Grand Funk Railroad
Shinin' On
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When we bought rock in the Sixties, we got personality with it. The American rock-group pantheon of the last decade — such as the Band, the Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly and the Family Stone, perhaps the Grateful Dead — included strong individual leaders — Robbie Robertson, Roger McGuinn, John Fogerty, Sly Stone and Jerry Garcia. Now, five years after Woodstock, the American supergroup, as represented by Chicago, Three Dog Night and Grand Funk Railroad, is in crisis. As befits a form honoring the adolescent in us all, the supergroup is having an identity crisis. Chicago conjures up nothing but a logo (perhaps the best artist-marketing device in rock),
Read More that Coke-like signature that dominates their nearly identical album covers. And try as they may, Three Dog Night seems like more of a sound than a group. After five years of gold albums and singles, and endless SRO arena-sized concert tours, who but their closest relatives and staunchest fans recognize photographs of Lee Loughnane and Jimmy Greenspoon? Who knows which group each of them is in? And the music of both groups is as faceless as their members. Chicago derives its sound from Stan Getz and cool jazz, big, brassy dance bands, all mixed with the latest in technologically advanced but anonymous recording styles. Three Dog Night is the descendant of the early Sixties Tin Pan Alley pop-rock that Dylan helped to destroy. Though some of their work is pleasant, the group is an anachronism, a vehicle for songwriters in an age when songwriters are their own best vehicle. Grand Funk Ubermensch Though Grand Funk has its own problems, they are, at least, a rock band — while Chicago and Three Dog Night are not. When Grand Funk jettisoned manager/producer Terry Knight, who had provided them with a perhaps spurious, but effective persona — the Rock & Roll Ubermensch — they too found themselves without a personality. But with a recognized leader, Mark Farner, they quickly and smartly retreated to the homiletic "We're an American Band," rekindling the connections between their craft and the traditions founded by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and their contemporaries. Chicago and Three Dog Night simply can't make those connections, because they are too rooted in pop traditions, as opposed to rock tradition. But pop is also a commodity, rock is now merging into pop, and all three of these bands are pop in that sense and popularizers as well. Their audiences are comprised primarily of people who didn't experience the pre-Woodstock rock explosion firsthand and who do not sense these groups' inauthenticity. Part of the post-Woodstock idea presumes that the previous era was somehow magically superior to the present. Whether or not that's true — I think it is too soon to tell — the result has been instant nostalgia. Thus, Grand Funk is a power trio (now a quarter) for those who missed Cream; Three Dog
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