Grand Funk Railroad |
In spite of seething critical hatred -- Robert Christgau, for one, equated Mark Farner's guitar solo in "Loco-Motion" to the flushing of a toilet -- Grand Funk were one of the most popular rock groups of the 1970s, combining massive guitar riffs with pure pop hooks and a bare-chested macho man image. There wasn't anything very funky about them, but they sure knew how to write big, fat arena-rock anthems with choruses you could really grab onto. Their 1969 debut On Time is a prime example of the nascent post-psychedelic, Zeppelin-rock scene and a harbinger of heavier metal things to come. By the early '70s, on the strength of one platinum record after another and a reputation as the best live show around, they were huge. "We're an American Band," "Some Kind of Wonderful" and the tripped-out seafaring epic "Closer To Home (I'm Your Captain)" are staples of the Classic Rock radio format to this day, and, true to radio-fare form, if you've heard them once you probably know them by heart. Like much of the most indulgent music of the '70s, Grand Funk's particular brand of blues-bolstered R-O-C-K is so perfectly tailored to high volumes -- car radios in particular -- that it's indispensable on those nights when you're driving around with the top down, looking for triple shots and album sides.Find Grand Funk Railroad cds and Grand Funk Railroad records on Capitol Records. |
