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other uses|Grass roots (disambiguation)Infobox musical artist | name = The Grass Roots| image =| caption = L to R: Warren Entner, Creed Bratton, Rob Grill and Rick Coonce circa 1969| image_size = | background = group_or_band| origin = Los Angeles , California , United States|U.S. | genre = Folk rock , psychedelic folk , psychedelic rock , pop rock | years_active = 1965–present| label = Dunhill Records|Dunhill , ABC Records|ABC , Haven, MCA Records|MCA , Gusto Records|Gusto , RFG, Cleopatra Records|Cleopatra | associated_acts =| website = URL| http://the-grassroots.com/| current_members = Mark Dawson Joe Dougherty Dusty Hanvey Larry Nelson| past_members = See #Band members|Members The Grass Roots is an American rock music|rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriter|songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri .
In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold album s, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they achieved top ten three times, top 20 three times and top 40 eight times.cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits|publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications|isbn=0823076903|year=2000|month=Jan|edition=7th|page=262Allmusic|class=artist|id=p4396|pure_url=yes Grass Roots at Allmusic They have sold over twenty million records worldwide.cite web|url= http://the-grassroots.com/html/biography.html |title=The Grassroots official website |publisher=The-grassroots.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-10
Early member Rob Grill and a newer lineup of The Grass Roots continued to play many live shows each year.
The founding years
The name "Grass Roots" originated in late 1965 as the name of a band project by the Los Angeles, California songwriter and producer duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri . Sloan and Barri had written several songs in an attempt by their record company , Dunhill Records (owned by Lou Adler ) to cash in on the budding folk rock movement. One of these songs was "Where Were You When I Needed You," which was recorded by Sloan and Barri and a now forgotten line-up of studio musician s. Sloan provided the lead vocals and played guitar . The song was released under "The Grass Roots" name and sent, as a Demo (music)|demo , to several radio station s of the San Francisco Bay area .
When moderate interest in this new band arose, Sloan and Barri went to look for a group that could incorporate The Grass Roots name. They found one in a San Francisco group named "The Bedouins" and cut a new version with that band's lead Singing|vocalist , Willie Fulton. In late 1965, the Grass Roots got their first official radio airplay|airplay on Southern California radio stations, such as KLSD|KGB ( Amplitude Modulation|AM ) in San Diego and KHJ (AM)|KHJ in Los Angeles with a version of the Bob Dylan song, " Ballad of a Thin Man|Mr. Jones (Ballad of a Thin Man) ". For some months, The Bedouins were the first "real" Grass Roots — but the partnership with Sloan and Barri broke up when the band demanded more space for their own more blues rock -oriented material (which their producers were not willing to give them). Willie Fulton, Denny Ellis, and David Stensen went back to San Francisco, with drummer Joel Larson the only one who remained (he was to become a member of a later Grass Roots line-up as well). In the meantime, the second version of "Where Were You When I Needed You" peaked in the top 40 in mid-1966; an Where Were You When I Needed You|album of the same name sold poorly, probably because there were no Grass Roots anymore to promote it at the time of its release.
Still looking for a group to record their material and promote it with live dates, in 1966 Sloan and Barri offered Wisconsin-based band The Robbs (for whom they produced some early material) a chance to assume the identity of The Grass Roots, but the group declined.Citation needed|date=May 2010 Coincidentally, the L.A.-based band Love (band)|Love at one point in 1965 also used the name "The Grass Roots". However, this group had no other connection to Sloan and Barri, and immediately changed their band name to Love once they became aware of the existence of Barri and Sloan's Grass Roots.Citation needed|date=May 2010
The years of success
The group's third — and by far most successful — incarnation was finally found in a Los Angeles band, called The 13th Floor (not to be confused with the 13th Floor Elevators ). This band consisted of Creed Bratton , Rick Coonce , Warren Entner , and Kenny Fukomoto and had formed only a year earlier before submitting a demo tape to Dunhill Records .cite web|url= http://the-grassroots.com/html/biography.html |title=Biography |publisher=The-grassroots.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-10 Rob Grill was recruited into the band when Fukomoto was suddenly drafted into the army. The band was offered the choice to go with their own name or choose to adopt a name that had already been heard of nationwide.
