The lead singer of the Grass Roots, Rob Grill, passed away on July 11. We're losing a lot of people, and I'm pretty ticked about it.
The Grass Roots was the first concert I ever attended. I believe it was nineteen seventy somethingorother.
Before I ever saw the Grass Roots in concert, I was hooked on this song:
I wore out this single (Dunhill Records - released in 1967 - black label) on my little portable record player with the one really high quality built-in speaker. And to think I'd only heard it on the radio. I hadn't even gotten the full formal presentation, with the guys wearing their jaunty neckerchiefs.
You will notice, also, that a very young Creed Bratton is in this clip. Yes, that Creed.
But getting back to Rob Grill. He was sexy, with or without the neckerchief, and he was a really good singer.
One thing I'd never noticed (or I guess, hadn't even known, until watching these videos) was that the lead vocals on the group's songs were traded off. I'd always thought it was just Rob. Interesting and really unusual.
The Grass Roots had so many great songs; songs that you've probably forgotten, but you shouldn't.
Let's remember them, shall we?
Sorry for the terrible quality of this next video, but on the plus side, you get to be frightened by the sight of Kenny Rogers, with his tinted aviator glasses:
To me, it's sort of hard to reconcile the Rob Grill of 1967 - 1972 with someone who has now passed away. When you watch him in these clips, you can tell he was a nice person. And I guess that's what really matters.
But, oh, the music.
