Randy Bachman is quite simply the rock and roll heartbeat of Canada. 

His has been a glorious life masterminding breakouts of two of the most iconic Canadian bands of all-time: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO), and the Guess Who. 

Now Randy--promising you ain’t seen nothing yet---says, “Bachman-Turner Overdrive / BTO is back!” 

For years Bachman-Turner Overdrive/BTO had remained a bitterly divided fraternity with Randy-- its founder, guitarist, producer, and chief writer--on one side, and his brother Robbie, Fred Turner, and Blair Thornton on the other side.  

Randy, who had bankrolled the group, has quietly made peace with his musical heritage by reclaiming the BTO name, and the band’s distinctive gear logo.

“The best response I would get when I toured in later years with the Guess Who was when I’d go into a BTO number,” Randy explains. “Crowds would go mad. I’d do ‘Let It Ride’ or  ‘Four Wheel Drive’ or ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ or ‘Takin’ Care Of Business,’ and crowds absolutely loved it because it’s a big-up, pounding, bang-your-head moment. Only ‘American Woman’ of the Guess Who repertoire has that.” 

In the ‘70s, backed by its high-powered stage performances, Bachman-Turner Overdrive was a nuclear reactor of fuzz-toned aggression churning out those pounding signature tunes that begged for a cranked-up car radio, and a steering wheel to hit for hours on end.  

Based in Vancouver, Bachman-Turner Overdrive never was a heavy metal band but, selling over 30 million albums worldwide, they were as heavy as it got in the era.  

Music figures from the isolated prairie city of Randy’s hometown, Winnipeg, Manitoba---with a population of slightly more than 700,000---tend to be individualistic, jack-of-all-trades types. The nearest interesting Canadian city is Calgary; and it's a 14-hour drive, and Toronto is 24 hours away. Also  temperatures there average below freezing from mid-November through March, dropping most nights below minus 11 F degrees. 

Despite its frosty backdrop, Winnipeg, has had a vibrant music scene for decades. The first disc of “Neil Young Archives Vol. 1: 1963-1972” features tracks recorded by his Winnipeg band, the Squires, and its 236-page hardbound book has photos of Shakey playing the same local high schools as his friend Randy. 

Like many teens of the ‘50s, Neil and Randy fell hard to the lure of rock and roll. Both early on had their eye on a distinctive orange 1957 Gretsch hanging in the window of Winnipeg Piano. 

“I would stand there every Saturday and the guy who would be standing beside me would be Neil, and a couple other guitar players,” recalls Randy. “We saw guys like Eddie Cochran playing guitar on ‘American Bandstand,’ and we’d go look at the guitar. Then another orange guitar came in that was the same with different pickups. I ended up buying one, and Neil bought the other.” 

Randy grew up in the North End of Winnipeg. From age 5 to 12, he was forced by his parents to take violin lessons. While his friends were playing football or going to movies, Randy would be in his bedroom practicing violin.  

After seeing Elvis Presley on “The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show” on CBS-TV in 1956, Randy decided to switch to guitar instead. A cousin owned a large acoustic Martin which Randy borrowed, and soon easily picked out three fundamental chords. When his mother told him there was a guitar in the attic that he could use, Randy scrambled upstairs to discover a vintage Hawaiian dobro with painted palm trees on the body, and a large nut to raise the strings.  

Randy soon was more attracted to electric guitars. Purchasing a black Silvertone guitar for $79, he studied players in the Ventures, the Champs, and Brenda Lee & The Casuals, as well as American country singer and guitarist Billy Crammer and others on WSM Radio’s “Grand Ole Opry.” 

Among his early influences were Brit Hank B. Marvin of the Shadows, and American jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. 

Randy also idolized local guitarist Lenny Breau, deemed “the greatest guitarist who ever walked the face of the earth” by Nashville’s guitar figurehead Chet Akins. Breau was then working in his parents, Hal Lone Pine and Betty Cody’s travelling C&W show. Whenever in Winnipeg, he’d meet with Randy and he introduced him to fingerstyle travis picking, named after master country guitarist Merle Travis. 

In 1960, Randy and singer Chad Allan began working alongside each other in Al and the Silvertones destined to become after several name changes one of the defining acts in Canadian rock.

By 1962, the band had changed its name to Chad Allan and the Reflections. Following the release two singles, “I Just Didn't Have the Heart,” and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" on the Canadian-American label in 1962, the band signed with Quality Records of Canada in Toronto.  

Over the next two years Quality released several of their singles as Chad Allan and the Expressions that gained some local radio notice, but failed to impact elsewhere. 

In late 1964, Quality Records released their cover of "Shakin' All Over," originally by UK’s Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, credited to “Guess Who?” as a publicity stunt to generate speculation that the single was by a British band working incognito. After the label revealed the band to be Chad Allan and the Expressions, "Shakin' All Over" received widespread airplay nationally and reached #1 in Canada, #22 in the United States, and #27 in Australia. 

Their second album, “Hey Ho (What You Do to Me!)” in late 1965 was credited to Chad Allan and the Expressions with "Guess Who?" displayed prominently on its cover. 

In the 1950s, as rock ‘n’ roll blew apart the confined structure of the U.S. dominated music industry worldwide, Canada best-known musical exports had been pop idol Paul Anka, country singer Hank Snow, instrumentalist Percy Faith, and the pop vocal acts the Diamonds, and the Four Lads. 

Canada’s music system then was almost entirely dominated by outsiders as most recordings released originated from outside the country.   

By the early ‘60s, however, there were Canadians who were stars within Canada, including Ian & Sylvia, Bobby Curtola, and the Beau Marks. 

“Bobby Curtola inspired me,” recalls Randy. “Being in Winnipeg and hearing a guy from Thunder Bay on the radio with ‘Fortune Teller,’ and all these great songs, was a great inspiration. Then he hired us to be his backup band. That was our first road trip in 1964.  We did ‘Shakin All Over,’ and we were big.” 