In the beginning, they were one of many U.S. guitar popular music|pop / rock music|rock bands, but with the help of Barri and their other producers, they developed a unique sound for which they drew as heavily on United Kingdom|British Beat music|beat as on soul music , rhythm and blues and folk rock . Many of their recordings featured a brass section , which was a novelty in those days among American rock bands, with groups like Chicago (band)|Chicago just developing.
The bulk of the band's material continued to be written by Dunhill Records staff (not only Sloan and Barri). The Grass Roots also recorded songs written by the group's musician s, which appeared on their albums and the B-side s of many hit singles.
As The Grass Roots, they had their first Top 40|Top 10 hit in the summer of 1967 with " Let's Live for Today (song)|Let's Live for Today ", an English-language cover version of "Piangi con me", a 1966 hit for the Anglo-italian quartet The Rokes. "Let's Live For Today" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a music recording sales certification|gold disc .cite book | first= Joseph | last= Murrells | year= 1978 | title= The Book of Golden Discs | edition= 2nd | publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd | location= London | page= 222 | isbn= 0-214-20512-6 With Rob Grill as lead singer, they recorded a third version of "Where Were You When I Needed You." The band continued in a similar hit-making vein for the next five years (1967–1972).
The Grass Roots played at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday, June 11, 1967, in the "summer of love" as "Let's Live For Today" was at #15 and climbing. This music festival is important because it occurred just days before the Monterey Pop Festival but did not have a movie to document it for the ages (see List of electronic music festivals ). On Sunday, October 27, 1968, they played at the San Francisco Pop Festival as their hit "Midnight Confessions" was peaking at #5 and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December 1968.
In 1969, Creed Bratton left and was replaced by Dennis Provisor on keyboards and vocals, plus rotating lead guitarists Terry Furlong and Brian Naughton to form a quintet — the first of many line-up changes that the band was to be subject to.
The Grass Roots with their new members played at Newport Pop Festival 1969 at Devonshire Downs, which was a racetrack at the time but now is part of the North Campus for California State University, Northridge . The group played on Sunday, June 22, 1969, a week before their hit "I'd Wait A Million Years" reached the Hot 100. In Canada, they played at the Vancouver Pop Festival at the Paradise Valley Resort in British Columbia in August 1969 (see List of electronic music festivals ).
In 1971, both of the band's alternating lead guitarists, Terry Furlong and Brian Naughton left, leaving the remaining the group a quartet for their latest album, Their 16 Greatest Hits , and the single, "Sooner or Later." However, drummer Rick Coonce and keyboardist Dennis Provisor left the following year (although Provisor was featured on the band's 1972 Move Along album) and were replaced by Reed Kailing, Virgil Weber and original member Joel Larson. The singer/songwriter/guitarist duo of Warren Entner (later a successful Heavy metal music|heavy metal manager with groups such as Rage Against the Machine and Quiet Riot ) and Rob Grill remained the point of focus in all these years.
The group's songs during 1967-1972 include "Let's Live For Today (U.S. #8)" and "Things I Should Have Said" (U.S. #23) (1967); " Midnight Confessions " (U.S. #5, their biggest hit) (1968); "Bella Linda" (U.S. #28), "Lovin' Things" (a cover of a UK hit by Marmalade (band)|Marmalade the previous year) (U.S. #49), "The River Is Wide" (U.S. #31), "I'd Wait A Million Years" (U.S. #15), and "Heaven Knows" (U.S. #24) (1969); "Walking Through The Country" (U.S. #44), and "Baby Hold On" (U.S. #35) (1970); "Temptation Eyes" (#15), "Sooner Or Later" (U.S. #9), and "Two Divided By Love" (U.S. #16) (1971); "Glory Bound" (U.S. #34) and "The Runway" (U.S. #39) (1972).
The final years and oldies tours
Follow-up singles sold disappointingly or failed to chart. The 1976 single "Out In The Open" became their swan song , with the band having disbanded the previous autumn. The 1978 14 Greats album by Gusto Records featured Rob Grill, but none of the other original members, and consisted of 1978 versions of their hits.
Rob Grill remained in the music business and launched a solo career in 1979 (assisted on his solo album by several members of Fleetwood Mac ). When interest in bands of the 1960s began to rise again in the 1980s, Grill reformed The Grass Roots and toured the United States and Japan. He continued to lead the band into the current millennium as The Grass Roots sole owner and made special appearances with the band until his death.
In 1982, The Grass Roots performed an Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day concert on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. , attracting a large crowd and setting a record for attendance at an outdoor concert."July 4: Day of Music, Parades, Fireworks", The Washington Post , Washington, D.C., July 3, 1982, p. D1.Phil McCombs, "Watt Outlaws Rock Music on Mall for July 4", The Washington Post , Washington, D.C., April 6, 1983, p. A1; Phil McCombs and Richard Harrington, "Watt Sets Off Uproar with Music Ban", The Washington Post , Washington, D.C., April 7, 1983, pp. A1, A17. However, in April 1983, James G. Watt , Presidency of Ronald Reagan|President Ronald Reagan 's Secretary of the Interior , banned Independence Day concerts on the Mall by such groups. Watt said that " rock band s" that had performed on the Mall on Independence Day in 1981 and 1982 had encouraged drug use and alcoholism and had attracted "the wrong element", who would robbery|mug people and families attending any similar events in the future. During the ensuing uproar, Rob Grill stated that he felt "highly insulted" by Watt's remarks, which he called "nothing but un-American".
Since 2005, Creed Bratton can be seen as " Creed Bratton (character)|Creed Bratton ", Quality Assurance Officer , in the American NBC television situation comedy The Office (U.S. TV series)|The Office .cite web|url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105588/|title=Creed Bratton|publisher= IMDb.com, Inc.|accessdate=2009-06-18 He continues to write songs and has released several solo albums, including ''Chasin' the Ball , The '80s , Coarsegold , Creed Bratton , and Bounce Back .cite web|url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p59034|pure_url=yes|title=allmusic ((( Creed Bratton Discography Main Albums )))|publisher=allmusic|accessdate=2009-06-18
In 2006, former manager Marty Angelo published a book entitled, Once Life Matters: A New Beginning which has numerous stories about his life on the road with Rob Grill and The Grass Roots back in the early 1970s.
Former drummer Rick Coonce died on February 25, 2011, and Rob Grill died on July 11, 2011.
During of summers of 2010 and 2011, The Grass Roots had heavy touring schedules throughout the U.S. both on their own and as part of the Happy Together: 25th Anniversary Tour , along with Flo & Eddie of The Turtles , Mark Lindsay , The Buckinghams , and Monkees member Micky Dolenz (2010 only).cite web | url= http://neufutur.com/? p=21796 | title= Happy Together Tour Returns in Summer 2011 | date=April 30, 2011 | first=James | last=McQuistion | accessdate=2011-05-12 The 2011 Grass Roots line-up featured lead vocalist and bass player Mark Dawson, with Dusty Hanvey on lead guitar, Larry Nelson on keyboards and Joe Dougherty on drums.
Band members
Current members
Mark Dawson – lead vocals, bass (2008–present)
Dusty Hanvey – lead guitar (1984–present)
Larry Nelson - keyboards (1984–present)
Joe Dougherty - drums (1990–present)
Former members
Steve Barri - various instruments. producer, backing vocals (1965-1973)
Creed Bratton - lead guitar, lead vocals, songwriter (1967–1969)
Brian Carlyss - bass guitar (1979)
Rick Coonce - drums, songwriter (1967–1971, 1972, 1981-1982)
Alan Deane - lead guitar (1976–1977)
Denny Ellis - rhythm guitar (1965-1966)
Warren Entner - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter (1967–1974)
Willie Fulton - lead guitar, vocals (1965-1966)
Terry Furlong - lead guitar (1969–1972, 1974)
Ralph Gilmore - drums (1982)
Rob Grill - lead vocals, bass guitar, songwriter (1967–1977, 1980–2011)
Scott Hoyt - lead vocals, lead guitar (1978–1979)
Charles Judge - keyboards (1982)
Reed Kailing - lead guitar, songwriter (1972–1974)
Reggie Knighton - lead guitar (1974–1976)
Joel Larson - drums (1965-1966, 1972–1978)
Mark Miller -Lead guitar,Lead Vocals (1970's)
Reagan McKinley - drums (1979)
Chris Merrell - Lead Guitar (fill in--2000–2003, 2006)
Brian Naughton - lead guitar (1970–71)
David Nudge - gass guitar (1978)
Terry Oubre - lead guitar (1982–1983)
Dennis Provisor - lead vocals, keyboards, songwriter (1969–1971, 1974–1977)
P.F. Sloan - lead vocals, various instruments (1965-1968)
David Stensen - bass guitar (1965-1966)
Gene Wall - keyboards (1978)
Virgil Weber - keyboards (1972–1974)
Discography
Singles
Release date
Title
Flip side
Record label
Chart positions
US Billboard
US Cashbox
UK
1966
Mr. Jones (Ballad of a Thin Man)
You're A Lonely Girl
Dunhill
121
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
Where Were You When I Needed You
These Are Bad Times
Dunhill
28
33
style="text-align:center;"
Only When You're Lonely
This Is What I Was Made For
Dunhill
96
77
style="text-align:center;"
1967
Tip Of My Tongue
Look Out Girl
Dunhill
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
Let's Live for Today
Depressed Feeling
Dunhill
8
5
style="text-align:center;"
Things I Should Have Said
Tip Of My Tongue
Dunhill
23
36
style="text-align:center;"
Wake Up, Wake Up
No Exit
Dunhill
68
61
style="text-align:center;"
1968
Melody For You
Hey Friend
Dunhill
123
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
Feelings
Here's Where You Belong
Dunhill
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
Midnight Confessions ++
Who Will You Be Tomorrow
Dunhill
5
5
style="text-align:center;"
1969
Bella Linda +++ First pressings mistitled as "Della Linda"
Hot Bright Lights
Dunhill
28
20
style="text-align:center;"
Melody For You
All Good Things Come To An End
Dunhill
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
Lovin' Things
You And Love Are The Same
Dunhill
49
35
style="text-align:center;"
River Is Wide, The
(You Gotta) Live For Love
Dunhill
31
16
style="text-align:center;"
I'd Wait A Million Years
Fly Me To Havana
Dunhill
15
12
style="text-align:center;"
Heaven Knows
Don't Remind Me
Dunhill
24
13
style="text-align:center;"
1970
Walking Through The Country
Truck Drivin' Man
Dunhill
44
30
style="text-align:center;"
Baby Hold On
Get It Together
Dunhill
35
25
style="text-align:center;"
Come On And Say It
Something's Comin' Over Me
Dunhill
61
39
style="text-align:center;"
Temptation Eyes
Keepin' Me Down
Dunhill
15
16
style="text-align:center;"
1971
Sooner Or Later
I Can Turn Off The Rain
Dunhill
9
12
style="text-align:center;"
Two Divided By Love
Let It Go
Dunhill
16
8
style="text-align:center;"
1972
Glory Bound
Only One
Dunhill
34
22
style="text-align:center;"
Runway, The
Move Along
Dunhill
39
29
style="text-align:center;"
Anyway The Wind Blows
Monday Love
Dunhill
107
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
1973
Love Is What You Make It
Someone To Love
Dunhill
55
32
style="text-align:center;"
Where There's Smoke There's Fire
Look But Don't Touch
Dunhill
style="text-align:center;"
88
style="text-align:center;"
We Can't Dance To Your Music
Look But Don't Touch
Dunhill
style="text-align:center;"
97
style="text-align:center;"
Stealin' Love (In The Night)
We Almost Made It Together
Dunhill
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
1975
Mamacita
Last Time Around, The
Haven
71
84
style="text-align:center;"
Naked Man
Nothing Good Comes Easy
Haven
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
1976
Out In The Open
Optical Illusion
Haven
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
1982
Here Comes That Feeling Again
Temptation Eye
MCA
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
She Don't Know Me
Keep On Burning
MCA
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
Powers Of The Night
Powers Of The Night
MCA
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
style="text-align:center;"
++ Gold Record - RIAA Certification +++ Composed by Italy|Italian superstar Lucio Battisti )
The name Grass Roots was used sporadically by Arthur Lee (musician)|Arthur Lee of Love (band)|Love , in the Los Angeles area. Dunhill Records secured the legal use of the name by releasing a record, which Lee never did.
