Versatile, virtuosic, and blessed with a formidable work ethic, famend arena-rockers Grand Funk Railroad quickly rose to prominence. Shaped in Flint, Michigan, by lead guitarist/vocalist Mark Farner and drummer/co-vocalist Don Brewer, the band’s preliminary line-up was accomplished by ex-? & The Mysterians bassist Mel Schacher, and an acclaimed early efficiency at 1969’s Atlanta Pop Competition led to them securing a cope with Capitol. The perma-gigging trio maintained a big cult following throughout the early 70s.
Their 1969 debut, On Time, went gold in North America, whereas in 1971 GFR bought out New York’s Shea Stadium: their 55,000-plus ticket gross sales seemingly equalling the distinguished venue’s earlier attendance report set by The Beatles in August 1965. All Grand Funk’s early LPs had been stable sellers, and their sixth, 1972’s self-produced Phoenix (recorded after the group recruited keyboardist Craig Frost) earned them one other well-deserved gold disc. Nonetheless, whereas the band’s profession apparently remained on an upward trajectory, there have been issues behind the scenes. As they wrote the songs for his or her seventh LP, We’re An American Band, GFR had been beset by administration and finance-related points, they usually knew successful report was paramount for his or her survival.
Take heed to We’re An American Band and extra basic rock hits in spatial audio now.
“Music was changing and so was radio, it was getting a lot poppier,” revealed Don Brewer. “We had to make this conversion from being the FM underground band to being a hit radio band. Our very career and financial lives depended on it.”
The person GFR rightly believed had the smarts to get them on mainstream radio was manufacturing wunderkind Todd Rundgren, contemporary from the discharge of his acclaimed double LP, One thing/Something? Gladly accepting Grand Funk’s request, Rundgren duly oversaw the album classes, which befell at Miami’s Standards Studios over simply three days in June 1973.
Launched the next month, on July fifteenth, We’re An American Band oozed with confidence, angle, and radio-friendly accessibility. Peaking at No.2 on the Billboard 200 and going platinum, the report featured evergreen favorites equivalent to “Stop Lookin’ Back” and the sultry “Black Licorice,” however its twin peaks had been absolutely its breakout US hits “Walk Like A Man” and the irrepressibly catchy, chart-topping titular music.
Considered one of music’s really seminal feel-good anthems, it’s now laborious to think about the rock’n’roll world with out “We’re An American Band,” but because the music’s creator Don Brewer recollects, he by no means envisaged it will find yourself defining GFR’s oeuvre: “I played these little two strings on my guitar when I was writing songs and every chord I knew was in that song,” he says with relish. “I didn’t think ‘We’re An American Band’ would be the anthem it would end up being. I remember the people from Capitol hearing it and jumping up and down with excitement, so I knew it had something, but I had no idea just how good it really was!”
Fortunately, the remainder of the world knew precisely how good it was. And its supply stays one in all Grand Funk Railroad’s greatest albums.
We’re An American Band will be purchased right here.