By the mid-1960s, change was everywhere in popular music throughout North America.  

However, for a Winnipeg-based band then, touring was challenging. The closest cities are 8 or 10 hours apart, and there’s not a lot in between. There was practically nothing drearier than touring. rural northern Manitoba--Thompson, Flin Flon, and The Pas--fighting to be heard by audiences. 

“All of those places, we played,” recalls Randy. “We developed those secondary and tertiary markets—and lower than tertiary. We managed to find some of those too.” 

Randy had no idea that "Shakin' All Over” would lead to the Guess Who travelling continually throughout North America, performing one nighters, package tours, everything.   

Among their follow-up hits in Canada were “Tossin’ and Turnin’,” “Hey Ho (What You Do to Me!),” “Believe Me,” and “Clock On The Wall.” 

As well—in the boldest stroke of his career— in late 1965, Randy championed the hiring of singer/pianist Burton Cummings from the Deverons--then growing in regional popularity--when pianist Bob Ashley left the Guess Who. 

“He was a kid when I invited him into the band,” recalls Randy. “I was his big brother picking him up for gigs, and bringing him home as his mother insisted.” 

Burton would share vocals with Chad Allan until early 1966 when Allan began to experience some voice challenges, and left the band. 

After A hastily put together tour of England blew apart, the band returned to Winnipeg deeply in debt. They, however, luckily landed a job as the house band for the Wednesday portion of CBC-TV’s music  show, “Let’s Go.” from Winnipeg, primarily covering hits of the day.  

By the show's second season, Burton and Randy were slipping in their own original songs, including the first public performances of "These Eyes," and "No Time.” 

The Bachman/Cummings songwriting partnership was one of the great flukes in pop music history. Two distinctly different personalities who balanced each other. Over time the two would battle over creative control and other matters, but their differences initially kept their union strong.  

“I had a ton of songs but none of them were all that great,” recalls Burton. “I was an 18 year old kid. I was scared to say anything. Scared to be too pushy.” 

At the start. the two would meet on Saturday mornings at Burton’s grandmother’s house and write in the kitchen, and on the piano in the living room; attempting to emulate such great pop songwriting teams as Leiber & Stoller, Goffin & King, Lennon & McCartney, Jagger & Richards, and Bacharach & David. 

 “I was more often the chorus guy, and Burton the verse guy,” recalls Randy. “I’d bring in guitar riffs and he’d add maybe chords or a bridge idea. As we worked together more and more it became a more balanced collaboration.” 

The next stage of Guess Who’s career came when they impressed Toronto advertising executive and producer Jack Richardson who had spearheaded campaigns for Coca-Cola using pop music acts. In 1968, Richardson, and three business partners, founded Nimbus 9 Productions, and signed the Guess Who. 

Their first Nimbus 9 single “These Eyes,” became a pop music standard. reaching #7 on Canada’s RPM Weekly chart, and  #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S, to become their first million selling single. 

As a songwriting team Burton and Randy hit a sweet spot in terms of creativity. “These Eyes” was soon followed by a string of memorable hits including “Laughing,” “Undun,” and the brilliant rockers “No Time,” and "New Mother Nature” to name a few. 

Then came the single “American Woman” in 1969—with its double-charting B-side “No Sugar Tonight”-- with lyrics that originated from an impromptu performance at the Broom & Stone curling club in the Scarborough suburb of Toronto with Burton singing over a guitar riff Randy had. 

Anyone even remotely plugged into pop culture will have an instant recall of the massive media saturation of “American Woman,” the first recording by a Canadian band to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  

Lenny Kravitz covered “American Woman” for the 1999 soundtrack of “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” turning it again into an international hit. His cover reached Top 20 in Australia, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Spain, as well as #26 in Canada, and #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

The same year “American Beauty,” the five time Oscar winning black-comedy drama film, used the original “American Woman” in its sound track. 

With hits and fame and more responsibilities, Randy grew frustrated of Burton’s partying excesses; whereas Burton became unforgiving of Randy’s straight, all-around family lifestyle. 

Meanwhile, Randy recorded a fine instrumental solo album for RCA Records, “Axe,” just prior to his departure from the Guess Who.  After he left, Burton then took over leadership of the Guess Who, and the hits continued, letting the world know the band could survive without Randy. 

Randy retreated briefly from the international music world to Winnipeg, producing several local acts, and sitting in on the CBC-TV country show “My Kind Of Country.”  

He resurfaced months later to produce Chad Allan’s solo album. For the project, Randy recruited his 16-year-old brother Robbie, then still in high school. 

After Neil Young helped Randy secure an American recording contract the completed Allan album was released May, 1971 as “Brave Belt” on Reprise Records. 

The single "Crazy Arms, Crazy Eyes" made the Canadian charts, peaking at #35 in 1971, but missed American charts completely. 

Randy invested his Guess Who savings and royalties to finance Brave Belt that was obviously musically influenced by the Buffalo Springfield, and Poco. 

When Reprise suggested that what had evolved into a band should be a quartet, Randy coaxed bassist/guitarist Fred Turner---then touring in Western Canada with his band, the D-Drifters---to be the fourth member. Originally playing guitar, Turner soon switched to bass which he'd often played in the  D-Drifters.  

While Chad Allan had sung lead for most of the tracks on the first Brave Belt album, Fred’s gin-and-tears vocals overwhelmed “Brave Belt Il,” released in 1972, giving the group a tougher musical direction which led to Allan leaving the group shortly after the sessions in which he appeared as a vocalist on only two songs. 

“Fred had this huge ‘Harley Davidson’ voice, recalls Randy. “A John Fogerty kind of thing.” 