The song "Let's Live For Today" has the identical Italian melody and virtually the same arrangement that was used in an earlier song called "Be Mine Again"; although this song includes the "One, Two, Three, Four" and "Sha-La-La-La-La" as in The Grass Roots hit, the lyrics are otherwise different. The version by the Dutch band The Skope that was released in 1966 is included on the Pebbles, Volume 15 LP.
The band was seen in the Doris Day film With Six You Get Eggroll . They play the song "Feelings" at a crowded dance party.
The Grass Roots have appeared on over 50 national television shows including, The Tonight Show , Today (NBC program)|The Today Show , The Ed Sullivan Show|Ed Sullivan , Andy Williams , The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour|Sonny & Cher , Good Morning America , VH1 Hit-Makers, MTV , and a record sixteen times on Dick Clark ’s American Bandstand .
The 1975 Self Titled LP is seen in the film FM (movie)|FM . The back cover appears in a long DJ broadcast room scene with characters played by Cleavon Little and Martin Mull .
The band is mentioned by John Candy 's character in the film Uncle Buck . He comments about the music while navigating a teenage party looking for his missing niece.
Guitarist Creed Bratton plays a character also named Creed Bratton (character)|Creed Bratton , a fictional version of himself, in the US version of the television show The Office (US TV Series)|The Office . In a scene that never aired from the episode " Booze Cruise (The Office episode)|Booze Cruise ", Bratton's boss, Michael, borrowed the guitar from a cruise ship 's band and poorly plays a version of " Smoke on the Water " by Deep Purple . Bratton then takes the guitar from Michael and proceeds to surprise the rest of the passengers with his excellent playing. The scene then cuts to a confessional, where Bratton talks of his time with The Grass Roots, complete with pictures of the actual band and references to actual tours. In another deleted scene from the episode " Product Recall (The Office episode)|Product Recall ", a fictional Scranton Times writer notices Bratton was a member of The Grass Roots. He also sang one of his own songs titled "Spinnin' N Reelin'" in the episode " A Benihana Christmas ".
The band was mentioned frequently on the nationally syndicated Don and Mike Show|Don and Mike radio show . Don Geronimo sat in with the band several times at performances in the Washington DC area.
The Grass Roots version of the Bob Dylan song, " Ballad Of A Thin Man ", was featured in the 1987 Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam .
The Grass Roots song "Midnight Confessions" was featured in the 1997 film Jackie Brown (film)| Jackie Brown .
The Grass Roots song "Let's Live For Today" was used in a 2008 TV commercial to promote the Volkswagen Routan .
See also
List of best-charting U.S. music artists
References
reflist
External links
http://the-grassroots.com/ The-GrassRoots.com — official site
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p4396|pure_url=yes The Grass Roots at AllMusic.com
http://creedbratton.com/ CreedBratton.com
http://rickcoonce.com/ RickCoonce.com
http://warrenentner.com/ WarrenEntner.com
http://terryfurlong.com/ TerryFurlong.com
http://robgrill.com/ RobGrill.com
http://reedkailing.com/ ReedKailing.com
http://joel-larson.com/ Joel-Larson.com
http://dennisprovisor.com/ DennisProvisor.com
http://www.gungadave.xbuild.com/ Gunga Dave Stensen
http://www.martyangelo.com/thegrassroots.htm Marty Angelo.com former manager
http://sechman.com/ Scott Sechman
http://briancarlyss.com/ BrianCarlyss.com
( http://www.ourstage.com/profile/marksmiller)
DEFAULTSORT:Grass Roots, The Category:American rock music groups Category:Musical groups from California Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles, California Category:Musical groups established in 1966
