An American Band: The Story of Grand Funk Railroad

by Billy James

Grand Funk Railroad were one of the biggest US rock 'n' roll acts of the 70s. Initially coming to prominence following the band's performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival, they sold millions of records and played to sold out arenas the world over. A hard working, no-nonsense power trio fronted by the energetic showmanship of Mark Farner, they were often cited as the loudest rock and roll band in the world. In an era dominated by progressive rock, Grand Funk faired badly with critics, but the public, especially in America, had no such problem in adopting them as their favourite band. This authorized biography details how the band rose to stardom and captured America's heart.

Genres: Music

189 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

Reviews

[Bob Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grand Funk was a huge band before I began my love for music. I guess they were more my older brother's band then mine, but because of his influence, I always knew the GF song catalogue. In the mid-80's I became a real GF fan and thought they were as good a band as any I was listening to at the time. To this day, I listen to GF music along with all my other favorite bands.

This book told the story of their success over the course of a seven year run at the top. In three years they went from an unknown group of young guys to selling out Shea stadium faster than the Beatles did. A run of ten straight gold albums, three in one year, is unheard of in the music business. Since their rise to stardom came before I was old enough to join the party, it was really interesting to read about how successful a band they were.

I've always thought of Van Halen as America's band, but after reading about the success of Grand Funk, maybe we have to consider that GF was first to the top of the American rock mountain.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Due to its time of publication, this book does not include the details of the current situation of two of the band members evicting the most talented band member from the band, even legally barring him from playing the band's music, most of which he wrote. I suspect there's a lot of grist the band went thru that isn't discussed in this book.