After leaving Reprise, Brave Belt worked as a trio for the next 9 months playing low-paying, shit-can gigs in Canadian bars and high schools. A need for an overall directional change became obvious following a ho-hum first night of a four-night pub stint at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1971. Chad Allan had left the previous week, and the band was still playing their country-flavoured repertoire to an unresponsive audience. 

The disheartened promoter decided to sack Brave Belt, and bring in another band. But when this proved implausible he begged them to stick around. That night Brave Belt played up-tempo rockers by the Box Tops, Free, the Rolling Stones, and the Who as the dance floor filled up. 

“We immediately saw the difference between playing sit-down music people could talk over, and playing music they would jump out of their seats and dance to,” recalls Randy.  

On their way back home to Winnipeg, the group stopped for gas and food at a truck stop outside Windsor, Ontario. While at the cash register they noticed Overdrive, the trade magazine of the American trucking industry. It suddenly hit them. Overdrive. The perfect description for their "new" brand of rock and roll. Excitedly writing down Bachman-Turner Overdrive on a napkin and laying out the initials BTO, a new band name was in the works.  

After adding Bachman brother Tim as second guitarist, the group's music became even louder and faster.  

"We found our own music," Randy says. "We started listening to all the rock groups that had sustained themselves... the Who, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, and we started to pattern ourselves after them by not over-producing or over-arranging the songs. We wanted to pound our way into peoples' faces, just get in there, and knock doors down." 

Still with two failed Brave Belt albums, Randy found himself back at the starting line once more.  

However, by then, as the rock audience expanded beyond its traditional teen boundaries, the FM rock format had emerged as the choice of the young rock fans most passionate about music.  

As Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and other international acts began testing musical limits with new song structures, and more challenging themes, many Canadian radio stations, as with their American counterparts, had rejuvenated themselves with a more contemporary approach to programming.  

This led to such Canadian bands as Crowbar, Lighthouse, Fludd, Mashmakan, A Foot In Coldwater, April Wine, and Chilliwack grabbing airplay with their singles on both FM and AM Top 40 stations, while being further boosted by the introduction of Canadian government legislation in 1971 requiring commercial AM radio stations to play at least 30% Canadian music during the broadcast day. 

With a new resolve, Randy financed a third Brave Belt album at RCA Studios in Toronto.  

However, the band wasn’t able to fully walk away from Brave Belt altogether. The name still meant bookings of some sort in Canada, even though it had not caught on south of the border.   

While playing in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Randy was approached by Vancouver booking agent Bruce Allen about the possibility of working on the West Coast. The fast-talking Allen felt he could keep them busy most of the year.  

Randy jumped at the chance. 

Isolated geographically, and philosophically from the rest of Canada, Vancouver had developed a bold insular local music scene with such groups as Chilliwack, Mother Tucker’s Yellow Duck, Papa Bear’s Medicine Show, Spring, and the Seeds of Time. 

As a music industry centre, however, Vancouver had challenges. 

To some extent, the problem was the isolation. The U.S. border was still then a big barrier, and there’s the Rocky Mountains, and Toronto—Canada’s music centre-- is a long way away. There was no music business infrastructure in the city other than Bruce Allen Talent being the only game in the region for almost a decade. 

“We had a booking monopoly on everything in British Columbia, period,” boasts Allen. “Bands came here because they could make money. When we started there were 18 clubs in Vancouver playing music. My partner Sam (Feldman) and I had figured out a point where the club made money, where the band made money, and everybody was happy. We didn’t have any competition....We had a nice thing going until disco came in, and everything changed. But for years there was a really healthy scene here because we dominated the market.” 

While Bruce kept the band alive with bookings, Randy continued sending out tapes, and traveling to Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto to drum-up label interest.  

But nobody wanted the album. 

In all, Randy was turned down by 22 labels.  

Banging his head against this wall of music industry indifference, Randy next decided to remix a couple of songs, and re-contact several company reps again. 

This included Charlie Fach, VP/A&R of Phonogram, a holding company for Philips, Fontana, Vertigo and Mercury and other licensed labels. Fach, who had been away from Chicago in Europe at MIDEM when the first tape had turned up, had always been a fan of Randy's music. He agreed to listen to what Randy had. Randy sent the two new remixed 7 ½ inch tape reels by air messenger that day. Fach called the following morning saying he wanted to make a deal to put the group on Mercury Records. 

At this point the band's demo tape was still called “Brave Belt III.” Fach insisted that a new name was needed, one that capitalized on the name recognition of the band members. 

Bachman-Turner Overdrive was born.  

With the Mercury deal pending, Randy asked Bruce Allen to be their manager, and after shaking hands in agreement, the two flew to Chicago to meet with Fach, Phonogram president Irwin Steinberg, and Lou Simon, VP Marketing. 

The name Bachman-Turner Overdrive did, however, caused some problems for Fach. "It's so long that DJ's won't even say it, never mind remember it," groused the A&R executive "How about BTO?" countered Randy. "Great," replied Fach.  

For the debut album, “Bachman-Turner Overdrive,” released  in May, 1973, Robbie came up with the distinctive BTO gear logo design which was subsequently sculpted by Parviz Sadighan. 

For a restless Bruce Allen, Bachman-Turner Overdrive was the hot button he had been dying to push, although he had limited experience working  in America.   

“I had minimal experience,” he admits. “Just booking clubs with bands like Thin Red Line,  Five Man Cargo, and Crosstown Bus. Some American agencies would help us out by giving us dates here and there. We’d go down to Portland or to Chicago. So when Randy came to Vancouver with Brave Belt, and wanted to make a management deal, I felt he knew a hell of a lot more about working in the United States than I did.” 

Over the next four decades, Allen would take Bachman-Turner Overdrive, followed by Loverboy, Bryan Adams, and Michael Bublé from the ground up to global success.  

