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Grand Funk Railroad

Grand Funk Railroad

52 articles

Audio interviews

Grand Funk Railroad's Don Brewer (2004)

Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2004

Grand Funk sticksman Don Brewer talks about mega-hit 'We're An American Band', choosing cover versions, and being produced by Todd Rundgren and Frank Zappa.

File format: mp3; file size: 10.2mb, interview length: 22' 11" sound quality: * (phoner)

List of articles in the library

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Grand Funk Railroad Arrive in Detroit for First Visit

Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 25 July 1969

THE STIGMA "local group" has been slapped on many bands and as a result several great groups have found themselves confined to their home territory. ...

Humble Pie, Grand Funk Railroad: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1969

England's Humble Pie Here on First U.S. Tour ...

Sly & the Family Stone, Grand Funk Railroad: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 17 February 1970

Sly and Family Survive Rush Down the Garden Paths ...

Grand Funk Railroad: The Bigtime Rock Band That's Ignored Back Home in Detroit

Report and Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 17 May 1970

THERE'S NOTHING small-time about Detroit in the music business. More and more, record company executives come here first to tap talent. They know it's here. ...

Grand Funk Railroad, Ten Years After, Pacific Gas & Electric: Forum, Inglewood CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 1970

Grand Funk, Other Rock Groups on Stage ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 2 August 1970

Grand Funk Railroad Pleases A Full House at Fillmore East ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Hot Group Gets the Cold Shoulder at Home

Report by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 24 November 1970

REST OF U.S. RIOTS OVER GRAND FUNK ...

Grand Funk Railroad

Profile by Danny Goldberg, Circus, January 1971

ODDLY ENOUGH, the first question that come to mind writing about Grand Funk Railroad is, why don't people like them? This is followed quickly – ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Live Album

Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 7 January 1971

"IT'S GOOD... ’cause, like, their music is getting better and better all the time, it’s like, you know, what people want to hear." ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

Grand Flunk Railroad ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971

AMERICA'S Grand Funk Railroad were virtually unknown in Britain until a few weeks ago and let's hope they revert to this former state. It was ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Grand Funk — Or Bunk?

Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 6 February 1971

RESENTMENT from the critics is something that Grand Funk Railroad are having to live with in the United States, but the pill is made the ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Live (Capitol, stereo, E-STDW.1/2, £3.10)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971

NEVER TAKE sweets from a stranger and never accept albums from a grinning assistant editor. For, with almost Machiavellian delight, our beloved John Wells, walked ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Forum, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Creem, May 1971

WHAT A WAY TO RUN A RAILROAD ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Shea Stadium, Brooklyn NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 10 July 1971

THE MAMMOTH Grand Funk Railroad concert last night before 55,000 people at Shea Stadium was really a spectacle, not a concert. ...

Grand Funk Railroad, Humble Pie: Shea Stadium, Queens NY

Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971

Beatles Still Hold Record ...

Is this the end of the festival?

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 17 July 1971

LAST WEEK was not a very nice week for rock music. ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Survival (Capitol)

Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, August 1971

GRAND FUNK are a real good group. A lot of media critics don't like them, they say they're not real artists and that they just ...

To Live Outside the Law You Must Be Honest

Report by Lenny Kaye, Creem, November 1971

Mark, Don, Mel, and Terry at Shea: Give Peace a Chance, Love Conquers All, Get Funked ...

Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk (Capitol EA-SW 853; £2.40)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 18 December 1971

NOT ENOUGH FUNK! ...

Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk (Capitol)

Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 January 1972

It's time to admit we were wrong about Grand Funk. Oh, we were right too, but wrong just the same. Those three or four (I ...

Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 6 January 1972

HAD GRAND FUNK listened more to the Standells and less to Cream, they might have turned out to be a really great group. The background ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Mark, Don & Mel

Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 22 June 1972

VIRTUALLY EVERY practicing rock critic worth his sneer, of course, has sought to explicate Grand Funk's ascent to commercial ultra-gargantuanity over countless identically horrible Cream ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Track On! The Best of Mark Farner, Terry Knight & Donnie Brewer

Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 22 June 1972

WOW, TALK ABOUT obscure rock history! Do you care that Mark Farner was once in a group called the Bossmen? Do you think the average ...

The Case for Grand Funk Railroad

Profile and Interview by Metal Mike Saunders, Fusion, December 1972

I HEARD Grand Funk’s first album for the first time in November, 1969. I was a freshman in college and a friend down the hall ...

Grand Funk's Thin Din

Comment by Loraine Alterman, The New York Times, 24 December 1972

THEY'RE too loud. Their playing is mediocre. They can't sing – all war cries for a cobweb-brained establishment confronted with rock-music it can't understand. ...

Grand Funk Railroad, Freddie King: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 25 December 1972

Grand Funk Railroad Steams Into the Garden at Full Throttle ...

