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| Probably the most critically savaged successful band in rock history. ~The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock |
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 Emcee: Okay, it's all going to happen here in just a few minutes. Let's try to make a lot of room by everybody clearing the aisles as much as possible ... trying to make a ... a situation here where we can run this Grand Funk set without having to stop. Emcee: Clear the aisles as much as possible; we'll have those lights out this time. Emcee: We'll be ready to go in just a couple of minutes. Would you clear those aisles a little bit? We sure would appreciate it. Mark: Hey! I'm getting a shock off this mike. Mark: Hey, I keep getting a shock off this mike. Can you switch the ground, Don? I know it's a hell of a rush, but I can't take too many. Emcee: Here's the group you've been waiting to see: Grand Funk Railroad!
~"Introduction" - Live Album |
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| At this time last year, Grand Funk Railroad was merely three young men, unknown but to each other, pulling their new sound together in the obscurity of a brick rehearsal hall in their home town of Flint, Michigan. Today, the name Grand Funk Railroad means sell-out crowds and screaming, standing ovations in the largest, most respected concert halls in the country. ~Terry Knight, 1970 |
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 Well we got off on the wrong foot with the press. Our manager at the time, 1969, 70 and 71, was Terry Knight. Terry's way of promoting was to piss everybody off, bad press, good press, it didn't make any difference, it was press. So he created this thing like, the band's too good for you, you don't need to speak to them, I'm bringing this supergroup up here and I'm responsible for everything happening and you can only talk to me, and the press really hated that whole thing, that whole approach. So every chance they had to blast us, they did!~Don Brewer, 1998 |
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| We were really a garage band. If you put us up against Jimi Hendrix and Cream and those type of bands, we were really more of a garage band. We were really kids that were screwing around with being rock and roll musicians, and because of that kind of a sound that we had, I think the audience related to it, but the critics just couldn't relate to it. ~Don Brewer, 1998 |
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 I began playing guitar when I was fifteen. I ended up with water on the knee as a result of a football
injury. I was laid up for awhile so my mother bought me a guitar to help pass the time. At sixteen I began
playing in a local band and I had adopted a lot of the band habits. Eventually we started a three piece band
called Grand Funk Railroad.
~The Testiony of Mark Farner |
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| Ah ... brothers and sisters, there are people out there that look just like you or maybe ah ..., your brother ah ..., but they're not. And, when they hand you something, don't take it -- don't take it, okay? ~"Words Of Wisdom (Mark Farner)" - Live Album |
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 Talk about rock and roll being a business - Grand Funk Railroad Enterprises Limited has booked its group, the Grand Funk Railroad, onto a Times Square billboard for two months solid, at a total cost of $70,000. Paid for and conceived by the group and their manager, Terry Knight, the line below the larger than life reproductions of a stock publicity photo reads, "They are three of the new culture setting forth on its final voyage through a dying world . . . searching to find a way to bring us all closer to home." ~Circus, August 1970 |
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| THE AUDIENCE - what Grand Funk Railroad believe in most of all, getting the audience at it, moving them, exciting them, playing to them.
~Hit Parader, July 1971 |
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 Well, a major, major high point for me was selling out Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles and that was in '71. And flying over Shea Stadium in a helicopter with all these people waiting to see us. I mean that was definitely a rush!~Don Brewer, 1997 |
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| "A legend in their own time." ~Cashbox Magazine | ||
 Andy Warhol once said "art is anything you can get away with." For those who do not like Grand Funk, merely because they are loud and popular, try this suggestion: Draw down your shades, get a pair of earphones, sneak into another neighborhood, get ahold of a Grand Funk album, and listen to it.~Danny Goldberg (Circus), January 1971 | ||
 Nobody knows the band, Grand Funk? The wild shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bone-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The competent drum work of Don Brewer? Oh man! For more information on Grand Funk, consult your school library.~ Homer J. Simpson |
