Fifty years ago this week, Grand Funk Railroad sold out Shea Stadium in 72 hours, a feat that, 6 years earlier, took the Beatles about two weeks. To be fair, no band had ever played Shea before the Beatles. It may even be possible that the Mets were never able to sell it out in their early years. They were huge at the time, yet nobody could figure out why. Their first two albums, if you read up on them, are often compared unfavorably to Black Sabbath, or Spinal Tap around the time of  Brainhammer .  More "hard rock" than "heavy metal", the first two albums feature a lot of heavy boogie and hard funk riffing without the hooks of Zeppelin or Deep Purple. Production values are pretty lo-fi, they almost seem live. " Got This Thing on the Move " sounds like Blue Cheer or maybe early MC5 while " Paranoid " - not the Sabbath tune - could fit on the Stooges' Funhouse . They were all about the live show. In 1969, as yet unknown, the were well received...

Fifty five years ago the Yardbirds released their follow up to "Shapes of Things",  "Over, Under, Sideways, Down",   The original featured Jeff Beck on guitar. Here is the band performing live with his replacement, Jimmy Page. Of their enduring hits, it was always the hardest to find in the vinyl and early CD eras.