I saw Mark Farner & his band in 1993 @ a one time Country music bar called The Dallas Club in Columbus,Ga. He was amazing & my girlfriend & I were so happy to see him play many classic GFR songs & it was only 2 miles from our house. Mark is a American Patriot & still my favorite musician to this day. Great interview!
Good Health Wishes for Mark . Saw GFR in San Mateo and was listening to GFR since there first record . Mark still delivers the vocals we all love to hear.
Well done! Great interview of Mark Farner. GFR has always held a special place in my heart. My very first recorded music purchase was a 45 rpm record of Grand Funk's "We're An American Band".
What a joy to have listened to. Mark Farmer you are just as young in spirit and in heart and your kindness Is just something that has always been one of your strongest traits in 69 I was 9 yrs old but I was digging on you guys. Even then the stories and the songs were going to be sung. Thank you for all of the years of bringing great joy to so many lives. Giving us music that we can all relate too. Wasn’t that Connie something,,,lol Not enough to say . But rock on my brother! And may Gods richest blessing be with you always!
Thank you Mark 'n Barry for the wonderful interview! I remember my experience listenin' to the second album-Grand Funk-for the first time in my livin' room on my parent's system. My mother came in 'n picked up the album cover, looked it over 'n proclaimed... "I can't believe this music is comin' from white boys...I assumed it was a black band!" I'll never forget that.
Mark, I met you after a show in Cocoa Beach. You talked with for 15 to 30 minutes. You gave me great advice and were very giving. You also shared your faith. You are an awesone performer and a great guy. Thank you so much fir spending time and sharing your experiences with me. My band plays American Band.
Rock On Mark! I wish I could say "Rock On Mark, Don & Mel" again. But I am really glad that Mark is putting the past all straight, without the crap. I am proud to be a Farner fan and an also being an ole Grand Funk fan too is a given!
Sin's A Good Man's Brother... I will never forget buying Closer to Home in 1970 and riding my bicycle home and ripping off the plastic and checking out the gatefold album and putting it on my turntable and those soft chords of "Sin's A Good Man's Brother" all of a sudden turned into Grand Funk Railroad hard rock tune blue my mind. I have been a fan since the red album was released.
I’ll be 61 next week and when I was a kid my aunt gave me a couple of GFR 8 track tapes… the first time I heard Inside Looking Out I became a lifetime rocker.. That song started it all for me personally! Sad to see Mark Farner not with GFR! Sorry but without Mark they are NOT GFR! Period! Mark is a class act the way he handled everything!
I was too young during their early years, but I got heavy into them during their We're An American Band release. I learned to play the drums to their Red Album shortly thereafter, note for note. I was pretty proud of that accomplishment at age 15 with minimal playing time under my belt. Don Brewer was a huge influence on that
You didn’t get the end joke about “if I don’t see you in the future, I will see you in the pasture”. I would like an interviewer to go through all the Grand Funk albums with Mark in detail . . . strengths, weaknesses, how they rank, stories behind the scenes, the reception of the albums, how he came up with the ideas for the songs, the artwork of the covers, the recording process, the different producers. Also ask him about potential anniversary releases, what he would like to see, super deluxe box sets for Grand Funk. Take him into his solo albums and get some discussion about the songs, writing, playing, what he was aiming for with these releases. Stay away from all the predictable, conventional questions we’ve heard many times before, like what is your favourite Grand Funk album? Barry, we all know it is Closer To Home!
AMERICAN GUITARIST SINGER /SONGWRITER NEW HYDE PARK NYC NATIVE BROUGHT HIS LES PAUL BLACK BEAUTY TO SHEA STADIUM FOR HUMBLE PIE GUITARIST PETER FRAMPTON TO USE BECAUSE FRAMPTONS GUITAR GOT STOLEN HIS NAME IS FRANK CARILLO HE IS LEGEND GIFTED BEAUTIFUL DUDE
I wasn’t really a big fan growing up but I only really heard their FM stuff. One night of kicking back with a friend and a few beers he put on a live record they did from the 70s and it was fantastic. The bass player was a monster. This will be getting shared.
