During the period between the late 1960's and the early '70's, one of the biggest rock acts was The Guess Who. This Canadian band went to achieve fourteen Top 40 singles in the US and more than thirty in their native Canada.
The band began as Chad Allan and the Expressions in Winnipeg, founded by guitarist, Randy Bachman and lead vocalist, Chad Allan in 1962. They had their first charting song three years later with "Shakin' All Over", a cover of the 1960 number one hit in Britain by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. A publicity stunt by their American record label, which released one of their singles under "Guess Who?", later lead to the band changing their name to this after Allan left the group. Guitarist Bruce Decker and Burton Cummings, who took over lead vocals, joined the band with Bachman and Garry Peterson on drums to officially form The Guess Who in 1966.
Although some singles they released found moderate success in Canada, the band struggled for their music to be noticed abroad. By 1968, The Guess Who began to transition their sound from garage-band rock to soulful pop-rock, which became beneficial to them achieving commercial success. Their first big hit was "These Eyes" in 1969, reaching the top ten in the US and selling over a million copies. This was followed by double-sided hit single, "Laughing"/"Undun". In 1970, The Guess Who released the album, "American Woman" with the hard-rocking title track going on to be a worldwide smash, reaching number one on the US and Canadian charts.
Many have interpreted "American Woman" as a protest song since the Vietnam War was going on at the time yet the band (who wrote the tune) insists that was not the case. They claim that they were simply singing the praises of Canadian women, feeling that American girls were a little too aggressive. I'm not sure if that's better than an anti-war sentiment but regardless, "American Woman" remains one of their best known songs. "No Time" and "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" from the album went on to also become major hits for the band.
After The Guess Who's seventh studio album, "Share The Land" (released later in 1970), the band's charting success declined in the US although they remained very popular in their home country for a number of years. The Guess Who went through some personnel changes and began to experiment with their sound again, moving towards progressive and jazz-rock. Due to creative differences, Cummings decided to end the band in 1975 and went on to find some success as a solo artist. However beginning in 1977, some past members teamed-up with new musicians to come together for various reunion tours as "The Guess Who". And the band continues to play on the road with the nostalgia tour circuit to this day. Here are two of my favorite songs by The Guess Who, a band that inexplicably has still not been inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:
No comments:
Post a Comment