As well, Allen had significant management triumphs in Canada with Prism, Red Rider, Jann Arden, and the Payola$. He also brokered a sizable career for American country singer Martina McBride, and he reignited Anne Murray’s career. He has long managed leading Canadian producer Bob Rock who has produced Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, the Offspring, the Tragically Hip, the Cult, Bryan Adams, and Michael Bublé. 

In the next year, starting with an unpaid June 8th, 1973 gig in Nashville for WMAK, Bachman-Turner Overdrive performed an astounding 250 American dates, playing anywhere they could to spur sales.  

For $250 to $700 per show, BTO split bills with the Edgar Winter Group, Cactus, Dr. Hook, Joe Walsh, Spirit, and the Doobie Brothers. They headlined 9 nights at New York’s celebrated rock club Max's Kansas City, and opened for Motown soul man Edwin Starr at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles.  

"We'd drive 800 miles overnight, go coast to coast for a TV show," recalls Allen. 

After being booked for a KSHE radio benefit in St. Louis, the 150,000 watt station started playing their record every hour, every cut off the album, across six states. A Mercury sales executive called, and said, 'What the hell's happening? We shipped ten thousand records to St. Louis in one week.” 

"If people follow my career from the Guess Who to BTO, they'll see three years of trying to find a formula, where I was anything but commercial,” says Randy. “I went straight country-rock, and got wiped out. Then I wanted to be heard, and it was easy. We'd be in one of those bars, and start playing 'Hold Back The Water.’” 

Working out of hotel rooms from one city to the next, Randy and Bruce would share hotel rooms, and would still be talking back and forth at 2 A.M. working out issues. 

"There are hard rock bands in Canada who are as good or better than us,” mused Randy at the time. “I was lucky that I had a track record with the Guess Who so our label promoted us like crazy. The group never knew what hit 'em. I knew what hit 'em.” 

To attain the next rung on the career ladder, however, BTO needed an AM radio hit. Their first three singles, "Gimme Your Money Please" (which reached #45 in Canada), "Little Gandy Dancer," and "Hold Back the Water" missed the mark in America.  

However, Fred Turner’s "Blue Collar,” a signature jazzish track, found its mark after CKLW’s music director Rosalie Trombley started to play it in the Windsor-Detroit market, and it reached #12 on the station’s chart, as well as #15 in Columbus, Ohio, and #23 in Chicago.  

"Blue Collar” went on to reach #68 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #21 on Canada’s RPM chart. It subsequently stayed on the Billboard chart for an astonishing 68 weeks, and helped propel the debut album to #70 on Billboard. The debut LP reached #9 on RPM Weekly’s Canadian chart.  

“I can remember when it went on the chart at #189 without a bullet, and it was the biggest day of our career," recalled Bruce Allen in 1975. 

“Bachman–Turner Overdrive II,” released in December, 1973, and dominated by such corrosive-edged songs as "Takin' Care Of Business," "Let It Ride" and "Welcome Home," was even more deliriously guitar glazed than the debut album.  

Also Fred took fewer vocals this time, sharing the microphone with Randy and Tim. "I never considered myself a singer, I got hung with it," says Turner. "I did the majority of the singing on the first album because the other guys just couldn't handle it. Then they thought they'd like to try some singing, and I encouraged them.” 

“Bachman–Turner Overdrive II,” reached #4 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, and #6 on RPM’s  album chart in Canada. As well, it charted in Germany (#34), and Australia (#55). 

The album's lead-off single was the Doobie Brothers' inspired "Let It Ride," written by Randy and Fred, that reached #23 on Billboard, and #3 on RPM in Canada.  "Randy came in with the opening riff which guided the song," recalls Fred who sang the lead. 

The follow-up single was Randy's chord-soaked "Takin' Care Of Business," featuring a propulsive piano by Norman Durkee which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 (spending 20 weeks on the American chart), and #3 on the Canada’s RPM chart, and reached  #14 in Australia. 

It immediately elevated BTO to near cult status.  

The TCB that emblazoned all of the Elvis Presley entourage was taken from the BTO hit. 

Originally written in 1967 as "White Collar Worker" while Randy was with the Guess Who, “Takin' Care Of Business” was inspired by the Beatles’ "Paperback Writer,” released a year earlier. 

"I had 'Takin' Care Of Business' for 10 years before I used it,” confirms Randy. “I felt it was our perfect summer record. I couldn't use it on any of the Guess Who stuff I was on, and I couldn't use it on any early BTO.  

"With the Guess Who, I was blown away when we went to Chicago and New York to record to see people who lived out of the city coming into the city on the 8:15 train," Randy continues. “I had never been privy to that in Winnipeg because it's so small you can drive anywhere in 10 minutes. And  I was driving into Vancouver for a gig listening to the radio when I heard Daryl B (DJ Daryl Burlingham) say his catch phrase, ‘We're takin' care of business,’ and he played his next hit. I made that the name of the song, and changed the repeat phrase to fit.” 

One of the finest versions of “Takin' Care Of Business” is from Bachman & Turner with David Letterman's musical director/sidekick Paul Shaffer rocking out on piano. Shaffer claims the BTO hit is the host’s favourite recording.  

The YouTube video (“Live At The Roseland Ballroom New York City,” Nov. 2010) has tacked up two million views. 

A lobby sign at the luxury Inn on the Park in Toronto told the story of Juno Award night on March, 25th 1974, “THE JUNO AWARDS SOLD OUT.” Bachman-Turner Overdrive won for top Canadian contemporary album for its debut “Bachman Turner Overdrive,” as well as for best new group.   

Despite the accolades, and the second album’s unqualified success, Randy felt it necessary to replace his brother Tim with 23-year-old Blair Thornton from Allen's Vancouver band Crosstown Bus. The addition gave BTO both a strong guitarist, and a charismatic co-frontman. 

BTO then earnestly began to work on new songs in its rehearsal hall over a muffler shop in Vancouver for about 10 days. Six days afterwards, the group completed the spectacular, all-conquering “Not Fragile” album at Kaye-Smith Studios in Seattle. 

Released in Sept., 1974, “Not Fragile,” bolstered by “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," and "Roll On Down The Highway," rocketed to the top of Billboard's album chart as well as Canada’s RPM chart, and became one of the landmark rock albums of the era. 

“Not Fragile” – its title was a deliberate riposte to the 1971 Yes debut album “Fragile.” “They were delicate and symphonic, we were the exact opposite,” Randy explains.  

"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," with its Who/Move/Dave Mason inspired riffs, debuted at #65 on Billboard, and reached #1 seven weeks later.  

All over North America stations picked up on “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” It not only became BTO’s sole million-selling single, it also pushed “Not Fragile” to rack up sales of 4 million units. 

It was a head-spinning moment for the group, putting them among the big hitters of  rock. 

"Roll On Down The Highway," written by Robbie and Fred,  reached #14 on Billboard, and  #4 on RPM in Canada,  

"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" established its own individuality with Randy’s stuttering lyric delivery 

Many assumed that "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" parodied Roger Daltrey’s “Why don’t you all f-f-f-fade away” vocal on the Who’s 1965  “My Generation,” but Randy had, in fact, sung the work track as a jokey dig at his brother Gary while work out his guitar solos. He never thought it would make an album track, let alone a single. When he tried to record a proper vocal version afterwards, he says it sounded like "Frank Sinatra singing 'Strangers in the Night.’”  

Mercury’s Charlie Fach, however, recognized the potential of the stuttering vocal take, and insisted it be left.  

“Our engineer suggested we play Charlie the work track we cut at the start of the sessions while we were getting our sound balance,” recalls Randy. “The minute he heard the intro chords he yelled, ‘This is a hit!’ The album was all done, he had arrived to hear the final mix, and now he wanted us to add this silly track.” 

It became a time of big tours, big money, and big roaring crowds.  

"I have done hundreds of bands over the years, and never has a band sold tickets as fast as Bachman-Turner Overdrive,” New Orleans promoter Don Fox later said. “Only the New Kids On The Block eclipsed them, and their audience was all under 14. BTO fans were all ages and turned out in record numbers."  

Randy has called “Not Fragile” the band's "crowning achievement," stating: "’Not Fragile’ was when it all came together for us. We captured the album-oriented rock audience as well as the singles audience with that album. ‘Not Fragile’ made BTO recognized around the world." 

“Not Fragile” bumped BTO up into headliner status globally.  

The album reached #12 in the UK, #2 in Australia, and Sweden, #17 in New Zealand, #6 in Germany, and #8 in Austria.  

in the UK "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" reached #2. It reached #1 in Denmark, Germany, and South Africa. It was Top 5 in Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It was Top 10 in Belgium, and Norway,  

"Roll On Down the Highway" hit the #22 position in the UK, and charted in Germany (#18), New Zealand (#20), and Australia (#80). 

Reaction to a BTO tour in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England was over the top phenomenal. Gigs there pulled in virtually all-male audiences.  

“We went to Edinburgh to play a theatre of 2,400 people, and there’d be just one or two girls there. They called it ‘guy rock’,” Randy recalls.  

BTO took Thin Lizzy with them to open shows in Germany, Holland, and then back to the States.  

BTO was satirically immortalized in “The Simpsons” “Saddlesore Galactica” episode(Feb. 6th, 2000) in which the band performed at a State Fair in Springfield. While announcing, they wanted to play a song from their new album, Homer demands they play "Takin' Care of Business" instead, which they do. Later in their performance, Homer demands BTO play "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet,” despite the band having just finished playing it. 

“The Simpsons” series creator Matt Groening, whose father was born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, is a big fan of the band. 

“I have a cell from that episode that Matt Groening autographed and sent to me,” says Randy. “It's almost like getting a platinum album as it's in a box set. It's really quite amazing.” 

Horror/supernatural author Stephen King came up with his Richard Bachman pen name first adopted in 1977 for the novel “Rage” from listening to "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" at the same time his publisher asked him to choose a pseudonym. Three further novels were published under the Bachman name. 

When Randy left the Guess Who. it was a rancorous parting, and he took a drubbing, particularily from Burton Cummings who vilified him at every turn in interviews. Randy’s former band mate couldn’t resist tacking on a lounge version of “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” at the end of his self-named Portrait Record debut album in 1976.  

“It was kind of meant to piss Randy off, but when the royalties started flowing in for him, he wasn’t so pissed off anymore,” laughs Burton.  

"I made my mind after the Guess Who that people would never say, ‘Whatever happened to Randy Bachman?,’” says Randy. “And I just let the music do the talking as Bachman-Turner Overdrive rose to outsell the Guess Who.” 

“Randy’s sole motivation in turning BTO into a success, was to prove to Burton that he was wrong when he publicly declared Randy would never make it in the music business,” notes Randy’s biographer John Einarson. “Burton had to eat those words.” 

In March, 24 1975, the first televised Junos were held at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto before an audience of 1,400.   

Rosalie Trombley, music director of AM powerhouse CKLW in Windsor, presented the producer award to Randy. As well BTO also took Best Group honours as well as for top-selling album for “Not Fragile.” 

“It was very lump in throat gut wrenching tears time,” recalls Randy. “I had been blackballed everywhere after leaving the Guess Who. Everybody kind of knew what had happened. It was really something to go up there, and get that, and be cheered on.” 

With mind-fogging road exhaustion, and mounting recording pressures taking their toll,  BTO abruptly dropped into second gear with “Four Wheel Drive,” released May, 1975. 