I was in a small park in Iowa and the GFR band showed up. Grand Funk Revised :) Mel Schacher still kicked ass, you could feel the BASS NOTES in your rib cage.
LZ is my favorite band. That being said - GF was a total force to reckoned with. I did get to see GF ( Shining On Tour?), and they were absolutely overwhelming. My mom actually went with her friend ( my friends mom) - they never asked to go to another concert- because there is no “ quieter part” in an indoor arena with GF on the stage.There is something about the bands from the Midwest- GF / AC/ Stooges - unbelievable bands that cannot be denied
Very enjoyable. Good as they were, Grand Funk weren't my kind of band (nor were Zeppelin, and so many other 'rock' bands). Still, after seeing live clips of them from their days with Craig Frost on keys (IMO adding him was smart - it added a new dimension and made everything sound better) I had a whole new respect. I was surprised to hear about Todd dealing (or not) with his personal issues by hitting the bottle. But yes, he is a genius (I was listening to him when GFR were topping the charts...and still am). A couple things you might want to note in your titles: 'Phoenix' and 'Rundgren', not 'Phonex' and Rundndgren.
Only one clarification I can make about Rundgren...he wasn't married multiple times, in fact he's only been married once & that was to Michelle Gray & they're still married today. Not totally surprised about the drinking tho.... Last few times friends have seen him over the last 15 years, he's usually quite intoxicated at least by the end of the show. I've seen him at least 30 times from 1975 thru around 2002 (first show was his first Utopia group with the 7 member band). He took better care of the quality of his shows & his songwriting abilities were so much better back then. I'm keeping those memories & choose not to go to his shows any more.
Man-- I WISHED there was a bootleg recording somewhere of the Railroad doing a cover of "Land of a Thousand Dances"! That's a song i can TOTALLY see them doing! You know, there's bootleg tapes of nearly all the stuff from the first Atlanta Pop EXCEPT the Railroad's performance---and I wanna know why?
I don't get Mark's comments about Todd. Todd has never divorced - his one and only marriage (to Michele Gray) is still ongoing. They married in 1998. He did have a couple of long term relationships prior to that but never married.
Best thing my big brother was letting me ride over with him and his buddy's. It kinda tricked our Ma into thinking believing my 2 friends and me were going to hang with them all day..let me tell you when GFRR took the stage they owned it..weeks afterwards every young person around Atlanta was still talking about em..if I was to go to what I thought was a GFRR concert and it was just Don & Mel I'd slap taste outta their mouth's..dirty bastards
Grand Funk was not trying to upstage Led Zep ,they were just playing to their audience and they were a band from Michigan ,it was their time to show off a bit, their success had just started as well as Zep's did ..Peter Grant was just showing off his authority and I assume Jimmy and the rest of the band was not too worried .
Todd was not divorced around this time. He’s been with Michelle grey since 1985….? Makes no sense for him to take a reputational shot like this. Not the Todd I knew then
Mark and Janis would have made a lovely "rock couple" if they ever became romantic. He probably could have made an honest woman out of her---maybe kept her from killing herself
Please share the Love of the Son of God. Please write His Words in your heart, and share them. Please Forgive, and Pray for everyone. Immanuel, God with us...
That would absolutely be before Mark left GFR. The non Mark GFR couldn't upstage anybody. Don's band is no better than a cruise ship cover band, even with some hot guitarists, Don's got no heart. Mark kicks butt and takes names.
Grand Funk's music was not particularly well written, but like Todd Rundgren alluded to, it was a good enough vehicle for live performance. Combined with Mark's very effective, high energy, blues soaked, tenor vocals, and stage presence (movement, dance and drama) the music was a good enough vehicle to display these things. Adding to this was a very good rock drummer (Don) and very good rock bass player (Mel.) The whole thing worked well, live. Their recordings were less impressive than their live performance. But they certainly sold a lot of records.
