The Guess Who & BTO

"Clap for the Wolfman
He gonna rate your record high
Clap for the Wolfman
You gonna dig him til the day you die"



The Guess Who broke ground for all who come after them. The music pioneers from Winnipeg were the first Canadian rock band to have a number one hit in the USA. On May 9 1970 the song American Woman hit the top of Billboard's charts for two weeks. It was a great time for the band and rumor has it that they jumped up and down on their hotel beds in a moment of musical nirvana when they found out the news. Band members have said that they wrote most of the music and words on stage as a warm up riff. Canada always had good music artists but in those days it was hard to get worldwide exposure. The vinyl 45’ had the song No Sugar Tonight on the flipside and together these two songs guaranteed that The Guess Who would never be forgotten. Several other great songs preceded these two. Favorites are These Eyes, Laughing, Undone and No Time. Other hits for The Guess Who include Hand Me Down World, Albert Flasher, Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon, Share The Land, Bus Rider, and Clap For The Wolfman

"Cause I got my own way to rock
I got my own way to roll
And when you're walkin that walk
It's good for your soul"

The Guess Who has had more lineup changes than you can shake a stick at but everyone knows that Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are the legends. Burton Cummings had solo hits with Stand Tall, Break it to Them Gently, Take One Away, I Will Play A Rhapsody, I'm Scared, and Fine State of Affairs. Randy Bachman formed the band Bachman Turner Overdrive or BTO which had many hits including Takin’ Care Of Business, Four Wheel Drive, Let It Ride, Roll On Down The Highway, Hey You, Lookin Out For #1, Blue Collar and You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.

"If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day
And I'll be...
Taking care of business every day"

At this time there are two bands, one with Burton and Randy called Bachman and Cummings and another called the Guess Who with Jim Kale and Garry Peterson plus Carl Dixon of Coney Hatch. Original member Kale acquired the rights to The Guess Who name because no one had registered it. One other interesting fact is that The Guess Who's first number one hit in Canada was sung by none of the above. It was sung by Chad Allan, who’s only hit with The Guess Who was Shakin’ All Over. Chad Allen left The Guess Who early on. Interestingly he also left the band Brave Belt and its members formed BTO with Randy Bachman.

" You ain't seen nothin' yet,
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet,
Here's something that you never gonna forget,
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet"