Did you know BTO? (live, shop, to move)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Who remembers rocking out to Bachman Turner Overdrive back in the day?

[Zoisite]

Back in the late 60's early 70's there used to be what was called a "be in" at Stanley Park in Vancouver on Easter Sundays. The Easter Sunday be ins drew crowds of thousands of young people from up and down the west coast. BTO and several other bands did unpaid guest appearances several times for the be ins and they would get the whole park rocking. It was a lot of fun.


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[jambo101]

Ya got a few more you can ask us about = https://www.ranker.com/list/canada-b...here/reference

[BMI]

BTO were great but only had a brief time on top....2 years ...early 1974 to early 1976

Randy Bachman quit “The Guess Who” in May 1970 just as their huge hit “American Woman”
was topping Billboard’s hot 100...quite a feat for a canadian band.

Being a Morman, Randy didn’t like the band’s increasingly reckless “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll”
(and booze) lifestyle...so hit quit.

About a year later, Bachman started up a new band, “Brave Belt” with his old Guess Who
lead vocalist, Chad Allen.

Brave Belt recorded 3 albums....2 of which were released on Reprise Records but sold poorly.
Reprise refused to release the third album....by that time Chad was replaced by CF Turner.

Bachman shopped the 3rd album recordings to other labels and struck a deal with Mercury Records.
They didn’t like the group name though, so it was changed to BTO.

That album was released in May 1973 ....exactly 3 years after leaving The Guess Who.
A good solid album but still no hits.

BTO’s second album was released in december 1973...the group needed a big hit badly.
In early 1974 a song off the album, “Taking Care of Business” was released as a single
and was a big hit for the band. It was recorded in Seattle, Washington (Randy had moved to
Washington state). The piano heard on the track was played on the spot in one take
by a guy that happened to be in the studio at the time...rumor has it he was the janitor
or a pizza delivery boy...he never got paid for his services...maybe free pizza

Their biggest hit, also in 1974, was a fluke.
“You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” was not even supposed to be on the album (their 3rd album).
The head of Mercury Records listened to all the songs recorded for their 3rd album
and didn’t hear anything that sounded like a hit and asked if they had any more songs.
The other members of BTO said they had another goofy song sung by Randy Bachman
stuttering, meant as a joke. Well, the head of Mercury Records listened, loved it,
made them include it on the album and release it as a single (against the group’s wishes).
It rocketed up the charts to number one on Billboard’s Hot 100.

For the remainder of 1974 and 1975, BTO kept cranking out solid hits...like...
“Roll On Down the Highway” (my fave) and “Hey You”.

Interestingly, during that era 1974-76 when BTO was huge, Randy Bachman’s old band,
“The Guess Who” were still plugging away making albums with decreasing success,
must of killed leader Burton Cummings that BTO was doing much better.

By 1976 Randy Bachman wanted to move on ...go solo...and ironically, around the same time
Burton Cummings decided to go solo after a decade with The Guess Who, pretty much sealing their fate.

BTO struggled without Randy Bachman and faded fast, but for two glorious years
in the mid seventies, BTO was Canada’s top selling band, with “Rush” taking over their position,
themselves peaking in the early 1980s.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

“Hey You” was supposedly aimed at Burton Cummings.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_...Overdrive_song)
One of the lines is “No time, no time”.

[Natnasci]

I'm not Mormon, but used to go to the odd Mormon Teen Dance at one of their wards here. BTO played sometimes at these dances.

Randy is not long Mormon I believe.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

I'm not Mormon, but used to go to the odd Mormon Teen Dance at one of their wards here. BTO played sometimes at these dances.

Randy is not long Mormon I believe.

He left the church years ago.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Isn’t it interesting that BTO were at their peak for only a couple of years, had only six or so top-forty hits, yet some of those songs still get regular airplay over 40 years later? A band doesn’t have to stay together for decades to make memorable music. I wonder if Quebeckers of a certain age - even though whose English skills are non-existent - would remember those songs?

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Isn’t it interesting that BTO were at their peak for only a couple of years, had only six or so top-forty hits, yet some of those songs still get regular airplay over 40 years later? A band doesn’t have to stay together for decades to make memorable music. I wonder if Quebeckers of a certain age - even though whose English skills are non-existent - would remember those songs?

I wonder.

I do know that I've met some that tell me English Canada has no culture of it's own, and when you mention bands, singers, novelists, etc that are English Canadians, they sometimes remember that, or they sometimes dismiss it as " the same as American ".

They might also recognize the songs, but have no idea they're Canadian. Of course this is a generalization, but does show some of my personal experience.

Of course this is not just Quebeckers, but a lot of the world. A friend in Europe thought Bryan Adams was American for instance.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

I wonder.

I do know that I've met some that tell me English Canada has no culture of it's own, and when you mention bands, singers, novelists, etc that are English Canadians, they sometimes remember that, or they sometimes dismiss it as " the same as American ".

They might also recognize the songs, but have no idea they're Canadian. Of course this is a generalization, but does show some of my personal experience.

Of course this is not just Quebeckers, but a lot of the world. A friend in Europe thought Bryan Adams was American for instance.

I think you're largely right. Most people of a certain age would probably be familiar with a song or two, especially given that they were popular in the U.S. and more globally. (Global popularity for Anglo-Canadian stuff is usually the kicker for people in Quebec being aware of it. Canadian-only stuff like The Tragically Hip does not usually register much here.)