SETTING THE STAGE AT 2ND BASE AND THE PITCHERS MOUND WAS MONUMENTAL FESTIVAL FOR PEACE GFRRCONCERTS I WITNESSED THEM BOTH ULTIMATE SOUND EXPERIENCE NO ONE ALLOWED ON THE FIELD NO EXTRA TICKETS FOR STANDING ROOM ONLY LIKE THE POLICE CENTERFIELD SETUP SOUND GOT LOST THIRD BASE TICKETS SOUND GOT LOST PEOPLE TALKING DISASTER
Todd's a great guy...saw him drinking heavily in the morning. If it was true, why even bring this up? The premise of Farner's story was that Todd was divorced many times and was therefore troubled. Truth is Todd has never been divorced...married once and still married. So I call BS on this one.
Vanilla Fudge should have joined force with Grand Funk Railroad to stop this British Invasion of the Atlanta Pop Festival. “Grand Fudge Consolidation Railways” could have conquered Flint, Michigan and possibly Lansing as well.
@@RythymBeast Let's talk album sales and while we're at it, attendance numbers. They shattered The Beatles attendance record in Tampa in 1973. And let's not forget the Silverdome in '77. Who's the troll here Gomer??
@The Terrence Reardon Podcast Compare attendance records and record sales, then get back to me. Led Zeppelin collects the royalty check while Mark Farner gets the reality check. Sour grapes 🍇
@@mattrogers1946 Yikes kiddo are you Zeps bestest wittle groupie? This is an interview with Mark Farner. You don't need to defend Zep in the comments. They'll never see it.
@@RythymBeast Mark must have been smoking the good stuff. The old saying goes, "If you remember the 70s, you weren't really there. If Zeppelin and GFR reunited tomorrow, let's see who'd sell more tickets, even in Flint MI. I'm not here to defend anyone, the facts speak for themselves. Where were you in the 70s? Did you inhale?
I think all the drugs GF took in the 60's and 70's finally got to them. They wish they can play better than Zeppelin. No comparison. Their drummer isn't worthy of holding 1 of Bonzo's drum sticks. Three words, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN. Nuff said.
Mark Farner has such a wonderful heart and incredible recollections. Love the stories.
Mark is a national treasure !
Love this guy!
Wishing Mark a long and happy life.....
I saw Mark Farner & his band in 1993 @ a one time Country music bar called The Dallas Club in Columbus,Ga. He was amazing & my girlfriend & I were so happy to see him play many classic GFR songs & it was only 2 miles from our house. Mark is a American Patriot & still my favorite musician to this day. Great interview!
mark farner has a very clear memory and speaks clearly
Good Health Wishes for Mark . Saw GFR in San Mateo and was listening to GFR since there first record .
Mark still delivers the vocals we all love to hear.
Excellent interview with Mark! I've been a fan of Grand Funk since the very early 70's. It's sad what the other two members have done to Mark...
I agree
No Farner no Funk
Hey.." don't let them take your gun" love that part of story 😊
NO FARNER NO FUNK
Great interview with a great legend of rock!
A permanent part of our youth - thank you GFR for the music❤
It means so much to me to hear Mark Farner talk about his past where he came from and all the good stories he has to tell, love Mark and GFR.
Well done! Great interview of Mark Farner. GFR has always held a special place in my heart. My very first recorded music purchase was a 45 rpm record of Grand Funk's "We're An American Band".
What a joy to have listened to. Mark Farmer you are just as young in spirit and in heart and your kindness
Is just something that has always been one of your strongest traits in 69 I was 9 yrs old but I was digging on you guys.
Even then the stories and the songs were going to be sung. Thank you for all of the years of bringing great joy to so many lives.
Giving us music that we can all relate too. Wasn’t that Connie something,,,lol Not enough to say . But rock on my brother! And may Gods richest blessing be with you always!
Thank you Mark 'n Barry for the wonderful interview! I remember my experience listenin' to the second album-Grand Funk-for the first time in my livin' room on my parent's system. My mother came in 'n picked up the album cover, looked it over 'n proclaimed... "I can't believe this music is comin' from white boys...I assumed it was a black band!" I'll never forget that.
What a story!
Really cool interview. The Zappa story was hilarious.
