"The guys from the record company were jumping up and down and screaming": The beer-soaked, chart-topping anthem that saved a career and became an all-time classic

Grand Funk Railroad pictured on nude on a haystack in a barn surrounded by US flags.

Grand Funk Railroad hadn’t had much success heading into 1973. Well, that’s not an entirely fair comment, because 1970’s Closer To Home album sold well enough for the band to be playing – and packing out – venues like New York’s Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium.

So really, Grand Funk had experienced success, but it wasn’t the type of world-straddling success the Flint, Michigan, trio sought. Proof of that was that they were in debt, primarily because of their manager/ producer Terry Knight. Singer/drummer Don Brewer shakes his head, telling Classic Rock: “We were being sued by Terry, and we knew that radio had changed.”