(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Grand Funk - "The Loco-Motion"
Hit Number 1: May 4, 1974
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
This was a strange time in pop music, but it wasn't just because of the music that was being played. It was all of the late '50s, early '60s nostalgia that people were suddenly getting. We're in a time now where disco was creeping in, and pop music was continuing to evolve dramatically, and in such a short amount of time. In 1962, Little Eva recorded and released her song "The Loco-Motion", and it became a huge hit, eventually reaching #1. 1962 seems like it should have been a long time ago, especially when you compare how music sounded in 1974 compared to then. But it's only been 12 years. We've gone through the British Invasion, the psychedelic era and a new revival of hard rock since then. So, it might as well have been 50 years since Little Eva had her #1 hit.
This wasn't so much a weird time for music as it was a weird time for the boomers that bought records like Little Eva's when they were just teenagers. They were entering the work force. They were continuing to fight those who were authority over them. Hell, some were still addicted to drugs, even a few years after the psychedelia came to an end. So when a popular hard rock band covered one of their old favorites from back in the "good old days," of course they were going to buy it. Grand Funk weren't necessarily nostalgic themselves, as the whole reason they even recorded "The Loco-Motion" again was because their lead guitarist and co-lead singer, Mark Farner, was whistling the song in the studio one day. I brought up in the "We're an American Band" review that Grand Funk was a band that didn't care about what others thought. Not many hard rock bands would take some teenage girl's song about dancing and do it themselves, but they did. Simply just because they could, and no one was gonna stop them.
As it's to be expected, Grand Funk's version is way different from Little Eva's. Little Eva's version is a generic oldie, but one that's still moderately fun. However, Grand Funk took her song and amplified it into a garage rock banger. Grand Funk's version can be argued as one of the first true glam rock #1 hits. I'm still not sure I'd put it into that category, but they do share some things in common. Glam rock is some of the most shameless crap that's ever existed. They dress up weird and perform music that isn't easy to understand, but you still listen to it because it's fascinating. (I just covered this a little bit in the "Bennie and the Jets" review) Grand Funk didn't dress weird, but they were, in fact, very shameless and did stuff that you were intrigued by. In "We're an American Band", they were a group of rowdy dudes singing about having some fun in America. In "The Loco-Motion", they're just having a damn good time, not caring about what anyone else thought.
Now, I actually prefer Grand Funk's version of the "The Loco-Motion" as opposed to Little Eva's. Both versions are good, but I find Grand Funk's shameless persona to be somewhat charming. It's hard to not have fun while listening to it. The guys add in some goofy little harmonies and an exaggerated guitar solo and hearing a hard rocker sing lines like "My little baby sister can do it with me/It's easier than learning your ABC" is funny as hell. I don't think their rendition is as cool as "We're an American Band", mostly because "The Loco-Motion" is a pretty stupid song no matter who's doing it, but I've gotta hand it to Grand Funk here. They took a teenie bopper type song, rocked the hell out of it and turned it into something fun and easy to laugh at. And it's the "laughing with you" type. I totally think Grand Funk would laugh at their own song. That's the beauty of this version of this song.
Grand Funk won't appear in this blog again, but they still released other bangers. Their song "Bad Time" was another goofy little song that still manages to rock hard, and it peaked at #4 in 1975. (It's a 7) And of course, you can't talk about Grand Funk without bringing up "Some Kind of Wonderful", an awesome cover of a Soul Brothers Six song. (Grand Funk's version peaked at #3. It's an 8. I also wanna bring up that both "Bad Time" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" were on the album All the Girls in the World Beware!!!. An awesome name for an album!) I have a real respect for these guys for not giving a single damn about anything. They did what they wanted to do, and they had a great time doing it. "The Loco-Motion" is probably the greatest example of that you can find.
GRADE: 7/10
IN POP CULTURE:
"The Loco-Motion" has been covered so many times, but besides Little Eva and Grand Funk's versions, there's only one other one that was also successful. That would be Kylie Minogue's version, which peaked at #3 in 1988. Her version is also pretty fun, but in much different ways than Grand Funk's. However, her version is also a 7. Here is is:
(Kylie Minogue will not appear in this blog. In fact, her cover of "The Loco-Motion" is her highest-charting hit in the U.S.)
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