Some context: The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1966 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles on the Billboard Hot 100 a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they achieved Top 10 three times, Top 20 three times and Top 40 eight times.
The name "Grass Roots" (originally spelled as one word "Grassroots") originated in mid-1965 as the name of a band project by the Los Angeles songwriter and producer duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. Sloan and Barri had written several songs in an attempt by their record company, Dunhill Records (owned by Lou Adler), to cash in on the budding folk rock movement. One of these songs was "Where Were You When I Needed You," which was recorded by Sloan and Barri. Sloan provided the lead vocals and played guitar, Larry Knechtel played keyboards, Joe Osborn played the bass and Bones Howe was on drums. The song was released under "The Grass Roots" name and sent, as a demo, to several radio stations of the San Francisco Bay area. When moderate interest in this new band arose, Sloan and Barri went to look for a group that could incorporate the Grass Roots name. They found one in a San Francisco band that won a Battle of the Bands at a Teenage Fair in San Mateo, California. A new version of "Where Were You When I Needed You" with that band's lead vocalist, Willie Fulton (later, an early member of Tower of Power) was recorded. In late 1965, the Grass Roots got their first official airplay on Southern California radio stations, such as KGB (AM) in San Diego and KHJ in Los Angeles, with a version of the Bob Dylan song "Mr. Jones (Ballad of a Thin Man)". Dylan granted Sloan the opportunity to cover the song after Sloan showed appreciation for his first listen to Dylan's demo acetate of the song. For some months, the group were the first "real" Grass Roots. They were utilized by Dunhill to back up The Mamas & the Papas and Barry McGuire and became a house band at The Trip nightclub in Hollywood. The partnership with Sloan and Barri broke up when the band demanded more space for their own more blues rock-oriented material (which Dunhill was not willing to give them). Willie Fulton (lead vocals, guitar), Denny Ellis (guitar, backing vocals), and David Stensen (bass, backing vocals) went back to San Francisco, with drummer Joel Larson being the only one who remained in Los Angeles (he later returned to the group in 1971). Fulton, Ellis and Stensen continued to appear as the Grass Roots. Dunhill ordered them to cease since they decided to start all over again with another group they would groom to be the Grass Roots. In the meantime, the second version of "Where Were You When I Needed You" peaked in the Top 40 in mid-1966, while an album of the same name sold poorly. Still looking for a group to record their material and promote it with live dates, in 1966 Sloan and Barri offered Wisconsin-based band The Robbs (for whom they produced some early material) a chance to assume the identity of the Grass Roots, but the group declined.
Where did Grass roots name come from?
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Some context: General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, (15 December 1896 - 5 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served in both world wars. As a junior officer, he fought in France during the First World War, where he was wounded, and served throughout the difficult interwar period, travelling to various corners of the globe. During the Second World War he had a close relationship with Bernard Montgomery and commanded the 13th Brigade in France in 1940, and spent the next two years training troops in England, before commanding XIII Corps for the invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943. He later commanded the Second Army during the Battle of Normandy and made rapid advances in the subsequent campaign in Northern France and Belgium and was the first British Army commander to cross the Rhine.
In North Africa, Sicily and Italy, Montgomery's faith in Dempsey had proved justified and he had also gained a reputation for his expertise in Combined Operations. This prompted Montgomery, when he left Italy at the end of 1943 to take command of the 21st Army Group for the forthcoming D-Day landings, to select Dempsey to command the British Second Army. The Second Army was the main British force (although it also included Canadian Army units) involved in the landings, making successful assaults at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches on 6 June 1944. The successful assaults were followed by a battle of attrition during which the Anglo-Canadian forces were frustrated by determined German resistance. This fighting drew vital German units including the bulk of their armoured strength to the Caen sector, facilitating the breakout further west in July (see Operation Cobra) by Lieutenant General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army. The Second Army then made a rapid advance across northern France into Belgium, liberating Brussels and Antwerp in September 1944. On 15 October 1944, during a visit to the Second Army, King George VI knighted Dempsey on the battlefield. Because of the fast and successful advance over more than 200 miles in a week Dempsey received the nickname of "Two Hundred Miles" Dempsey. Second Army's XXX Corps (now commanded by Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks) took part in Operation Market Garden, the failed attempt to secure an early crossing of the River Rhine in September 1944, which Dempsey believed could not succeed and openly questioned to Montgomery. Airborne troops secured a succession of canal and river crossings to enable XXX Corps to reach the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and wheel right into Germany. Intelligence had not detected the presence of unexpected German formations in the area and resistance proved greater than expected frustrating XXX Corps attempts to reach its final objective. During the operation, Dempsey, forward near the front with his Tac HQ, witnessed the crossing of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division's 504th Parachute Regiment cross the Nijmegen bridge. Impressed, he later wrote that the 82nd was "easily the best division on the Western front". Dempsey met with the 82nd's commander, Brigadier General James M. Gavin, shook him by the hand and said "I am proud to meet the commander of the greatest division in the world today." The Second Army, with XII and XXX Corps in the vanguard and II Canadian Corps under command and VIII Corps in reserve eventually crossed the Rhine on 23 March 1945, and Dempsey was the first British Army commander to do so. On 7 April 1945, The Illustrated London News carried a full front page of a specially commissioned portrait painting of Dempsey by artist Arthur Pan. In May, Dempsey's men captured Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel. At 11.00 am on 3 May, a delegation of senior German officers led by General Admiral von Friedeberg arrived at Dempsey's Tac HQ and after questioning it appeared that Friedeberg was a representative of Generalfeldmarschall Keitel and Grand Admiral Donitz who wished to surrender. In typical fashion Dempsey sent them on their way to report to Montgomery which led to the formal surrender the next day at Luneberg Heath.
what happened in 1944?
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involved in the landings, making successful assaults at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches on 6 June 1944.