For some reason the press had an indifferent or antagonistic attitude toward GFR, despite their massive popularity. The band sold out Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles and sold millions of albums and concert tickets around the world. The rhythm section of Brewer and Schacher was one of the best of the 70s though Homer Simpson undersold it a bit when he explained GFR to his kids thusly, "Nobody knows the band Grand Funk? The wild, shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The competent drum work of Don Brewer?"
Perhaps therein lies the answer as to why GFR has been snubbed by the Rock Hall. The band appealed more to the Homers of the country – the bluecollar, shot and a beer kind of rock fan – than to the apricot ascot-wearing critics of the 1970s.
(Note to 11W member BuckeyeCWRU, this is not a funk album nor a funk band.)
“No Lies”:
“E Pluribus Funk” full album:
Homer Simpson on Grand Funk:
