Why this homepage?
An interview with JimmyK (Radio Leksand 94,7)< How did you become a hardrock fan?>
- Well, back in the middle of the 60's, there was a weekly battle between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones on the swedish charts. I was a Rolling Stones fan, because they were more respectless and played much harder than The Beatles. I guess that's a good start for turning on to the upcoming pre-metal.My book of maths from 1966..... <When did you heard Grand Funk for the first time?>
- By Christmas time in 1970/71, I was visiting a friend in Stockholm. He showed me one of his brothers new albums. It was called Grand Funk Live Album. I recall listening to some tracks, one with a five minute drumsolo...I was hooked immidiately by the energy of this power trio. It was the heaviest sound I've ever heard!
<What's so special about Grand Funk?>
- Well, that's the question I've been asking myself from time to time. You know, reading the reviews back in the seventies made you rather confused....What was actually wrong with me - worshipping a group that was so untalented and lousy? I tried to sell Grand Funk to my fellow highschool hardrockers, but they didn't like their music. I don't know if they took impression of the bad press or if they just didn't like the sound - but I felt like a lone wolf back in those days.
<Why didn't Grand Funk score in Sweden? They had such great success in the U.S.A>
- There is a chain of circumstances which explain the lack of success in Sweden<When and why did you decide to create The Unofficial GFR Homepage?>The media was narrow back in the seventies. We only had two TV channels and three radio stations, all controlled by the the governement. The leading newspapers constantly miscredited Grand Funk. We didn't have those huge rockfestivals in Sweden, so in order to get recognition, you just had to be a hitmaker and chartbuster to succeed. Grand Funk visited Sweden once, in 1975, when the first hardrock wave was over and disco was coming in. Far too late.....Jimi Hendrix was not a hitmaker, but he visited Sweden several times, so he got recognition back in the late 60's.
- Well, I was connected to WWW for the first time in 1996. The first item I was seeking information about was "grand funk". I found at least three private homepages with material about Grand Funk. I decided to create a swedish site with information about the GFR history, because I wanted to cover the lack of recognition among the young heavymetal fans. They know all about Sabbath, Purple, Heep and Hendrix, but absolutely nothing about Grand Funk. So, in May 97', I launched a five page swedish/english homepage about GFR.
<And the reaction....what happened?>
- The reaction was overwhelming, email from all over the world came in. Contributors helped me with translations, articles, photos and reviews. The site is constantly growing!
<To become an official webmaster - is that your goal?>
- Absolutely not. Official webmasters don't have the same freedom to post whatever is interesting to the fans. For example, my site contains information about existing bootlegs and exposes exclusive and personal opinions about the bandmembers and about the history, that just wouldn't fit in an official homepage. On the other hand I'll have to show a great deal of responsibility, not to offend anybody.
<Do you have the approval from the band?>
- Yes, I think so. The former official page had links to all my sections and the official Mark Farner page has a link to my Farner section. I've always tried to be neutral and objective, even when feelings around me are reaching the cooking point. I was very disappointed when the former official webmistress closed the site because of the bandsplit. That's why I call my site "The Eternal GFR Homepage".
<OK, thank you very much....Finally, what about the future? Do you think that Grand Funk will reunite again?>
- Yes, I hope they will. Listening to the KLOS radio show from 1996 makes me confident, because the guys seem to have so much fun playing together again. I guess that some of the people around the band members are to be blamed for making the split deeper than necessary. Once they start to talk - there's hope again. "Look forward", says Terry Knight, former manager, and he's right about that for sure!