Did anyone fall further from grace than Grand Funk?

[ParaDime77]

The Leif Garrett recording career lasted from 77-81 before he returned to being an actor.

[KISStian]

Maybe Meatloaf? At least until his miracle resurgance in 1993.

Good one.

[Dee Dee King Diamond]

If they're indeed playing county fairs, that isn't too bad for a band 45 years after their prime. County fair gigs can actually be fun gigs, playing primarily to families who have fairly low expectations.

About five years ago, my wife and I took our elementary aged kids to see Smashmouth at the Maryland State Fair. (Maryland isn't like Midwest states with huge state fairs that get big bands. It's basically like a midwest county fair). Tickets were fairly cheap. We were fairly close to the stage in seats on a lawn. Nice summer evening. And it was way more fun than we expected. Fun memory. Now the singer's dead, and the guitarist who wrote the songs isn't in the band anymore, but both were there that evening.

[jens]

RATT?
Never did any big shows in Europe either, where bands like WASP still pull decent crowds.

[Love_Industry]

Spin Doctors? They're still active but very far from their 3x (or more?) platinum debut.
Hootie and the Blowfish? They have a Double Diamond album which is more than any Guns, VH or Bon Jovi, but their last three albums didn't even reach gold.

[MOON]

I believe Kulick is finished permanently with GFR at the end of 2024. Max Carl is their lead singer and has been for years now.

Bruce left GFR last fall/winter. I thought originally he was gonna be touring with Gene Simmons as par5 of his solo band....guess not

[Tommy2Tone84]

But they fell pretty fast in the 1970's and had an early 1980's reunion that also sputtered to a halt. The 2 or 3 reunion shows they did in the late 1990's did pretty well but Mark Farner only wanted to play on special occasions and not run it into the ground which is why they forced him out.

A friend of mine was a tech on the 90s "reunion tour." They did a couple of shows in Japan and one in Hawaii. Farner made it clear that he wanted to talk about Jesus onstage. The band (and management) decided to cancel the rest of the tour.

Fun trivia:
Tour rehearsals were in Flint, Michigan. My friend was looking for some smoke. A local roadie told him, "Let's go see my friend, Jimmy. He usually has something." They paid a visit to the guy and bought some hash. My friend didn't recognize him at the time, but "Jimmy" was Iggy Pop.

Grand Funk we’re overrated af. They had a couple cool songs but so many 70s bands were better. I’d take KISS and their belt buckles and coloring books over GFR anyway. Uriah Heep were way cooler than GFR imo.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

The hairbands like Slaughter, Winger & Warrant that just vanished when Kurt entered the scene.

That's stating the obvious! Pretty much EVERY band fell during the 90's. If you were tough and stuck around, you got the ride the nostalgia train from 1999 until the end.

[Love_Industry]

The hairbands like Slaughter, Winger & Warrant that just vanished when Kurt entered the scene.

That's stating the obvious! Pretty much EVERY band fell during the 90's. If you were tough and stuck around, you got the ride the nostalgia train from 1999 until the end.

This. Dio, Sabbath and Maiden were all briefly playing bars and universities.

Saxon and Motörhead were legit arena bands with charting albums in the first half of the 80s, then spent 20 years playing bars and clubs. That must have hurt.

[Wednesday 13 Fan]

Bee Gees had a pretty epic fall...they went from 16x+ platinum to not even gold two albums later.

I know they are big again now (tho mostly dead) but maaaaan, that fall had to hurt.

That was because of the soundtrack.

They barely went platinum on a few albums and a handful of singles.

[Wednesday 13 Fan]

The hairbands like Slaughter, Winger & Warrant that just vanished when Kurt entered the scene.

That's stating the obvious! Pretty much EVERY band fell during the 90's. If you were tough and stuck around, you got the ride the nostalgia train from 1999 until the end.

This. Dio, Sabbath and Maiden were all briefly playing bars and universities.

Saxon and Motörhead were legit arena bands with charting albums in the first half of the 80s, then spent 20 years playing bars and clubs. That must have hurt.

On what planet were Saxon and Motorhead legit arena bands with charting albums? It certainly wasn't this one. I like them both, but come on.