Mark, I met you after a show in Cocoa Beach. You talked with for 15 to 30 minutes. You gave me great advice and were very giving. You also shared your faith. You are an awesone performer and a great guy. Thank you so much fir spending time and sharing your experiences with me. My band plays American Band.
Great interview!! My hometown band...much love!
great show & interview, one of the main bands that have inspired me since I was 2 years old in 1972
Thank you so much again!
No, thank you! It was a priviledge to speak to you. I hope you play in the UK again one day.
Love your music Mark. Survival is a desert island album for me no doubt. Adore “out to get you” with FZ!!
@@Mo-jv5oy hell yeah man and Crossfire, what a great tune on a great album too often overlooked
I love sins a goods mans brother, magnificent song
I am with Mark. Closer To Home is their finest album, in my opinion.
There's not a bad song on it.
Red album is crazy good
@@RobBaughman RED ALBUM was my very first album as a 15 year old.
Great interview & memories! Closer To Home- a fav since 6fh gr!
Love and PRAYERS for you and the Family...Be safe out there Brother....
What is the best, a true brother.
I can hear him talk or listen to him play for hours.
Much love
“I’m your Captain/Closer to Home” is my all time favorite song.
Rock On Mark! I wish I could say "Rock On Mark, Don & Mel" again. But I am really glad that Mark is putting the past all straight, without the crap. I am proud to be a Farner fan and an also being an ole Grand Funk fan too is a given!
Was listening to GFR at age 11 in 1969 still sounds fresh
Sin's A Good Man's Brother... I will never forget buying Closer to Home in 1970 and riding my bicycle home and ripping off the plastic and checking out the gatefold album and putting it on my turntable and those soft chords of "Sin's A Good Man's Brother" all of a sudden turned into Grand Funk Railroad hard rock tune blue my mind. I have been a fan since the red album was released.
Wow great interview🥰
I’ll be 61 next week and when I was a kid my aunt gave me a couple of GFR 8 track tapes… the first time I heard Inside Looking Out I became a lifetime rocker.. That song started it all for me personally! Sad to see Mark Farner not with GFR! Sorry but without Mark they are NOT GFR! Period! Mark is a class act the way he handled everything!
My first concert was GF at The Olympia in Detroit…
I was too young during their early years, but I got heavy into them during their We're An American Band release. I learned to play the drums to their Red Album shortly thereafter, note for note. I was pretty proud of that accomplishment at age 15 with minimal playing time under my belt. Don Brewer was a huge influence on that
Great band, even grand funk lives - one of their lesser albums is magnificent
"If I don't see you in the future, I'll see you in the pasture". Mark Farner what a guy . . .
The Closer to Home album brings back a lot of memories. Listened to it a lot in early 70s when I was a teen as well as Zappa's albums.
fuuuuuuck! Mind blown. Barry yer a legend. Mark Farner... wow. excellent show
You didn’t get the end joke about “if I don’t see you in the future, I will see you in the pasture”. I would like an interviewer to go through all the Grand Funk albums with Mark in detail . . . strengths, weaknesses, how they rank, stories behind the scenes, the reception of the albums, how he came up with the ideas for the songs, the artwork of the covers, the recording process, the different producers. Also ask him about potential anniversary releases, what he would like to see, super deluxe box sets for Grand Funk. Take him into his solo albums and get some discussion about the songs, writing, playing, what he was aiming for with these releases. Stay away from all the predictable, conventional questions we’ve heard many times before, like what is your favourite Grand Funk album? Barry, we all know it is Closer To Home!
Grande Mark!!
Elvis if how Bubby Holly got into rock n roll after seeing Elvis in 1956!
AMERICAN GUITARIST SINGER /SONGWRITER NEW HYDE PARK NYC NATIVE BROUGHT HIS LES PAUL BLACK BEAUTY TO SHEA STADIUM FOR HUMBLE PIE GUITARIST PETER FRAMPTON TO USE BECAUSE FRAMPTONS GUITAR GOT STOLEN HIS NAME IS FRANK CARILLO HE IS LEGEND GIFTED BEAUTIFUL DUDE
I wasn’t really a big fan growing up but I only really heard their FM stuff. One night of kicking back with a friend and a few beers he put on a live record they did from the 70s and it was fantastic. The bass player was a monster. This will be getting shared.
