Let's Live For Today

The Grass Roots were one of those faceless 60s bands.  They had several Top 20 hits like Midnight Confessions,  Temptation Eyes, and Sooner Or Later, but I could not have picked them out of a lineup.  There's a good reason for that - the band was a concoction by producer Lou Adler and the songwriting duo of PF Sloan and Steve Barri (also responsible for Eve Of Destruction by Barry McGuire, Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers, and You Baby by The Turtles), who were on the prowl for existing bands willing to change their name to The Grass Roots and record Sloan/Barri songs.  They went through two abortive starts before, in 1967, persuading the band 13th Floor to change its name and even then, LA studio musicians (known as The Wrecking Crew) did much of the performing on the records.

I didn't care much for most of the band's music except for their first hit, Let's Live For Today, which was not composed by Barri and Sloan but was originally an Italian song for which Michael Julien wrote English lyrics.  Released in May 1967, Let's Live For Today made the Top Ten.


The guitarist in the 13th Floor and for The Grass Roots until the spring of 1969 was Creed Bratton.  If you've ever watched The Office you know Creed Bratton.  In that series Creed Bratton plays a very weird character named Creed Bratton who used to perform with The Grass Roots.  Apparently the real Creed is different from the character Creed Bratton who is completely amoral, may have murdered a man, and is likely insane.