November 10, 1974
Canadian hard rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive had a primo view on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart on this day – one from the top – with You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.
Randy Bachman, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was a co-founder and guitarist of the great band from north of the border The Guess Who (These Eyes, American Woman).
He, with a veteran of dozens of bands in Canada, C.F. (Charles Frederick) “Fred” Turner, formed BTO in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1973, after having played together for a couple of years in a group called Brave Belt (see below).
Bachman-Turner Overdrive Lineup / Spring 1974
(L-R): Fred Turner, Blair Thornton, Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman
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🎵🎵🎵
[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices. A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be required for optimal enjoyment.
YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
(Single Version)
[1974]
You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – on which Randy Bachman sings lead – is a track from BTO’s third album Not Fragile that reached #1 on the Billboard Albums Chart in 1974.
It’s been claimed that YASNY is a nearly-direct copy of portions of two songs by the venerable British rock band The Who – the chord progression during the chorus is virtually identical to that in The Who’s Baba O’Reilly (just done in a different key). And secondly, the assertion that Bachman’s intentional stuttering is copied from the classic Who song My Generation.
Regardless, BTO had their only million-selling #1 record in America on this day – and the only one to crack Billboard’s Top 10 (Takin’ Care Of Business just missed, reaching #12 earlier in ’74).
The stay at the top was short for BTO however, with Whatever Gets You Thru The Night by John Lennon taking over #1 on America’s premier music chart the following week.
https://youtu.be/yf7_EUa_Qn4
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In 1977, after placing 6 studio albums on the charts, Bachman left BTO to form another new band called Ironhorse, but has occasionally re-grouped with his pal Turner – in 1984, 2009-2010 and again in 2014.
I wish all optical charts were like this. (If it appears blurry, time for an eye test!)
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BONUS STUFF!
SHAKIN’ ALL OVER
Guess Who?
[1965]
The first group to chart a single in America with Randy Bachman as a member was also from Winnipeg – the garage/rhythm and blues band Chad Allan & The Expressions.
After recording a couple of regional hits in Canada, it was Shakin’ All Over – a cover version of a 1960 #1 song in the UK performed by the Brit band Johnny Kidd & The Pirates – that put them into the U.S. pop music landscape.
In a strange move, because of the desirability for and domination of songs on American Top 40 radio by British Invasion artists, their label, Scepter Records, decided to create ambiguity among programmers about the group’s country of origin by listing them on the record label as Guess Who?.
This was the genesis of future lineups of the band officially adopting the name The Guess Who.
Released in the spring of 1965, SAO climbed to #22 on Billboard’s July 3rd Hot 100.
https://youtu.be/QQCbi-dztKs
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NO SUGAR TONIGHT
(Single Version)
The Guess Who
[1970]
Guess Who co-founder Randy Bachman first teamed with new member and fellow Winnipeg native, vocalist Burton Cummings when he became their leader singer 1966, replacing Chad Allan, who departed not long after.
It took three years for Bachman-Cummings to find the magic formula for writing hit songs, but then in 1969 and 1970 the tandem produced four Top 10 singles for RCA: These Eyes (#6), Laughing (#10), No Time (#5) and American Woman (#1); all but ‘No Time’ sold a million.
Here’s a great song written solely by Bachman called No Sugar Tonight. It’s both the B-side of the ‘American Woman’ single and a track from the album of that same name.
This is the shorter radio-edit single version of NST (the longer one – a medley with New Mother Nature – comprises the album track).
https://youtu.be/8X6a5kVEV2M
Sadly, Randy Bachman’s time with the The Guess Who was short-lived after the songwriting of he and Cummings started producing big hits. He left the group in 1970, ostensibly due to creative conflicts with BC.
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DUNROBIN’S GONE
Brave Belt
[1972]
Post-Guess Who – prior to founding BTO with Turner – Bachman re-connected to his past with original Guess Who (?) vocalist-keyboardist Chad Allan, plus added his brother Robbie Bachman on drums to form yet another Winnipeg group called Brave Belt, with their first album Brave Belt I being released in 1971.
In 2001, Randy commented on the importance of his involvement with BB for two years –
“It was an innocent time of soul-searching. Nobody would play with me when I left The Guess Who. I was completely black-listed. I couldn’t get a decent musician to play with me, except Chad Allan, who had also been in The Guess Who and left. He and I bonded together, and I might not have gotten started without him, even though he left sometime after that first (Brave Belt) album.”
He added – “Those (two Brave Belt) albums are so important to me because, for the first time, I was making my own music, paying for it, finding strengths in it, and going through the process of finding the right music for the record. It led to me becoming a stronger producer for BTO.”
Brave Belt Lineup / 1972
(L-R): Randy Bachman, Fred Turner, Chad Allan, Robbie Bachman
By 1972, an important member in Randy’s future with BTO joined Brave Belt (evidently on the advice of Canadian music legend Neil Young) – vocalist and bass player Fred Turner, who sings lead on their second album, Brave Belt II, including on this Canadian hit written by Chad Allan, Dunrobin’s Gone.
https://youtu.be/tJFaXusDL4I
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Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