I was in a small park in Iowa and the GFR band showed up. Grand Funk Revised :) Mel Schacher still kicked ass, you could feel the BASS NOTES in your rib cage.
MARK FARNER GREAT ENERGY ONSTAGE OR OFF STAGE !
Great stuff! Mark killed it with Ringo...
LZ is my favorite band. That being said - GF was a total force to reckoned with. I did get to see GF ( Shining On Tour?), and they were absolutely overwhelming. My mom actually went with her friend ( my friends mom) - they never asked to go to another concert- because there is no “ quieter part” in an indoor arena with GF on the stage.There is something about the bands from the Midwest- GF / AC/ Stooges - unbelievable bands that cannot be denied
Very enjoyable. Good as they were, Grand Funk weren't my kind of band (nor were Zeppelin, and so many other 'rock' bands). Still, after seeing live clips of them from their days with Craig Frost on keys (IMO adding him was smart - it added a new dimension and made everything sound better) I had a whole new respect.
I was surprised to hear about Todd dealing (or not) with his personal issues by hitting the bottle. But yes, he is a genius (I was listening to him when GFR were topping the charts...and still am).
A couple things you might want to note in your titles: 'Phoenix' and 'Rundgren', not 'Phonex' and Rundndgren.
Only one clarification I can make about Rundgren...he wasn't married multiple times, in fact he's only been married once & that was to Michelle Gray & they're still married today. Not totally surprised about the drinking tho.... Last few times friends have seen him over the last 15 years, he's usually quite intoxicated at least by the end of the show. I've seen him at least 30 times from 1975 thru around 2002 (first show was his first Utopia group with the 7 member band). He took better care of the quality of his shows & his songwriting abilities were so much better back then. I'm keeping those memories & choose not to go to his shows any more.
Living Legend
MARK FARNER - MY KINDA MAN - I BELIEVE IN HIS WAYS - WOW - WHAT A GREAT MAN - MARK FARNER IS AN ALL - AMERICAN MAN - AND PLAYS IN AN AMERICAN BAND !
Wow...lots of caps.... happy new year to you, thank you for watching
Great Man!
Man-- I WISHED there was a bootleg recording somewhere of the Railroad doing a cover of "Land of a Thousand Dances"! That's a song i can TOTALLY see them doing! You know, there's bootleg tapes of nearly all the stuff from the first Atlanta Pop EXCEPT the Railroad's performance---and I wanna know why?
I'd pass on getting into it with Peter Grant,too. Excellente'
My first album, Atlanta pop festival. GRF not in the HOF is a travesty, i don’t pay them any attention.
Closer to home was the best album, I played drums to it till I wore album out
I don't get Mark's comments about Todd. Todd has never divorced - his one and only marriage (to Michele Gray) is still ongoing. They married in 1998. He did have a couple of long term relationships prior to that but never married.
Best thing my big brother was letting me ride over with him and his buddy's. It kinda tricked our Ma into thinking believing my 2 friends and me were going to hang with them all day..let me tell you when GFRR took the stage they owned it..weeks afterwards every young person around Atlanta was still talking about em..if I was to go to what I thought was a GFRR concert and it was just Don & Mel I'd slap taste outta their mouth's..dirty bastards
todd rundgren has been married once and never divorced.
..... Farner & Joe Walsh, the older they get, the more they look related.
Thanks Mark! Zappa was raised in a military family like many many other Laurel Canyon musicians.
Franks dad was a chemist/mathematician for defense department but wasn’t military
Grand funk railroad and credence clear water revival are my to favorite rock bands
Grand Funk was not trying to upstage Led Zep ,they were just playing to their audience and they were a band from Michigan ,it was their time to show off a bit, their success had just started as well as Zep's did ..Peter Grant was just showing off his authority and I assume Jimmy and the rest of the band was not too worried .
