The following story originally appeared in the Asbury Park Press on June 15, 1970.
Brick Township – Comparing rock groups really isn’t my thing. They are too much a social phenomenon to judge strictly for their musical prowess and the necessary consideration of audience impact frequently blurs judgement.
But sometimes a situation points up the glaring inequalities inherent in the music profession, and the comparison is too obvious to pass up.
Consider Steel Mill and Grand Funk (Railroad).
When MC5 cancelled out of Saturday’s concert at the Ocean Ice Palace, Steel Mill, a local group based in Ocean Township, was called to fill in. They shared the bill with Grand Funk, the headline act. Steel Mill made the music. Grand Funk got the money. Therin lies the inequity.
Comparing the two seems almost irrelevant — until you think of that money. Then the comparison becomes exceedingly relevant. Musically, Grand Funk doesn’t come anyplace near Steel Mill, yet Grand Funk makes the bread — a prime example of the super hypo.
You can do a lot with a lot of money, and Capitol Records has a lot of money to spend on Grand Funk — which they’ve been spending. Steel Mill has played locally and in San Franciso’s Fillmore and Matrix.
They haven’t recorded yet and, until they do, the money will be slow coming. The quality of music doesn’t have very much to do with it.
Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad performs July 3, 1971, at the Hyde Park Free Concert in London.
Consider the source of the music first: Bruce Springsteen writes Steel Mill’s songs. Mark Farner wirtes Grand Funk’s. Both play guitar and profice the focal point for their groups. Farner is slick; what he writes is solidly mediocre, as is his playing. His delivery is excellent — a combination of raw emotion and acrobatics, which has at its core a sense of anger and sex.
Springsteen is neither slick nor mediocre. His music is fine, diverse stuff, which blends an infinite variety of musical idioms into a rock base. And his playing, inventive, finely shaded, and clean, is superb.
Where Farner assaults his audience, both in the essence of his music and in its delivery, Springsteen reaches out with a gentle touch. Both make contact, but it’s Springsteen’s warmth and genuine musicality that comes out on top in the comparison, and Farner’s deliberated act that suffers.
This story appeared in the Asbury Park Press on June 15, 1970.
That judgment remains true for the overall delivery of each band. Grand Funk hit the audience with all they had in an instant and shattering blast of sound that was maintained almost throughout both sets. The effect they had was primarily one of angry excitement.
People jumped up again and again giving, not the peace sign, but the black power fist. That’s the kind of music made by Farner and his partners, bassist Mel Schacher and drummer Don Brewer. Everything they played sounded very much the same, except for “Mean Mistreater,” a dirge you can find on their new album. Otherwise, the trio sent out a barrage of sound – solid, uninteresting, contrived, and much too heavy on drums.
Steel Mill’s effect was quite different. With Danny Federici on organ, Vini Lopez on drums, Stevie Van Zandt on bass, and Springsteen on guitar and vocals, they made the kind of music that got the people up dancing. There’s no way to beat good musicians playing good music. Certainly Grand Funk didn’t beat the combination when they came up against Steel Mill.
There may be something to be said for the kind of thing Grand Funk is into: mass stimulation brought on through contrived music. But it has to be criticized when you consider the money. This is a money-based society. It was from the very beginning. You do a day’s work, you get a day’s pay. We’ve been taught to consider the dollar as a measure of our worth.
Because of that, the fact that crystalized Saturday night was that the Steel Mill ought to be making the bread — their worth earned it.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen: Steel Mill outshines Grand Funk
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