If I were to say to you, “name an iconic Michigan rock band from the 1960’s,” you’d probably give me the MC5 or the Stooges or Alice Cooper, and that’s fine. You might go on a deep cut and say ? and the Mysterians, or the Bob Seger System, and that’s fine as well.
But let me introduce you to a helluva garage band from Flint, Michigan. Depending on certain points in their timeline, they were known as The Pack, or The Fabulous Pack, but during most of their hitmaking run they were credited as Terry Knight and the Pack, with Terry Knight as their lead vocalist.
The Pack had their first hit on a tiny regional label, with their song “Tears Come Rolling” having a tremendously strong British Invasion influence.
Eventually Terry Knight and the Pack moved to a larger label, Lucky Eleven, which received national distribution by Philadelphia’s Cameo-Parkway Records. And with that, the band’s sounds could reach outside of Michigan, and their cover of the Yardbirds’ “Better Man Than I” now received decent airplay in Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York.
Then came their biggest hit, a string quartet-with-garage-rock cover of Ben E. King’s “I (Who Have Nothing),” which broke through nationally. How can you pass up this track, especially with Terry Knight’s ear-catching narrative intros, all mixed down to a thick mono blast? And I’m not joking about this being a #1 hit – WPTR in Albany had this as their #1 track in their November 4, 1966 playlist. Seriously.
Terry Knight and the Pack had a series of regional hits in this vein, with Terry Knight acting as vocalist / narrator, while the Pack came through with fantastic orchestration.
But regional success does not equate national success, and conflicts between Terry Knight and the rest of the Pack forced a breakup, with the group rebranding themselves as “The Fabulous Pack.” They recorded a few more tracks, most notably this song, “Wide Trackin,” that was written in the hopes of garnering a deal with a car company (back when Pontiac’s vehicles had “wide track” body widths).
As for Terry Knight, he eventually recorded a single, “Saint Paul,” which played into the “Paul is Dead” 1960’s meme. But because Knight used various lyrics and motifs from various Beatles classic tracks, the Beatles’ publishing company sued – and eventually claimed the copyright on the song, making “Saint Paul” the only song owned by the Beatles’ publishing company that none of the Beatles officially wrote.
As for the Pack / Fabulous Pack, two members of the band – Don Brewer and Mark Farner – teamed up with bassist Mel Schachter once the Pack broke up, and the trio formed a new band – Grand Funk Railroad. And the manager of Grand Funk Railroad for the band’s earliest years? Terry Knight.
And just because I feel like playing a band that DESERVES to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and for crying out loud, why they aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a complete mystery to me …
Chuck The Writer 
First, I didn’t even know Ben E. King had recorded “I (Who Have Nothing)”. The only version I know is a cover by Tom Jones. Secondly, Terry Knight & The Pack have long been forgotten by most musicologists.
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