[Hatchets Molly]

Another way of falling from grace is staying past your prime. Though KISS and Motley continued to rake in cash, they were both pitiful for the last decade or more, except for nut-swinger adulation. I've not seen either live in 20some years after being a huge fan. Being pitiful images of their former selves is what makes them pitiful. I will say that Gene has redeemed himself a bit with his solo thing. It's raw, looks fun, looks like he's having fun.

[Love_Industry]

On what planet were Saxon and Motorhead legit arena bands with charting albums? It certainly wasn't this one. I like them both, but come on.

Well, the idea of Saxon and Motörhead headlining arenas is probably as absurd to a US fan as Journey and Poison headlining arenas is for fans in UK/Europe.

[kwf]

On what planet were Saxon and Motorhead legit arena bands with charting albums? It certainly wasn't this one. I like them both, but come on.

Well, the idea of Saxon and Motörhead headlining arenas is probably as absurd to a US fan as Journey and Poison headlining arenas is for fans in UK/Europe.

Saxon and Motörhead never headlined arena tours though

[aznsquirt]

On what planet were Saxon and Motorhead legit arena bands with charting albums? It certainly wasn't this one. I like them both, but come on.

Well, the idea of Saxon and Motörhead headlining arenas is probably as absurd to a US fan as Journey and Poison headlining arenas is for fans in UK/Europe.

Saxon and Motörhead never headlined arena tours though

I know Saxon was pretty big in Europe, so I did some digging to see if I could be that guy and find an example of either of them headlining an Arena (even once).

The funny thing is, Saxon's wikipedia page claims that "The "Power and Glory Tour" was an arena tour that began in Europe and was a huge success."

So I was like, oh shit, I gottem. And then I couldn't find a single example of them headlining an Arena .

Obv they played Arenas as openers in the US later in the year.

Also, I was reminded that Hammersmith Odeon isn't an Arena.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[Dr. Hollywood]

I'd say the low-point was when Mark tried to remake "Some Kinda Wonderful" as a worship song. How did he think these lyrics were at all adaptable?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTx37pDllg


I remember an interview with Eddie Trunk a few years back where he was asked about his solo albums and his response was that he doesn't play any of that material anymore because nobody who buys tickets to his solo shows wants to hear it.

[Love_Industry]

Well, the idea of Saxon and Motörhead headlining arenas is probably as absurd to a US fan as Journey and Poison headlining arenas is for fans in UK/Europe.

Saxon and Motörhead never headlined arena tours though

I know Saxon was pretty big in Europe, so I did some digging to see if I could be that guy and find an example of either of them headlining an Arena (even once).

The funny thing is, Saxon's wikipedia page claims that "The "Power and Glory Tour" was an arena tour that began in Europe and was a huge success."

So I was like, oh shit, I gottem. And then I couldn't find a single example of them headlining an Arena .

Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden. A 12k multisport arena from the 1970s, used for hockey world championships, horse shows, Eurovision finals and international music acts in most genres.

Motörhead headlined it twice (Ace of Spades and Iron Fist) and Saxon twice too (Crusader and Innocence). I even saw Saxon's 85 show there. Pretty Maids opened and while not sold out it was a decent turnout.

And Sweden wasn't even Saxon's biggest market, that would be Germany and Britain.

[Anthrax442]

Maybe I'm missing something, but they only had two hits that weren't covers, and never had an album go more than double platinum (including greatest hits/live releases). How far did they exactly have to fall?

[CrankerBait]

Farner becoming born again didn't help Grand Funk's decline, but neither did putting out almost ten, mostly mediocre-at-best studio albums in around 6 years. If you're the Beatles, Led Zeppelin or CCR, you could get away with an album or two (or three!) per year, at least for a few years, because the bands were so good and most of the material was very strong.

Grand Funk doesn't have a single studio release that really ranks as a start to finish classic. Their albums are loaded with filler. I'm sure they must have been a really great live act in their prime.

Lots of artists have probably fallen further from grace than Grand Funk from their peak in the 70s. Some have been mentioned already, but off the top of my head: Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Guess Who, even Aerosmith, but Grand Funk never had that bounce back, big reunion moment.