Grand Funk Railroad

Profile by Metal Mike Saunders, bio, Capitol Records, 1973

"The live concerts, that’s what we enjoy most of all. You see the group, you see a performance, and that’s where we’re at." (Mark Farner) ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Isn't Life Grand!

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 10 November 1973

THEY said it would never happen. ...

Grand Funk Railroad: 'I Know You'll Get To Like It If You Give It A Chance Now'

Profile and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, 1 April 1974

A BRISK, ICY WIND was blowing through the overcast skies of Flint, Michigan as the members of Grand Funk Railroad arrived at Whiting Auditorium for ...

Knight & Funk: The Bleat Goes On

Report and Interview by Ian Dove, Rolling Stone, 11 April 1974

Lawsuits Settled ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Funk On A Grand Scale

Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974

RINGING EARS are a symptom of excessive listening to loud rock and roll. When the ears tingle after a gig, you know the band in ...

Grand Funk Railroad: All The Girls In The World Beware!!

Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, January 1975

MEET THE 1975 Grand Funk. If you liked the 1974 model, you're gonna love this one. The all-new features include an elaborate new cover motif ...

Grand Funk - All the Girls in the World Beware

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

...I GOT TAR on my teeth but I don't care/I got dark brown stains in my underwear... ...

Grand Funk Railroad: All The Girls In The World Beware

Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 27 March 1975

IT'S A MEASURE OF Grand Funk's less than overwhelming critical acceptance that the chief topic of interest for most reviewers has been the band's current ...

Grand Funk at Wembley Stadium

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975

LORD, LORD, WHY hast thou forsaken me? ...

Grand Funk: Super Patriots Come Clean And Still Manage To Till Some Dirt

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, July 1975

You're just hangin' out In the local bar And you're wonderin' who in the hell you are Are you a farmer? Are you a star? ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Caught In The Act (Capitol)

Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1975

IF GRAND FUNK was once a publicist’s tool, this new live album shows the extent to which they have become a producer’s tool. If once ...

Grand Funk Railroad: We're an American Band

Retrospective by Lenny Kaye, The History of Rock, 1983

If there was any group that polarised rock opinion, it was the blunt, effective power trio, Grand Funk railroad. Bypassing the ruling elite of 'progressive' ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Kiel Center, St Louis

Live Review by Paul Yamada, Concert News, July 1984

IT WAS OBVIOUS that this was what the crowd was waiting for; they had tried to be totally oblivious to the first band, Wet Willie, ...

Mark Farner

Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1989

"THE TRUE JOY that I have now comes from knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord, and rendering my life in servitude to ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles

Live Review by Bill Holdship, MOJO, August 1997

IT'S TOUGH to be hip all the time, or as Brian Wilson once said, "sometimes it hurts your head". So it wasn't at all unpleasant ...

Funk Revival: An Interview with Mark Farner

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 19 March 1998

IT'S EASY TO forget now just how huge Grand Funk Railroad was during its '70s heyday. ...

Grand Funk Railroad: The Band that Killed Rock 'n' Roll

Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 10 April 2000

AMONG CULTURAL HISTORIANS, it has long been an article of faith that the '60s dream died in an ugly bar fight at Altamont Speedway in ...

An Interview with Bruce Kulick

Interview by Joe Matera, Powerplay, 2002

Former KISS six-stringer Bruce Kulick needs no introduction. He is a well-respected musician, songwriter and guitarist in his own right. After his stint in one ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Train in Vain?

Report and Interview by Fred Mills, Seattle Weekly, 14 August 2002

APRIL 26, 1996, the State Theatre, Detroit: Grand Funk Railroad are onstage together for the first time in two decades, accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award ...

Still In A Grand Funk: How The Boys From Flint Exploded, Imploded & Still Haven't Patched Things Up

Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Detroit Metro Times, 14 August 2002

IT'S A SUNNY spring morning in the Motor City but the wind whipping across the Detroit River makes it feel a lot more like winter. ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Hot Rails To Hell

Retrospective and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, October 2003

They were America's biggest band. Live they outsold The Beatles. Then they sued their manager. Dave DiMartino charts the remarkable highs and ridiculous lows of ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Get The Funk Out

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Makowski, Classic Rock, October 2005

WHO THE hell are Grand Funk Railroad? More to the point, why should we even care who they are? These are pertinent questions for any ...

Grand Funk Railroad: We're An American Band

Retrospective and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, July 2010

Grand Funk Railroad shared drugs with Hendrix, helped Janis Joplin play tricks on the Stones, immortalised groupies, worked with Zappa and Rundgren, had the most ...

Grand Funk Railroad: We're an American Band

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, July 2010

Grand Funk Railroad shared drugs with Hendrix, helped Janis Joplin play tricks on the Stones, immortalised groupies, worked with Zappa and Rundgren, had the most ...

see also Terry Knight & the Pack

see also Bruce Kulick

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