Sparky Grinstead has been played on NTS shows including The Early Bird Show, with No Magic first played on 15 June 2021.

Sparky Grinstead's first album, 1979's "Won Out", a collection of pop/rock love songs, gained him a small amount of airplay on college stations around the country. This was followed in 1980 by the single "Wa"/ "Whatever You Want" which in a perfect world would have been a massive hit, but in this rather imperfect one was deemed too odd to make even the most liberal playlists. 1981 saw him teaming up with members of his first band, The Bonkeenies of America, to release the punk jazz opus Le Bonx. Popular with fans of the avant-garde and experimental music, it left most listeners scratching their heads. In 1982 he released a single, "Rollin' Home" b/w "Major Networks" a couple of "normal" folk-rock tunes in a failed effort to get back on the radio. 1983 saw the release of "FSGBOC" , a set of mostly acoustic, darkly humorous breakup songs. A fourth album, titled "Rodent to Rodent" was recorded but not released. .. .. Sparky rarely performed live under his own name and his records, when not completely ignored, got precious little airplay and sold not at all. A true original, he followed his muse where it led him and though commercial success proved elusive, he made some very interesting music that is worth a listen. Vinyl copies of his albums are now quite rare and collectible. .. .. In the early 90's, Sparky began performing in the San Francisco area under the name Norman Famous with his band the Backorders, playing songs from his albums and newer material. Although they never recorded a proper album, several videos and bootleg tapes exist of their live performances… From 1996 to 2001, Sparky played drums and sang for the bay area garage-folk outfit El Sob, appearing on their two releases, Life In Antarctica (1996) and Welcome to El Sob (2001). .. .. In 2002, just as he began recording some new songs, Sparky suffered a paralyzed vocal cord. Unable to sing, he shelved the project and spent the next few years in intense therapy, trying to regain his singing voice. .. .. In 2009, Sparky has recently released his first collection of new music is 26 years, "Winter Comes and Goes", recorded with producer Eric Kampman, followed by a 30th-anniversary special edition CD of his first album, "Won Out". 2011 saw the release, at long last, of the legendary "Rodent to Rodent". He is currently working on "Grimace", an album of all-new material and is recording an "unplugged" version of "Winter Comes and Goes". He performs regularly in the San Francisco area with his band, The Mighty Backorders.