The Guess Who should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

[jdstamper]

Just about every musician has "that song" which grabbed them at a young age, and inspired them to pick up that guitar (or whatever). "No Time" by The Guess Who had me the first time I heard it. The Guess Who were propelled to fame by some great singles and the amazing lead vocals of Burton Cummings, one of the top rock singers ever.

Many of the hits were written by Randy Bachman and Burton. It was the total SOUND of the band that attracted me. In true rock band fashion the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The backing vocals from the band were a big part of that sound. Both live and in the studio the backing vocals were great, no Autotune in those days. No Time backing vocals: https://youtu.be/tgpBggJiYxM/

This band should be in the Hall of Fame. https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/the-soundtr ... -1.5258093

PS. This post is about the early Guess Who, not the band that has the name today ... I believe they have 1 member of the original band, and its not Randy or Burton. Randy and Burton are touring in Canada now as Bachman-Cummings. Not in the USA due to Covid issues.

Jim

[mojobone]

No Sugar. No Time. Share The Land. I saw an interview where Burton spoke of their first hit; It was all speculation, when they wrote it. They were total imposters, acting as if. And Bachman the guitarist, wrote that amazing piano riff. Neither writer had ever even been in love, when they wrote, "These Eyes" Hell yes, they should be in the hall, but...Captain Beefhheart is in, but no Pat Benatar? Warren Zevon? Little Feat? to some extent, it's Jann Wenner's club and for reasons either political or geographical, maybe generational, even, some very deserving folks just aren't in it. There's plenty more I could say about Mr. Wenner; I was friends with his kid, when we were at military school, but mom told me if you can't say something nice, well...I enjoyed his magazine.

[Casey H]

The RnR HOF, with respect to who gets inducted or not, is a total joke IMHO. It's way too watered down with acts that were successful but not at "hall of fame" level of greatness (hard to define, I know). And other acts are not in, for no real explicable reason.

That being said, one day when this pandemic is over, I intend to take a road trip to Cleveland and visit. Sounds like fun.

Casey

[cosmicdolphin]

Honestly never heard of them

[jdstamper]

Mojo ... That's very interesting! I understand "These Eyes" was written at Burton's parents house with Randy, he was a teen still living there. Lots of great hits were by "impostors" who haven't lived it, right? (Springsteen! CCR [they were not born on the bayou]! etc etc)

Casey ... I've read about it being unfair, and so many bands over looked. But I guess it's better than no HOF at all. Definitely fun to visit! We took in a game at neaarby Progressive Field and made a fun weekend of it a few years back.

Mark ... LOL, they're often called "The Canadian Beatles". The same era. Lots of hits. Timeless if you ask me (although Share The Land is total hippie). Maybe you've heard American Woman at least ... which began as on on-stage jam completely ad-lib.

Jim

[cosmicdolphin]

Mark ... LOL, they're often called "The Canadian Beatles".

Ha only stateside I guess...barely qualify as a one hit wonder on this side of the pond. See below from the official UK charts.

You're right though I have heard the song American woman although I was 2 months old when the original came out - I honestly thought it was a Lenny Kravitz song which was much more popular here

[cosmicdolphin]

The RnR HOF, with respect to who gets inducted or not, is a total joke IMHO. It's way too watered down with acts that were successful but not at "hall of fame" level of greatness (hard to define, I know). And other acts are not in, for no real explicable reason.

My favourite band Depeche Mode were inducted recently - now there's a proper deserving entrant

[jdstamper]

Mark ... LOL, they're often called "The Canadian Beatles".

Ha only stateside I guess...barely qualify as a one hit wonder on this side of the pond. See below from the official UK charts.

You're right though I have heard the song American woman although I was 2 months old when the original came out - I honestly thought it was a Lenny Kravitz song which was much more popular here

I think "The Canadian Beatles" phrase probably originated in Canada ... but this US citizen agrees. The Kravitz cover of American Woman was excellent, I'm sure many people assumed he wrote it.
It likely resulted in some nice new royalties for the original writers.

PS. Depeche who now? ........ LOL, kidding!

[jdstamper]

Shortly after I started this thread, I was surprised to hear on a Taxi webcast, that Randy Bachman has also been a Taxi member (and maybe did another stint as screener?) ... joining some other rock stars who have used the services of Taxi.

And Colin Arthur Wiebe I believe has also been a Taxi member. Colin is a fantastic vocalist and musician, who often appears with Randy. He just appeared on a Taxi webcast telling us about Sessionwire.

I couldn't find a video of Randy & Colin together ... but this is Colin doing a great cover of The Guess Who https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__pklx5da9U

... I hope I got all the above information right.

Jim

[jdstamper]

I was surprised to find an update today about this topic.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/mu ... l-of-fame/

Although I am not too surprised that The Guess Who are being snubbed once again.

But I'm glad that Randy Bachman will be making an appearance at the Taxi Road Rally this year... A founding member of The Guess Who

Jim