The Grassroots--70s AM Radio Kings

The history of The Grass Roots is more than a little muddled--the group actually started out in 1964 or so with two guys looking for a vehicle to market their folk-rock compositions that were in the style of then-popular groups like The Byrds, The Beau Brummels, and The Lovin' Spoonful. By the time The Grass Roots disbanded in 1975, they had logged at least fourteen Top Forty hits with at least three distinctly different sets of musical personnel. Confusing, you say? Well, if you purchase All Time Greatest Hits-The Grass Roots, the whole story is set out in the liner notes. I'm not so sure I fully understand all of the changes this band went through (you really need a program to keep up with the players), but the liner notes are thorough and provide a lot of interesting information about the history of The Grass Roots.

The music of The Grass Roots spanned parts of two decades--even though they first started in 1964, little commercial success came their way until 1967, and their popularity waned sometime around 1972, even though they were together in some form or another until 1975. During the peak period of their success, The Grass Roots churned out good, solid pop music that became an AM radio staple and their music remains the staple of many oldies stations today. The music of The Grass Roots featured melodies that stuck with you, lots of good hooks, and some playful, if forgettable, lyrics. As the band (or bands, as it were) became more sophisticated musically, studio musicians were added to include horns, strings, and other ornamentations, most of the time with satisfying results.

All Time Greatest Hits contains a total of sixteen tracks, and most of the tunes on this collection are instantly recognizable by anyone who was a music fan in those days. The Grass Roots were capable of creating songs with a sort of sexual urgency, and Temptation Eyes and Midnight Confessions are two of their best. Let's Live For Today and Sooner Or Later represent the style that this band excelled in--brainless pop with a singalong melody and an unforgettable hook line. Two Divided By Love is a witty play on words that you wouldn't expect from a group as shallow as The Grass Roots, and Wait A Million Years possesses a profundity you certainly wouldn't expect considering the discography of this group. I think that Where Were You When I Needed You was the first song by the earliest incarnation of The Grass Roots, but it didn't achieve the commercial success that their later music garnered.

There's roughly forty-five minutes of music on this album--much of it sounds dated to me, but it also represents a perfect picture of American AM radio in 1970. Any fan of The Grass Roots should own this collection, and most musical historians would probably consider this an essential piece of the mosiac that constitutes the 60's and 70's musical landscape. I pull it out and listen to it about once every two years, just so I can remember the music and the era.

Thanks for reading.