Todd was not divorced around this time. He’s been with Michelle grey since 1985….? Makes no sense for him to take a reputational shot like this. Not the Todd I knew then
fact check Todd was only married once, maybe twice to Karen Darvin, and still with Michelle for 25 YEARS!
Mark and Janis would have made a lovely "rock couple" if they ever became romantic. He probably could have made an honest woman out of her---maybe kept her from killing herself
Please share the Love of the Son of God. Please write His Words in your heart, and share them. Please Forgive, and Pray for everyone. Immanuel, God with us...
"Listening to music pre-video is like reading a book." You can't outdo your own imagination.
Why not in hall of fame?? Politics!!
That would absolutely be before Mark left GFR. The non Mark GFR couldn't upstage
anybody. Don's band is no better than a cruise ship cover band, even with some
hot guitarists, Don's got no heart. Mark kicks butt and takes names.
Grand Funk's music was not particularly well written, but like Todd Rundgren alluded to, it was a good enough vehicle for live performance. Combined with Mark's very effective, high energy, blues soaked, tenor vocals, and stage presence (movement, dance and drama) the music was a good enough vehicle to display these things. Adding to this was a very good rock drummer (Don) and very good rock bass player (Mel.) The whole thing worked well, live. Their recordings were less impressive than their live performance. But they certainly sold a lot of records.
I laugh every time I remember what happened at the Detroit concert where Led Zeppelin couldn't handle following GFR
SETTING THE STAGE AT 2ND BASE AND THE PITCHERS MOUND WAS MONUMENTAL FESTIVAL FOR PEACE GFRRCONCERTS I WITNESSED THEM BOTH ULTIMATE SOUND EXPERIENCE NO ONE ALLOWED ON THE FIELD NO EXTRA TICKETS FOR STANDING ROOM ONLY LIKE THE POLICE CENTERFIELD SETUP SOUND GOT LOST THIRD BASE TICKETS SOUND GOT LOST PEOPLE TALKING DISASTER
Todd's a great guy...saw him drinking heavily in the morning. If it was true, why even bring this up? The premise of Farner's story was that Todd was divorced many times and was therefore troubled. Truth is Todd has never been divorced...married once and still married. So I call BS on this one.
Vanilla Fudge should have joined force with Grand Funk Railroad to stop this British Invasion of the Atlanta Pop Festival. “Grand Fudge Consolidation Railways” could have conquered Flint, Michigan and possibly Lansing as well.
Sorry, but nobody "upstaged" Led Zeppelin on the 70s....
Waddle away now, troll.
@@RythymBeast Let's talk album sales and while we're at it, attendance numbers. They shattered The Beatles attendance record in Tampa in 1973. And let's not forget the Silverdome in '77. Who's the troll here Gomer??
@The Terrence Reardon Podcast Compare attendance records and record sales, then get back to me. Led Zeppelin collects the royalty check while Mark Farner gets the reality check. Sour grapes 🍇
@@mattrogers1946 Yikes kiddo are you Zeps bestest wittle groupie? This is an interview with Mark Farner. You don't need to defend Zep in the comments. They'll never see it.
@@RythymBeast Mark must have been smoking the good stuff. The old saying goes, "If you remember the 70s, you weren't really there. If Zeppelin and GFR reunited tomorrow, let's see who'd sell more tickets, even in Flint MI.
I'm not here to defend anyone, the facts speak for themselves. Where were you in the 70s? Did you inhale?
Liar, Zappa was never a member of the NRA and even critisised them on the 88 tour with the Jesus Thinks Your a Jerk song
i saw them blow away zeppelin in 1970 easy for kids to get zeppelin too moody and stoned
Zeppelin was light years ahead of gfr ,,hammer of the gods
Felt the same way when I saw Cheap Trick open for Dep Leppard. Trick was better
I think all the drugs GF took in the 60's and 70's finally got to them. They wish they can play better than Zeppelin. No comparison. Their drummer isn't worthy of holding 1 of Bonzo's drum sticks. Three words, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN. Nuff said.
Your delusional ! 😂
Yep slightly better than Grand Funk I'm afraid
Grand Funk easily the better band