[Sleek]

Maybe I'm missing something, but they only had two hits that weren't covers, and never had an album go more than double platinum (including greatest hits/live releases). How far did they exactly have to fall?

In 1971, they sold out Shea Stadium (55k) faster than the Beatles did. They were a pretty big deal.

Album sales at the time weren't what they are now. If you look at the initial sales, the Stones, Beatles, Who, Zeppelin ~all the biggies, were gold and platinum bands in the first year of release...it's just that those albums KEPT selling, while GF just sort of fell off after their early seventies peak.

It is hard to get a realistic picture, because if you look up, say, best selling albums of 1971, the list has cumulative sales for everything, not "what albums sold best IN 1971", so you get 55 years of sales for Led Zeppelin 2 or Carole King's Tapestry or whatever.

[Lobo]

Grand Funk used too much cowbell. It's that simple. No band that uses that much cowbell ever lasts decades.

[aznsquirt]

Album sales at the time weren't what they are now. If you look at the initial sales, the Stones, Beatles, Who, Zeppelin ~all the biggies, were gold and platinum bands in the first year of release...it's just that those albums KEPT selling, while GF just sort of fell off after their early seventies peak.

At the end of the day though, they have SIX platinum albums, but were all released in a 5 year period.

That was the era where bands just cranked out albums like mad and cashed in as hard as possible.

[Van Ailin']

Grand Funk we’re overrated af. They had a couple cool songs but so many 70s bands were better. I’d take KISS and their belt buckles and coloring books over GFR anyway. Uriah Heep were way cooler than GFR imo.

Grand Funk we are?

[dweezil]

I'd say the low-point was when Mark tried to remake "Some Kinda Wonderful" as a worship song. How did he think these lyrics were at all adaptable?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTx37pDllg


I remember an interview with Eddie Trunk a few years back where he was asked about his solo albums and his response was that he doesn't play any of that material anymore because nobody who buys tickets to his solo shows wants to hear it.

Holy Crap that was dreadful!

[WentEast]

Bee Gees had a pretty epic fall...they went from 16x+ platinum to not even gold two albums later.

I know they are big again now (tho mostly dead) but maaaaan, that fall had to hurt.

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

Excellent documentary on HBO.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Bee Gees had a pretty epic fall...they went from 16x+ platinum to not even gold two albums later.

I know they are big again now (tho mostly dead) but maaaaan, that fall had to hurt.

They were a class act too. It says more about the music business and us as fans than it does about them. That said, Barry kept writing and producing and having hits for other, major artists so that probably took the sting out of it some.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

Bad Blake was driving his pick up truck around the country on tour playing bowling alleys. Tommy Sweet gave him a shot at writing a new song for him which became a big hit. Bad sobered up and made some good money on that song. Not sure what he's up to now but he seems to have retired peacefully.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Bee Gees had a pretty epic fall...they went from 16x+ platinum to not even gold two albums later.

I know they are big again now (tho mostly dead) but maaaaan, that fall had to hurt.

They were a class act too. It says more about the music business and us as fans than it does about them. That said, Barry kept writing and producing and having hits for other, major artists so that probably took the sting out of it some.

They were caught up in that same late-70s fad cycle that chewed up and spit out Peter Frampton and The Knack. Starring in that Sgt. Pepper movie didn't help either.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Bee Gees had a pretty epic fall...they went from 16x+ platinum to not even gold two albums later.

I know they are big again now (tho mostly dead) but maaaaan, that fall had to hurt.

They were a class act too. It says more about the music business and us as fans than it does about them. That said, Barry kept writing and producing and having hits for other, major artists so that probably took the sting out of it some.

They were caught up in that same late-70s fad cycle that chewed up and spit out Peter Frampton and The Knack. Starring in that Sgt. Pepper movie didn't help either.

I don’t know. Did people burn Frampton and Knack albums at Comisky Park?

The late 70s and early 80s was a weird time. The Bee Gees career hit a wall but so did Ted Nugent’s and Alice Cooper’s.

[Love_Industry]

The late 70s and early 80s was a weird time. The Bee Gees career hit a wall but so did Ted Nugent’s and Alice Cooper’s.

Kiss, Meat Loaf and Uriah Heep too. Not a good time for hard rock, even Van Halen barely went platinum with FW.