About Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner , Don Brewer and Mel Schacher . The band achieved peak popularity and success during the 1970s with hit songs such as "We're an American Band", "I'm Your Captain ", "Some Kind of Wonderful" , "Walk Like a Man", "The Loco-Motion" , "Bad Time" and "Inside Looking Out" . Grand Funk released six platinum and seven gold-certified albums between their recording debut in 1969 and their first disbandment in 1976.
Known for a crowd-pleasing arena rock style, the band toured extensively and played to packed arenas worldwide, and was well-regarded by audiences despite a relative lack of critical praise. The original trio reunited at various times later into the band's career; after Farner's final departure in 1998, Brewer and Schacher have continued touring as Grand Funk Railroad.
Grand Funk Railroad was formed as a trio in 1969 by Mark Farner and Don Brewer from Terry Knight and the Pack and Mel Schacher from Question Mark & the Mysterians. Terry Knight, after being approached by Brewer, soon became the band's manager and also named the band originally "Grand Trunk Railroad" as a play on words for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known rail line in Michigan. The railroad objected to the use of their name and the band was forced to change the name to Grand Funk Railroad.
Mark Farner talks of the circumstances leading up to the formation of Grand Funk Railroad:
"We were actually a five-piece, I was the singer, there were four other musicians , but I wasn't playing anything in that band, the Fabulous Pack . I just stood up front and sang. We got waylaid; we were out in Cape Cod in a summer beach house, a little cabin, and it was winter. We had the worst snowstorm in the history of the world and we got stranded there for weeks in February of 1969. We were melting down snow to have water to drink and mix with our oatmeal that didn't have any butter or sugar and that's all we were living on. These two other players were married. When we got home , the two guys that were married, their wives were gonna divorce them and the band broke up. We got all these gigs coming up and now we don't have a band. I said, 'We ought just do a three-piece' and Don said, 'Do you think we can?' And I said, 'If we get the right bass player we can.' We started looking and went out to Delta Promotions in Bay City where this company that sent us out to the Boston area to do these gigs and we were going to give them a piece of our minds. But while we were sitting in the outer office waiting to get in, there was somebody in their rehearsal hall playing. You couldn't hear it very good, but you could feel the bass coming through the wall and I said, 'Ooh, listen to that bass player, that guy's getting down under that. We gotta see who that is.'
"So, they took a break and it was ? and the Mysterians and Mel Schacher was playing bass. Mel and I had grown up together, rode dirt bikes, hung out together and I said, 'Mel, are you playing with him now?' and he said, 'Yeah, but I'm not liking it.' I said, 'Brewer and I were talking about putting together a three-piece. Would you be interested in being the bass player?' He said, 'Hell, yeah, when are you gonna do it?' and I said, 'Next week we're gonna start.' We joined the Flint Federation of Musicians on Avril Street. A lot of the first album was written, right there in that Union Hall."
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