鈥淐lassic鈥� Rock, as a term, is a bit of misnomer. Rock isn鈥檛 a language that no one speaks anymore. Rock music is ageless, organic, hardworking, vital, and speaks a language that everybody understands, and sings along to.
That said, there is something about the music of the late 鈥�60s and early 鈥�70s that defines guitar-based rock 鈥� a driving energy and unprecedented songwriting that really warrants the term 鈥渃lassic.鈥�
You can ask Randy Bachman, who was at the forefront of the creation of the genre. He and his bands, like Bachman Turner Overdrive, helped define rock in the early 鈥�70s. That sound, and those songs, are going rock Western Financial Place in Cranbrook when BTO comes to town Sunday, April 6. Time is going to stand still.
鈥淚 look back now, it鈥檚 like a whole genre,鈥� Bachman said, on the phone from his home in Victoria, ahead of going on tour with BTO next month. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like Blues, or Jazz. Classic Rock, it鈥檚 a thing all over the world.
And I鈥檓 so grateful for the blessing of having started 鈥� in the mid-60s with the Guess Who, and living through the wonderful period of time from about 鈥�61 or 62,鈥� to the late 鈥�70s when Disco came in 鈥� 14 years of amazing Classic Rock.鈥�
The early 鈥�70s was a fertile, inventive time for music. 鈥淭here was so much happening musically,鈥� Bachman said. 鈥淎nd it was almost like people were waiting for BTO to arrive on the scene.鈥�
A song has a unique power to grow beyond it鈥檚 original writing 鈥� an organic quality that leads it to take on a life of its own, to become something greater than its writer, and to exist outside the time it was created. This is perhaps nowhere more true than in the case of 鈥淭aking Care of Business.鈥� The hit from BTO鈥檚 second album, released in December, 1973. That song in particular has achieved an almost mythological status.
鈥溾�楾aking Care Of Business鈥� has become universal," Bachman said in an interview with The Townsman. "It is used as a sports anthem 鈥� kids at summer camp sing it, high school bands play it, symphonies play it. Presidential candidates have used it for theme songs. The world record for most guitar players have played it 鈥�"
"Taking Care Of Business鈥� took seven years to write, Bachman says.
鈥淸I first] wrote it in the late 鈥�60s, as 鈥橶hite Collar Worker.鈥� It died. Because I was copying 鈥楶aperback Writer,鈥� And I threw away the choruses, just kept the verses. And [one night] we sang the new hook 鈥� 鈥渢aking care of business鈥� 鈥� on stage live. And it was magical. The crowd went crazy, and they still go crazy every night.鈥�
Bachman Turner Overdrive鈥檚 origin story is also legendary in the annals of Rock history. Bachman, of course, a founding member of The Guess Who, was already in the thick of Rock and Roll with that band, experiencing international success and hit songs, and the accompanying grind and all the turbulence that comes with that success.
鈥淚t was survival of the fittest, honestly,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 left The Guess Who 鈥� it was 1970 鈥� it was not a great time in my life. To leave a band 鈥� punks from Winnipeg, who鈥檇 had a number one album and single in the world鈥� [American Woman鈥漖.鈥�
It was then Bachman developed a medical issue, and had to stay home in Winnipeg for three months.
鈥淭hey went on without me. And suddenly I鈥檓 out of the band. And I want to start over, but I can鈥檛 compete with the magic voice of Burton Cummings, one of the greatest singers in the world. Still today.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be second-rate Guess Who. I can write Guess Who pop songs, but I didn鈥檛 want to do that anymore.
So Bachman formed a Country Rock band 鈥� Brave Belt.
鈥淲e all liked Country Rock, so I started a band called Brave Belt, doing Country Rock. Buffalo Springfield had broken up, Poco had broken up, the Eagles hadn鈥檛 quite started yet, they鈥檙e still backing Linda Ronstadt. Neil Young got me a deal with Reprise Record in L.A. I fly down there, I do two Brave Belt albums, they kind of like it, but it just doesn鈥檛 click. We鈥檙e not in L.A. playing the Whiskey a Gogo, we鈥檙e in Winnipeg, right? We鈥檙e too far away. And then they say, 鈥榳e gotta drop you.鈥�
鈥淭hen I had a guy in New York tell me having a name of a band that doesn鈥檛 do you any good. No one knows who this new band is. Use your name, it鈥檚 under all these records 鈥� 鈥楴o Time,鈥� 鈥楢merican Woman,鈥� 鈥楽he鈥檚 Come Undone 鈥� you gotta go with name recognition. Use the name Bachman.鈥�
At this time, Bachman said, he couldn鈥檛 get anyone to join his band.
