Elect BTO and The Guess Who together into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Issue
Talk about a mutually beneficial trade deal!
In 1965, two Canadian guys from Winnipeg, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, got together as part of a new band called Chad Allen and the Expressions. When they landed a record deal to release a cover version of a tune called "Shakin' All Over," the label, trying to cash in on the British Invasion, simply put "Guess Who?” on the record.
Then their U.S. label, Scepter Records, added “The” to "Guess Who?” and removed the question mark. One of the most iconic radio sounds of the late '60s and early '70s had a new name.
In the early 1970s, Bachman left The Guess Who to create BTO (Bachman–Turner Overdrive), featuring lead vocals from bass player Fred Turner, with Randy on lead guitar. BTO's sound was more rock and less pop than the Guess Who, with a tinge of jazz--and massively popular around the world.
With seven Top 10 hits between them, four platinum albums, and over 90 million albums sold worldwide, the two bands created hits such as "American Woman, "Takin' Care of Business," "These Eyes," "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet” and 16 more that landed in the Top 40 -- unforgettable songs that have endured and continue to be played on car radios everywhere decades later.
(Winnipeg Music store where Cummings and Bachman hung out on Saturdays. Credit: X@RandyBachman)
Despite their impressive numbers, neither BTO nor The Guess Who have been recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
They should be -- together.
Rock and Roll was created by ordinary young people who needed a soundtrack for their lives — like a couple of guys who lived in the coldest city in the world this side of Siberia.
Winnipeg -- like Cleveland, where the hall was born -- is as rock and roll as a city ever was. And Canada, where bands drive in vans for hundreds of kilometres to make the next poorly-paid gig in the middle of winter, is as rock and roll as a country could ever hope to be.
At a Calgary BTO concert in 2025, Bachman said, "My high school band was The Guess Who. My college band was BTO."
(Randy and Tim Bachman in early days of BTO. Credit: X@RandyBachman)
Six decades after Bachman and Cummings got together to assemble a band to play Friday night community club dances, the pop charts are littered with their Canadian musical progeny, including Neil Young (another Winnipegger), Joni Mitchell, the Band, Justin Bieber, Nickelback, April Wine, the Tragically Hip, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Trooper, Avril Levigne, Rush, Chilliwack, Crash Test Dummies (Winnipeggers), Steppenwolf, Streetheart, the Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Morrisette, Arcade Fire, the Weakerthans, Feist -- and many, many more.
It's hard to have a dream in the land of the wind chill factor and both the Guess Who and BTO gave a lot of young Canadian musicians a reason to believe, and what's more rock and roll than that?
One inductee. Two bands. One rock and roll country.
Join us in calling for Randy, Burton and the rest of the Canadian Guys to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
21
The Issue
Talk about a mutually beneficial trade deal!
In 1965, two Canadian guys from Winnipeg, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, got together as part of a new band called Chad Allen and the Expressions. When they landed a record deal to release a cover version of a tune called "Shakin' All Over," the label, trying to cash in on the British Invasion, simply put "Guess Who?” on the record.
Then their U.S. label, Scepter Records, added “The” to "Guess Who?” and removed the question mark. One of the most iconic radio sounds of the late '60s and early '70s had a new name.
In the early 1970s, Bachman left The Guess Who to create BTO (Bachman–Turner Overdrive), featuring lead vocals from bass player Fred Turner, with Randy on lead guitar. BTO's sound was more rock and less pop than the Guess Who, with a tinge of jazz--and massively popular around the world.
With seven Top 10 hits between them, four platinum albums, and over 90 million albums sold worldwide, the two bands created hits such as "American Woman, "Takin' Care of Business," "These Eyes," "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet” and 16 more that landed in the Top 40 -- unforgettable songs that have endured and continue to be played on car radios everywhere decades later.
(Winnipeg Music store where Cummings and Bachman hung out on Saturdays. Credit: X@RandyBachman)
Despite their impressive numbers, neither BTO nor The Guess Who have been recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
They should be -- together.
Rock and Roll was created by ordinary young people who needed a soundtrack for their lives — like a couple of guys who lived in the coldest city in the world this side of Siberia.
Winnipeg -- like Cleveland, where the hall was born -- is as rock and roll as a city ever was. And Canada, where bands drive in vans for hundreds of kilometres to make the next poorly-paid gig in the middle of winter, is as rock and roll as a country could ever hope to be.
At a Calgary BTO concert in 2025, Bachman said, "My high school band was The Guess Who. My college band was BTO."
(Randy and Tim Bachman in early days of BTO. Credit: X@RandyBachman)
Six decades after Bachman and Cummings got together to assemble a band to play Friday night community club dances, the pop charts are littered with their Canadian musical progeny, including Neil Young (another Winnipegger), Joni Mitchell, the Band, Justin Bieber, Nickelback, April Wine, the Tragically Hip, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Trooper, Avril Levigne, Rush, Chilliwack, Crash Test Dummies (Winnipeggers), Steppenwolf, Streetheart, the Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Morrisette, Arcade Fire, the Weakerthans, Feist -- and many, many more.
It's hard to have a dream in the land of the wind chill factor and both the Guess Who and BTO gave a lot of young Canadian musicians a reason to believe, and what's more rock and roll than that?
One inductee. Two bands. One rock and roll country.
Join us in calling for Randy, Burton and the rest of the Canadian Guys to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on September 9, 2026