Bachman–Turner Overdrive
Winnipeg, Canada • Formed 1970-01-01
Biography
Randy Bachman left The Guess Who at their absolute peak because he was a Mormon who couldn't stand the booze and drugs on the road. He traded 'American Woman' royalty checks for a flailing project called Brave Belt that nobody wanted to sign. The labels thought he was washed up until he paired his jazz-inflected guitar work with Fred Turner’s gravel-pit vocals. They leaned into a blue-collar, gear-grinding sound that felt like a diesel engine turning over in a Winnipeg winter. By the time they hit 'Not Fragile,' the band was a goddamn tank. They weren't trying to be deep or sensitive; they were obsessed with the shuffle and the riff. They caught hell for being 'meat and potatoes' rock, but they owned that lane with a dual-guitar attack that was heavier than anything coming out of the soft-rock charts at the time. It was working-class music made by guys who looked like they should be fixing your furnace rather than headlining arenas.
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