鈥淣obody would play with me, after leaving the Guess Who, the golden boys. So I had to go to my younger brothers [Robbie and Tal]. We start a band with Fred Turner, who I鈥檝e known since I was 15 or 16. And we became Bachman-Turner 鈥� three Bachmans and a Turner.
鈥淭hat was the early 鈥�70s. At the time there was Seals and Crofts, Brewer and Shipley ['One Toke Over The Line'] 鈥� two guys with guitars. So we go in as Bachman-Turner, people think we鈥檙e a folk act with two guys. We鈥檙e trying to get people up dancing. I鈥檓 trying to evolve out of Country Rock into something heavier, that people will dance to. And we鈥檙e getting nowhere, but we keep trying.鈥�
Then, in an almost apocryphal story, Bachman picked up a trucker magazine at a Husky truck stop in Windsor, called 鈥淥verdrive. 鈥淎 trucking term, but no one had ever used it in music,鈥� Bachman said. He sought and got permission from the publisher to use the name Overdrive in the band.
鈥淲e called the label, we鈥檙e going to be called Bachman Turner Overdrive. They said, 'wow, those are three powerful words, but it鈥檚 too long.' I said, we can call it BTO. They said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 it!鈥�
BTO鈥檚 eponymous first album, was released in May, 1973. Shortly after its release, the band got a call from Scott Shannon, a programming director in St. Louis. Missouri.
鈥淗e said, 鈥橧 just got your album. I really like it. Nobody鈥檚 is playing it, but I think there鈥檚 something there. I鈥檓 doing the same thing with a couple other friends of mine 鈥� Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, Pat Johnson from the Doobie Brothers, Charlie Daniels, the Alllman Brothers. You guys come and play my drive-in movie theatre, we鈥檙e going to have a rock and roll weekend.'鈥�
And so it happened. From there to New Orleans, and on tour with ZZ Top et al.
鈥淓verybody thought we were a southern band. We鈥檙e getting no airplay in Canada. And then the second album comes out, and we hit it lucky, with 鈥楲et It Ride,鈥� and 鈥楾aking Care of Business鈥� 鈥� top 40 singles. And we鈥檙e selling millions of albums and millions of singles.
鈥淎nd suddenly, we鈥檙e on top, and we don鈥檛 even know it. Because we鈥檙e on the road, 300 days a year in a station wagon, and we don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on in the world 鈥� there鈥檚 no MTV, there鈥檚 no news or internet. We鈥檙e struggling from gig to gig. And suddenly we hit number one again, with the Not Fragile album, and 鈥榊ou Ain't Seen Nothin鈥� Yet.鈥�
鈥淭hree solid years on the road. Three hundred gigs a year. That鈥檚 what paid off. We worked and worked and worked.鈥�
And the timing, after all, was right. The music was an idea who鈥檚 time had come.
鈥淧eople were looking for something a little bit heavier,鈥� Bachman said. 鈥淶eppelin was coming out. Things were getting away from the Beatles, and Pop music. This is like heavy, heavy guitars, which became heavy metal. It was a great genre to be in. Heavy pop, and suddenly, heavy rock.鈥�
The original BTO line-up of Randy Bachman, Fred Turner, Tim Bachman, and Robbie Bachman released two albums in 1973. Blair Thornton joined in 1974, in place of Tim Bachman, and this line-up released four albums between 1974 and 1977, including two that reached the top 5 in the U.S. pop charts.
As the '70s moved into the '80s, through changing times and changing personnel, BTO released several more albums. The band disbanded in early 1980, reunited some year later, took a hiatus in the early 2000s. But their hit songs never went away.
And now, Randy Bachman has revived the band and is hitting the highway this year on a tour that hits B.C. in April. Joining Bachman are his son Tal Bachman on lead vocals and guitar, Koko Bachman on drums, Lance LaPointe on bass and vocals and Brent Howard on guitar and vocals.
Their aim is to electrify the crowd and see them get up and dance.
"The whole trick of our tour thing is people having fun and dancing," Bachman said. "And if you can do that when you鈥檙e a kid 鈥� and we were back in the 鈥�60s and 鈥�70s 鈥� then you鈥檙e lucky.
"And to get to now, 50 years later, and playing the same 18 or 20 songs, and having everybody, of all ages, from five and six to 95, reacting to these songs 鈥� dancing, singing, playing air guitar, playing air drums, reliving moments of joy that are long forgotten, because nobody knows what the hell is happening tomorrow 鈥� playing this music just unlocks memories for everybody."
B.C. tour dates:
April 1: Save-ON-Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria
April 3: Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford
April 4: SOuth Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton
April 6, Western Financial Place, Cranbrook
April 8, CN Centre, Prince George
More information on the tour is.