“’Four Wheel Drive’ was the beginning of us being tired, physically, emotionally, musically. being wiped out, and starting to repeat things,” Fred admits.   

While “Not Fragile” was still  #1, Mercury Records had pressured Randy for a quick follow up. Recorded in 6 days, and containing a number of rejected songs from “Not Fragile” sessions, “Four Wheel Drive” stalled at #5 on Billboard, while climbing to #1 in Canada. It charted in Australia and Norway (reaching #10), Germany (#19), Finland (#23), and Sweden (#42). 

While the single “Hey You” topped the Canadian RPM chart, and reached  #9 in West German, and #10 in New Zealand, it failed to reach Top 20 in the U.S.  

 It’s an album from which the band never recovered.  

"It never entered my mind to tell Mercury no," admits Randy. "We were so caught up being #1 with album and single, and going to England and Germany. I got so big-headed with suddenly having the #1 album and single again, you don’t look at the downside of anything. When the label calls you up, and says, ‘Wow, you’re hot. Do another album.’ You don’t say, ‘Give me six months, 12 months off to have some new experiences to write about.” We just did another album. We started copying ourselves, and that’s very dangerous.” 

Nevertheless, BTO didn’t quite fly apart.  

Six days before the December, 1975 release of its follow-up album “Head On” it became their fifth U.S. gold album. It reached #3 in Canada but stalled at #23 on Billboard and only charted Top 10 in Sweden and New Zealand. 

A non-album single “Down to the Line,” co-written by Randy with Kim Fowley, Mark Anthony (Hollywood Stars) and Alice Cooper later also credited, was released  a month before the album, reaching #13 in Canada but died mid-chart in the U.S.  

“Head On” is, perhaps, only notable for the guest appearance of Little Richard. playing piano on Fred and Blair’s co-write “Take It Like A Man,” the single which  reached #33 on Billboard. and #24 pm RPM in Canada.  

The jazz flavoured single “Looking Out For #1,” reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100, #15 on its Adult Contemporary chart, and #40 on Canada’s RPM chart. 

Mercury rushed out “The Best Of BTO (So Far)” in July, 1976, suggesting that they were worried that BTO was running out of steam. The album stalled at #19 on Billboard. 

By this time Randy was increasingly working on outside projects, including producing four albums with the Vancouver band Trooper for his Legend label.  

He produced Trooper’s biggest hits: “Raise a Little Hell,” “We’re Here For a Good Time (Not a Long Time),” "Two For the Show,” "Pretty Lady" and "General Hand Grenade” that were featured on the band’s 1979 MCA compilation album “Hot Shots” which sold a then record-breaking 600,000 copies in Canada.  

“MCA Canada. gave me my own label, Legend, which was very successful with Trooper,” recalls Randy. “But BTO, especially Robbie, and even Bruce, constantly complained about my time producing other artists. I finally caved into the pressure from them. I had Trooper and Bill Wray on Legend, and I let them both go.” 

Even prior to Bachman-Turner Overdrive recorded its sixth album “Freeways” at Phase One in Toronto, there were widespread rumors in Canada of BTO splitting.  

Tensions that had been brewing between Randy and the rest of the members came to a boil before the “Freeways” sessions as Randy’s position as the group’s chief songwriter came under threat. Blair, Rob, and Fred told Randy they didn’t like the songs he was writing. Randy countered that his songs were fine, and the recording went ahead. 

With “Freeways” featuring horns and strings, Randy tried to direct the group toward a more progressive style, and he wrote all but one song, “Life Still Goes On (I'm Lonely),” penned by Fred. 

“Suddenly guys who aren’t, quote ‘the main songwriters,’ all want a song on the album – or, worse than that, want equality,” laments Randy. “There’s 12 songs, they each want three, and they bring three songs to rehearsal. While for my three I bring 15 songs because I’m a songwriter. For my songs we pick three great ones. For their three, they pick three mediocre songs, and it waters down the process.” 

Featuring the first BTO single that did not chart on Billboard--the appropriately titled "My Wheels Won't Turn" (though it reached #54 on RPM in Canada)--“Freeways,” released February, 1977, was the first BTO studio album to be a commercial failure.  

The album peaked at #70 on Billboard, and #34 on RPM in Canada, and #41 in Sweden. 

“Freeways,” was the last album that Randy would be a part of with this band lineup until 1984 when a "reunion" studio album was released.  

“In retrospect, we should have taken four, five, six months off ... live a little, and then come back together with new ideas,” says Randy. “That's what a lot of great bands do. And we didn't. I was tired out from all the road touring. We wanted to temporarily disband, but it was decided it wouldn't work. We also ran out of common interests." 

After Randy left the band in early 1977, April Wine bassist Jim Clench was brought in while Fred moved to rhythm guitar with the band now called simply BTO. After Randy had left, he gave the remaining members permission to call themselves BTO, but not Bachman-Turner Overdrive so as to distance himself from the project. The remaining band members eventually bought the rights to the BTO name and its trademarks, including the gear logo.  

Nevertheless, with the Bachman-Turner Overdrive acronym and logo leaving Randy’s control, there continued to be decades of legal disputes. 

Randy’s biographer John Einarson has no doubt where the blame lies: “The bottom line is that BTO was Randy’s vehicle, and the others were merely along for a very lucrative ride, and now want to bite the hand that fed them,” he said in a 2016 interview.  

“They were all greenhorns,” Randy has said of his former bandmates. “I took them out of school, paid them a salary, and in a couple of years everyone had millions in the bank, sold millions of records and thought they knew something. I knew the route back to the top again, I didn’t want to take nine or 10 years to get there. So many times I’ve left people behind – literally. Say we’re leaving at 10 o’clock and at 10 they’re not ready. “Well, you know where the next gig is, we’re going!” 

