Monday, September 29. 2008

Closer To Home - But Still No R&R Hall of Fame

Today marks the 60th birthday of Mr. Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad fame. Here's a fave of mine, "Closer to Home" from their historic 1971 Shea Stadium concert.

How these guys can not be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is beyond me, just shows how much of a meaningless joke the hall has become.

Enjoy!

SB

Posted by

Scott Blitstein

at 20:57 | 4 Comments

Defined tags for this entry: birthday, grand funk, mark farner

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In 1971 I'd never heard of GFR. At the time my interest in loud bombastic US Rock'n'Roll was limited to a live recording I had of Iron Butterfly's Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida. However I did stroll along to Hyde Park to see them supported by Humble Pie (my main reason for going)

http://members.fortunecity.com/timetortoise/hydepark-7-3-71.html

My main memory of GF was the speed with which the audience retreated from the 150% increase in dB levels half way through the first song. Then, with the first rank of the audience almost some 50 yds from the stage, they decided i t still wasn't load enough and added some mikes to the drum kit

I strolled away down the main drag of Rotten Row until I came to a boisterous crowd circling a huge tree under which a Guitar/Flute duo where busking merrily. After Humble Pie, this gentle pair provided the real highlight of the day.

It rather put me off GFR, and I've been pretty well off without them since. I even sold my IB album soon after.

Still, if we all liked the same things, what a boring old world this would be.

#1 Naryaxword (Homepage) on 2008-09-30 08:46 (Reply)

Great story. Humble Pie in Hyde Park - consider me insanely jealous.

GFR is a band that I have come to appreciate now much more than I used to.

Mark was playing at Navy Pier one night we were there and I thought it would be interesting to see him but we ended up passing. I think it would be a fun show.

SB

#1.1 Scott (Homepage) on 2008-09-30 13:01 (Reply)

What? YOu don't think CHIC deserves it more than GFR? I'm outraged!

I.Love.This.Song. LOTS!

#2 nat (Homepage) on 2008-09-30 11:09 (Reply)

Great song.

GFR isn't my favorite band, and they aren't the best band - but they epitomize Rock & Roll.

Rock & Roll is about attitude - I dare the HoF folks to get a set and choose artists that were influential even if they weren't Rolling Stone critical favorites.

SB

#2.1 Scott (Homepage) on 2008-09-30 15:21 (Reply)

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