# Grand Funk Railroad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044 "2007-04-21T07:05:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/1 "2007-04-21T07:05:08Z")
I can never remember: is this a Canadian Band, or an American Band? I wish there was an easy way to remember the answer to this? Hmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/2 "2007-04-21T07:17:39Z")
Can’t we share? I like Rush, Our Lady peace, Alanis Morissette, and many others. Next you’ll be asking about Supertramp, then we are all doomed. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/3 "2007-04-21T07:50:46Z")
That’s almost like wondering what part of the country Lynyrd Skynyrd is from. (The northwest, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/4 "2007-04-21T08:07:10Z")
I’m doing this from memory, but I believe Grand Funk Railroad started out as Terry Knight and the Pack in the mid 1960’s Detroit area. That group had a minor hit with the song “I Who Have Nothing”. How’s that? (I never was much of a Grand Funk Railroad fan). ---
**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/5 "2007-04-21T10:19:24Z")
Maybe. “We’re a Canadian Band” didn’t rhyme to the beat of the music. I don’t know. I saw Grand Funk Railroad with Black Oak Arkansaw at the Seattle Colisium on a hit of acid. Hold on to your seat. :eek: Good times. ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/6 "2007-04-21T15:32:20Z")
> **[Grand Funk Railroad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Funk_Railroad)** > > Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals), and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved peak popularity and success during the 1970s with hit songs such as "We're an American Band", "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)", "Some Kind of Wonderful" (a cover of Soul Brothers Six), "Walk Like a Man", "The Loco-Motion" (a cover of Little Eva), "Bad Time"... Ya made me look. 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/7 "2007-04-21T15:33:53Z")
[QUOTE=Captain\_C] That’s almost like wondering what part of the country Lynyrd Skynyrd is from. (The northwest, I think.) [/QUOTE] You are mistaken,they hail from Inner city Detroit. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/8 "2007-04-21T15:40:36Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] I can never remember: is this a Canadian Band, or an American Band? [/QUOTE] I always have that same problem with GWAR. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/9 "2007-04-21T15:40:51Z")
There was a famous old railroad in their part of the country, the Grand Trunk Railroad (“trunk”=a main long distance rail line), and that’s what they named themselves after. Then for a while they were simply Grand Funk, and then finally were G.F. Railroad again. IIRC they were pretty popular with the public, but the critics absolutely panned them. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/10 "2007-04-21T15:43:47Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] I’m doing this from memory, but I believe Grand Funk Railroad started out as Terry Knight and the Pack in the mid 1960’s Detroit area. That group had a minor hit with the song “I Who Have Nothing”. How’s that? (I never was much of a Grand Funk Railroad fan). [/QUOTE] [allmusic.com](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ajfixqwgldhe) says that Grand Funk Railroad was put together by Terry Knight in Flint, Michigan, although he was their manager, not a part of the band. Band members Mark Farner and Don Brewer _were_ former members of Terry Knight and the Pack. Canadians may be confused by [FM](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hzfixqu5ldse~T1)’s brief re-appearance on the charts with a cover of “We’re An American Band,” the last gasp of their career. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/11 "2007-04-21T16:26:51Z")
My teenage rocker crush was Mark Farner. (put sizzle sound here) ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/12 "2007-04-21T16:30:13Z")
Besides me, GFR was one of the few good things to come from Flint, MI ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/13 "2007-04-21T16:35:36Z")
Grand Funk borrowed their name from Michigan’s Grand Trunk Railroad (owned by Canadian National, but a U.S. company). The members were mostly from the area around Pontiac and Rochester. (One of the group lived on the same road that I grew up on a few years earlier, Tienken Road in Rochester Hills–Avon Township, at the time–but the road is six miles long and I have no idea how close his house was to mine.) The song “We’re An American Band” was rumored to have been written in protest against Terry Knight who was immensely enamored of British Pop and kept trying to shove the band away from garage band style to follow the Brit themes.) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/14 "2007-04-21T20:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Grand Funk borrowed their name from Michigan’s Grand Trunk Railroad (owned by Canadian National, but a U.S. company). The members were mostly from the area around Pontiac and Rochester. (One of the group lived on the same road that I grew up on a few years earlier, Tienken Road in Rochester Hills–Avon Township, at the time–but the road is six miles long and I have no idea how close his house was to mine.) The song “We’re An American Band” was rumored to have been written in protest against Terry Knight who was immensely enamored of British Pop and kept trying to shove the band away from garage band style to follow the Brit themes.) [/QUOTE] Sorry for the total hijack, but is Avon Township now Avondale? I had friends at that high school, but they lived in the shodow of The Dome. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/15 "2007-04-21T23:27:51Z")
Avon Township (pop. 1,160 when I first moved in) is now the city of Rochester Hills (pop. 69,000+). My memory of Avondale was that it was a particular neighborhood in the southwest corner of the township. A school district with the same name covered parts of Avon Township, Auburn Heights, Pontiac Township, and Bloomfield Township. Since I moved away, Auburn Hills was created (out of how much of Auburn Hills and Pontiac Township, I do not know), and other changes have occurred. That school district would definitely have been backed up to the dome, however. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/16 "2007-04-22T00:35:50Z")
Yep, they were on Hillfield off Auburn. You realize where Eminem lives now is on your old stomping grounds? In a perfect world, Grand Funk Railroad would have gotten to trade names with the Bay City Rollers. Buggers weren’t even from the U.S.! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/17 "2007-04-22T03:35:18Z")
This thread is better suited for [**Cafe Society**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=13). I’ll move it for you. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/18 "2007-04-22T04:35:51Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] I can never remember: is this a Canadian Band, or an American Band? [/QUOTE] More importantly, are they coming to my town? Will they help me party down? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/19 "2007-04-22T04:36:38Z")
Are there in fact towns which are no longer standing because people “partied them down” with help from the Grand Funk Railroad? Could I still see the empty beer cups and used condoms if I visited one of these towns? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044/20 "2007-04-22T04:39:46Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] I can never remember: is this a Canadian Band, or an American Band? I wish there was an easy way to remember the answer to this? Hmmmm… [/QUOTE] Fortunately, they didn’t sing “We’re a North American Band.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grand-funk-railroad/401044.md?page=2)