Randy, however, has since  realized that he has paid a stiff price for his single-mindedness. 

“It happened, it was great, and I’m grateful for it,” he said in an interview summing up his earlier Bachman-Turner Overdrive past  “We sold a lot of records, we did it in a third of the time it took The Guess Who to do it. I got divorced because the work with BTO was so extensive. I just wasn’t home. I was hell-bent on making it, as good or bigger than the Guess Who. And we did.  But when you have your sights set like that, you’re looking so far ahead you’ve lost your peripheral vision, your contact with everything around you. You’re bulldozing, steamrollering ahead. You get there, say ‘I’m here!’, look around, and it’s not as great as you thought. Once you hit number one there’s nowhere else to go but down.” 

The re-structured BTO released the self-produced “Street Action” in 1978 followed by “Rock N' Roll Nights” the next year, but both album were commercial failures. Following a 80-date “Rock n' Roll Nights” tour, it was decided to lay the band to rest in 1980. 

Prompted by an offer by Bellingham, Washington promoters to reunite the “Not Fragile” Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the group was put back on the road in 1983 with a lineup featuring Randy, his brother Tim, Fred  and Guess Who drummer Garry Peterson. Robbie sat out the reunion due to a disagreement over which musicians should be part of a reformed group, 

Charlie Fach, who had started his own label Compleat Records in Nashville, again signed the band. A 1984 album “Bachman-Turner Overdrive” peaked at #191 on Billboard. Then following the failure of the MCA/Curb album “Live-Live-Live” in 1986 culled from their 1985 tour, Randy and Fred departed. 

The members of the mid-80s BTO dropped out one by one except for Tim Bachman who remained with three younger musicians as manager and performer.  

In 1988, at Bruce Allen's prompting Randy, Fred, Robbie, and Blair met for a face-to-face meeting in Vancouver. The foursome hadn't spoken together since 1976, but after reconciling their differences, each  agreed to a reunion. Four years later, however, Randy inevitably left, and the others went on as BTO without him with Randy Murray taking his place. 

Bachman-Turner Overdrive was asked to be in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2003 Juno Awards, and while Randy agreed,  the other members, now touring as BTO, refused to appear onstage with him.   

It took nearly a decade for the members to mend their relationship enough to finally accept the honour. The Bachman brothers, Fred Turner, and Blair Thornton reunited for their Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction in 2014 at the Juno Awards. 

Randy's subsequent output initially fell short of his past work including his 1976 solo Polydor album “Survivor”; the pair of albums with Ironhorse for Scotti Brothers, “Ironhorse” (1979) and “Everything Is Grey” (1980); Union's “On Strike” (with Fred Turner onboard) with Portrait Records (1981); and his solo Sony Canada album “Any Road”(I993). 

As Randy had let the BTO acronym and logo leave his hands, he also found that Guess Who bassist Jim Kale had trademarked the Guess Who’s name, denying Randy any future claims on the group he co-founded. 

Nevertheless, despite lingering disputes within, the Guess Who reunited for a 1983 tour of 7 Canadian concerts which was by all accounts was a mistake. A live album was the only fruit of that brief reunion. 

"We weren't very friendly on that tour," recalls Burton Cummings. "There were some nights when the vibe was really awful. Not actual fistfights, but terrible arguments." Adds Randy. "We still had baggage and bones to pick, so the tour imploded halfway through.” 

Another banding together, the lucrative “Running Back Through Canada” tour of 2000. recaptured some of the old Guess Who magic, and resulted in a live double album, and DVD.

The SARS FEST benefit in Toronto in 2003 saw the Guess Who performing alongside the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, the Flaming Lips, Justin Timberlake and others in front of 450,000 people. 

Three years later, Randy and Burton joined forces as the Bachman-Cummings Band, backed by Burton's Toronto-based group the Carpet Frogs for a CBC TV special, “First Time Around,” that led to a DVD and CD, featuring Randy and Burton in front of an intimate crowd, playing their hits and relating their stories 

In 2019, Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon summoned the group to perform at the closing ceremonies of Winnipeg's Pan-Am Games. Although they played only four songs, the quartet was embraced as returning home-town heroes, and the seed was planted for a full-scale reunion the following year. 

Through the years since, Randy kept busy touring as the Randy Bachman Band; touring and recording with Burton as Bachman & Cummings, and touring with Fred as Bachman & Turner, and also touring with the Sadies.  

With enough stories to keep a generation of his fans enraptured for years, there have also been his enormously popular theater-styled, storytelling dates that began first with “Every Song Tells A Story" (it origin coming from a conversation Randy had in London after watching a performance by the Kinks’ Ray Davies), followed by “Vinyl Tap Stories,” and “Greatest Stories Ever Told.”  

And there’s been Bachman books, including his autobiography, “Takin' Care of Business,” in 2000, as well as “Vinyl Tap Stories” (2011), and “Tales from Beyond the Tap” (2014). 

Best of all there was his astonishing 16 year stint hosting the popular two-hour “Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap” program on CBC Radio One that was re-launched in 2022 across Corus Entertainment’s Rock and Classic Hits stations. 

Additionally Randy has recorded a number of stellar recordings including his short detour into jazz, “Jazz Thing” (2004), and “Jazz Thing II”  (2007); “Heavy Blues” (2015) from his newly-formed band, Bachman, which featured musical contributions from Neil Young, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Jeff Healey; and the irresistible 2018 tribute “By George By Bachman --Songs of George Harrison.”  

Randy kept busy during the COVID pandemic with a series of projects including with his eldest son Tal, such as their hilarious, unscripted YouTube show “Bachman & Bachman,” and stints together on SiriusXM, and touring and telling stories through song and visuals together as Bachman & Bachman with an affiliated album. 

