Farner, Brewer and Schacher were given the rights to the name Grand Funk Railroad. Knight came out the clear winner with the copyrights and publisher's royalties to every Grand Funk recording made from March 1969 through March 1972, not to mention a large payoff in cash and oil wells. The legal battle with Knight lasted two years and ended when the band settled out of court. However, at that moment, the band members felt they had no choice but to continue and fight for the rights to their careers and name. In VH1's Behind the Music Grand Funk Railroad episode, Knight stated that the original contract would have run out in about three months, and that the smart decision for the band would have been to just wait out the time.

At one point, Knight repossessed the band's gear before a gig at Madison Square Garden. Knight sued for breach of contract, which resulted in a protracted legal battle. This growing dissatisfaction led Grand Funk Railroad to fire Knight in early 1972. E Pluribus Funk celebrated the Shea Stadium show with an embossed depiction of the stadium on the album cover's reverse.īy late 1971, the band was concerned with Knight's managerial style and fiscal responsibility. Survival and E Pluribus Funk were both released in 1971. Following Closer to Home, The double disc Live Album was also released later in 1970, and was another gold disc recipient. īy 1971, Grand Funk equaled the Beatles' Shea Stadium attendance record, but sold out the venue in just 72 hours whereas the Beatles concert took a few weeks to sell out. The band spent $100,000 on a New York City Times Square billboard to advertise Closer to Home. That album was certified multiplatinum despite a lack of critical approval. In the spring of 1970, Knight launched an intensive advertising campaign to promote the album Closer to Home.

The hit single ' I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)', from the album Closer to Home, released in June 1970, was considered stylistically representative of Terry Knight and the Pack's recordings. Despite critical pans and little airplay, the group's first six albums (five studio releases and one live album) were quite successful. In February 1970 a second album, Grand Funk (or The Red Album), was awarded gold status. In August 1969 the band released its first album titled On Time, which sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold record in 1970. Patterned after hard-rock power trios such as Cream, the band, with Terry Knight's marketing savvy, developed its own popular style. After a raucous, well-received set on the first day of the festival, Grand Funk was asked back to play at the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival II the following year. First achieving recognition at the 1969 Atlanta International Pop Festival, the band was signed by Capitol Records. Knight soon became the band's manager and also named the band as a play on words for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known rail line in Michigan. Grand Funk Railroad was formed as a trio in 1969 by Mark Farner (guitar, keyboards, harmonica, vocals) and Don Brewer (drums, vocals) from Terry Knight and the Pack, and Mel Schacher (bass) from Question Mark & the Mysterians. To be in love, a bad time to be in love, A bad time to be in love, a bad time to be in love.A Grand Trunk Western Railroad bridge (located at 42★9'56.2'N 83☄1'35.6'W) in Grand Funk's hometown of Flint, Michigan, that was re-painted to instead show the band's name, as well as the first names of founding members Mark Farner and Don Brewer, and early 1980s bassist Dennis Bellinger Formation (1969) I'm in love but I feel like I'm wearin' it out, I'm in love but I must have picked a bad time. You know that I love the little girl I'm talking about, I'm in love with the girl I can't live without. To be in love, a bad time to be in love, A bad time to be in love, a bad time to be in love. 'Cause I still love the little girl I'm talking about, I'm in love with the girl I can't live without. The things you say I know just couldn't be true, At least not until I hear them from you. All the stories coming back to me, From my friends and the people that I don't want to see.

To be in love, a bad time to be in love, A bad time to be in love, A bad time to be in love. I'm in love with the girl I'm talking about, I'm in love with the girl I can't live without. There's too many others that know what I mean, And, that's why I got to live without it. Well, let her be somebody else's queen, I don't want to know about it. I'm in love but I sure picked a bad time. I'm in love with the girl that I'm talking about, I'm in love with the girl I can't live without.

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