Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N Roll_136

Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N Roll Podcast

R&SRNR_136 – “THE COMPLETE HIT SINGLES HISTORY OF THE GRASS ROOTS”

Hit songs credited to the Grass Roots were all over your radio dial in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Note that we said credited to rather than performed by. That’s because for most of its existence, the Grass Roots has been a brand in search of a band.

The name Grass Roots was applied to anonymous studio musicians, until a formal group was recruited to tour under the Grass Roots moniker. Then that band was replaced by another group of musicians – with dozens of personnel changes to follow. We’ll review every Grass Roots hit single. Several of those charted 45s were remakes of other artists’ originals, and we’ll sample them, as well.

Surprisingly, two Grass Roots hit singles were imported from Italy. Our resident Rockologist, Ken Deutsch, joins Radio Dave with the provenance of those platters. Ken also will have some special tips for music collectors and fans on how to know if Grass Roots recordings you choose to obtain via vinyl, CD, or download are the genuine originals or just professionally crafted sound-alikes.