Tal has had a remarkable career of his own, most notably his debut album “Tal Bachman” in 1999. The album’s towering single “She’s So High” peaked at #3 in Canada, and #14 on Billboard’s Hot 100, reached #1 on its Adult Top 40 chart in 2000, earning Tal BMI's Song of the Year award. Three years later, Norwegian pop/country singer Kurt Nilson released “She’s So High,” which reached #1 on the Norwegian singles chart, becoming the best selling single ever in Norway. Additionally, the single reached  Top 10  status in Flanders, and the Netherlands, 

In 2011, when Taylor Swift played Vancouver, she invited Tal on stage to perform one of her all favourite songs “She’s So High” with her. 

For the ever restless Randy there’s also been the filming of the Netflix rockumentary “Lost and Found “which  chronicles his longtime search and ultimate reunion of his cherished 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins guitar that was stolen from his Toronto hotel room in 1977, but was tracked down in Japan by a fan/Internet sleuth in 2020.  

Randy flew to Japan in 2022 to meet the guitarist who had bought the guitar from a vintage shop in 2014. On Canada Day (July 1st) Randy was reunited with 1957 Gretsch, and he traded the Japanese musician a “sister” guitar.  

Randy, who has become a major influence on three generations of players, and  who regularly tops reader polls in guitar magazines, has owned over 1,000 guitars in his lifetime. He sold much of his Gretsch collection back to Fred Gretsch, CEO of the company, in the early 2000s. The guitars are now on display in Savannah Georgia. 

Needless to say, this 1957 Gretsch guitar has a special place in his heart which is why it became the centerpiece of the 2023 “Randy Bachman: Every Guitar Tells A Story” exhibit of 80 guitars at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre in Calgary, Alberta. 

Among the exhibit highlights were the Silvertone Sunburst F-Hole Acoustic Guitar Randy bought out of a Sears catalog in 1956; a 1968 cream Fender Stratocaster used on Bachman-Turner Overdrive tracks; a 1954 white Fender Stratocaster used on “Let it Ride”; and his German Archtops guitars made by hand by fathers, sons and grandsons trained at the Stradivarius factory in Cremona, Italy. 

“There's 5 or 6 guitars that everybody needs in their arsenal if you're playing an array of music, which I am and most musicians are, if you want different sounds,” says Randy. “You need a Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster for their inherent sounds. Then a big body Gibson, and a Les Paul Gibson. Then a 12-string Rickenbacker. I've got a lot of guitars. I love guitars. I'm a sucker for a beautiful guitar. They have become my whole life.” 

Why do musicians love their guitars so much? 

“You basically are putting your arms around it, you’re holding it next to your bosom. It’s like you’re hugging your girlfriend, right? They breathe with you. They feel your heartbeat, you feel their heartbeat, and you become one.” 

As Randy was boarding an airplane flight on April 23rd 2023, he received an email breaking the news that his brother Tim had passed away. Tim’s passing at 71, followed the earlier passing of Robbie on January 12th at the 69. Three years earlier, on June 25th, 2020., Gary at 75 was the first of the four Bachman brothers to pass away. 

Randy—the eldest of the brothers—remains the only son left of Charles and Nancy Bachman. 

Yet, even as one of the most successful artists, songwriters and record producers in history, Randy clearly is not slowing down. Performing is in his lifeblood.  

“Neil (Young) once told me, ‘We used to live to play, now we play to live.’ It's so true – we play to stay alive,” he says.  

“Randy was my biggest influence when I was a kid,” says Neil Young in “Bachman,” the 2018 film documentary. “Watching him play guitar, he had an amazing sense about the way he played. And the feeling that you got when you listened to him. It was more than just chops.” Young then added, “I hear Randy — when I see him, I hear him, and I feel him.” 

According to the official tally, Randy Bachman has won 11 Canadian Juno Awards.  

“I have no idea how many between the RPM Weekly Awards for the Guess Who, the BTO artist and producer awards, and as producer of Trooper,” he says. “I didn’t keep count. I know the total combination of all the above, and from many different countries, that I had over 120 gold and platinum awards. all donated to National Library of Canada in Ottawa.” 

In his home country, Randy has received the Order of Canada, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and the SOCAN Lifetime Achievement Award.

Randy is a double-inductee in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame., established by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), In 1987, the Guess Who was inducted, and Bachman Turner Overdrive was inducted in 2014.  

A portion of Randy’s Guess Who repertoire was inducted by Gordon Lightfoot into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) in 2005.   

In 2011 the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) presented Randy with its Global Impact Award, and he was inducted into the U.S. Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville in 2014. 

Songs written or co-written by Randy have been recorded by Lenny Kravitz, Tesla, Junior Walker and the All-Stars, James Last, the Shirelles, Tom Jones, Natalie Cole, jacksoul, Angie Stone, Larry Gowan, Michael Bolton, Maestro, Six Feet Under, the Butthole Surfers, 3 Inches of Blood, The Friends of Distinction, Bang, Pack Habit, as well as by the Jamaican reggae stars Alton Ellis, Stranger Cole, and Tommy McCook & the Supersonics. 

His songs have been placed in over 100 TV shows, films and commercials.  

Randy’s most valuable copyright of his own, "Takin' Care Of Business,” has been recorded by Kurtis Blow, Krokus, Bus Stop, Status Quo, Mac DeMarco, Figures on a Beach, Thunderpussy, Dread Zeppelin, Big Mouth, ApologetiX, Ken Tamplin, and Alarmist. Among those bands having performed “Takin' Care Of Business” in their live shows are Metallica, Phish, and Bon Jovi. 

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Written by: Larry LeBlanc

Journalist/broadcaster Larry LeBlanc is the recipient of the 2013 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, recognizing individuals who have made an impact on the Canadian music industry.