Rock star Randy Bachman reunited with beloved stolen guitar

A woolen toque in this climate?? I'll be watching him tonight at the TAC. As a junior high school kid in Canada in the mid-70s, BTO and the Guess Who were basically our Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Canadian rock legend? Maybe it’s because I’m not Canadian but I have never ever heard of this guy. Kind of a dick thing to do though… having to give a replacement guitar to the guy who has your stolen guitar in order to get it back.

Canadian rock legend? Maybe it’s because I’m not Canadian but I have never ever heard of this guy.

Pretty sure the most casual of rock fans have heard of BTO. If you're into techno, disco or whatever, then probably not.

Kind of a dick thing to do though… having to give a replacement guitar to the guy who has your stolen guitar in order to get it back.

Imagine the sense of entitlement someone would have in order to write this.

The Japanese guy unwittingly bought a stolen guitar and gave it back to its rightful owner who in turn went out of his way to give him an almost exact replacement. Which he didn't have to do. And now they are performing together.

I see nothing but a feel-good story here. The entitled will see nothing but grievance.

Such is life, I guess.

Absolutely a feel good story.

There are some misguided individuals who post on JT.

Pretty sure the most casual of rock fans have heard of BTO.

Yes, casual rock fans over 50, I suppose. I remember reading a review of a BTO concert in the New Musical Express when I was a kid. It said, "Bachmann Turner Overdrive are the only band in the world who sound like they eat a three course meal before they go on stage." Snarky but accurate.

@gl

”Kind of a dick thing to….. write!!

I confess to have never heard of BTO. But good luck to Bachmann and good on the innocent collector who returned the long lost axe!

Thank goodness this was resolved. So many of us have wondered about this. Gives me hope that two stolen bicycles of mine in the 90s will find there way back to me.

Rock on Randy!

The only reason anyone under 700 years old and not Canadian might have heard of BTO is because of Harry Enfield. So that’s still 99.9% of the world.

Maybe the hits will start flowing again.

I had never heard of BTO, or The Guess Who, but I and probably anyone else who is a rock music fan has heard the song American Woman

Canadian rock legend? Maybe it’s because I’m not Canadian but I have never ever heard of this guy. Kind of a dick thing to do though…

Why do people like tell the world what they don't know or never have heard of?

They did have an album (Overdrive) hit #1 in the US.

I met Randy years ago on Salt Spring Island, he's the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. Anyone who says you don't know the music from The Guess Who or BTO just look them up on YouTube and you'll go I do know this music, way too many classics to list.

Cracking guitar with obvious sentimental value to him.

Good story.

Music snobs are free to have a go at my opinion that it’s a cracking guitar.

BTO......maybe people don't recognize the name but I'm sure they would recognize the music when heard. Takin Care of Business, Ain't Seen Nothin Yet, Just to name a few. Search on youtube. Many artists have covered a lot of their tunes. Nice feel good story. Class guy too.

Why do people like tell the world what they don't know or never have heard of ?

Gentle ribbing old chap. Let’s be honest though, as a band they are a minor heritage act whose individual names most music fans wouldn’t recognise until you put them together.

Yet his name has been headlines ( third headline today ! ) for the last 2 days. If it was Dylan or Springsteen maybe one could understand but they are the equivalent of Goblin or Blodwyn Pig.

Anyhow, extending the hand of benevolence, I’m sure the sadness of his loss was mitigated by the royalty payments received for soundtracking nearly every TV commercial for The Big Sale at every used car lot in the Western Hemisphere.

I never realized "American Woman" was written by a Canadian.

I suppose Brian Johnson wrote "knocking me out with those American thighs" and he is a Geordie.

I never realized "American Woman" was written by a Canadian

The opening line from the song:

“American woman, stay away from me”

Sounds pretty Canadian to me! Lol

To anyone who wants to check out some BTO, I recommend the song “Let it Ride”. I’m only a casual fan, but that’s one of my favs from them.

I was a child in the 80s and a teenager in the 90s. But BTO were a staple of Canadian classic rock radio in those days.

Randy stayed awake all night because he couldn't Let It Ride after his guitar was stolen. But he took it like a man and didn't give in to Blue Moanin' because he was Takin' Care of Business , so he Let It Ride because he Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.

Thanks to William Long for Takin' Care of Business.

Kudos to Takeshi for being so gracious and agreeing to give up the guitar. Deep respect between musicians.

a minor heritage act

It seems they were pretty big in Canada. Maybe it’s just some acts or musical styles appeal to particular music culture. I’m a Brit and my Aussie mate was a little surprised that I’d never heard of Paul Kelly who according to him was a household name in Australia. I was surprised at how big Bob Seger was in the US when I lived there for the first time. I think I’d only heard Night Moves somewhere and didn’t know who the singer was.

I tried introducing Half-Man Half-Biscuit to my US friends. They didn’t get it.

BTO is widely recognized as a leading exponent of the rock genre CHOOGLE.

 Choogle is a debauched form of white-boy boogie, after white-boy boogie drank too much Old Crow and fell asleep on his deck listening to Grand Funk Railroad.

For a deep dive into Choogling:

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2007-04-18/466915/

Thx Jimizo for taking my comments in the right spirit.

I am sure they were big in Canada but as a Half-Man-Half-Biscuit fan you know they represent that pedestrian radio rock sound. Can you imagine John Peel playing their stuff ?

Trying to stay on topic though. The old music biz cliche 'Big in Japan' is sometimes hard to disprove. Quite a few times I've had conversations with ojisans who tell me about some old dude who couldn't fill a pub in the UK but sell out big venues here and charge the punters 6000 yen for the live CD.

I mean, Rainbow for god's sake.

If it was Dylan or Springsteen maybe one could understand but they are the equivalent of Goblin or Blodwyn Pig.

Sorry, chap. No matter how much you tout your brother-in-law's two unknown bands, nobody is biting. They'll still have to depend on their pensions.

I knew Bachman from BTO and Guess Who, but even I was surprised how many songs I knew that I didn't know he wrote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMamnO45Mk

your brother-in-law's two unknown bands

I wish they were ! I'd probably be dead by now though.

Pedestrian radio rock

Nothing wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with that.

Fair enough. Suppose you got to put something on when you take your Grandfather to the steam engine museum ; )

All I have to say is this Canadian's band covered several of BTOs tunes as well as a few Guess Who classics, and our audiences from clubs to arenas rocked their socks off. Of course those audiences were limited to Canada and the three US states on the Pacific. Ah, the memories! And that's one hell of a guitar, by the way. And very considerate actions by both players.

Having checked out both, I think I prefer BTO to BTS.

This is my image of a hardcore BTO fan:

https://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e2010536ee4681970c-pi

I thought this happened a while back.

BTO was my first rock LP at the age of 5.

Just to correct misconceptions, BTO sold out the largest halls in the US - where they were also a major act. If you have to compare Randy Bachman to a British act (in terms of fame only), Peter Frampton's career arc was similar. Both were major acts for a few years and then more or less disappeared. Both are getting more recognition now in their later years. I was never a huge BTO fan, but I love Frampton's melodic playing. But they both hit it big and then faded, though their careers continued.

BTO was my first rock LP at the age of 5.

That is some serious rock cred right there folks. I was into the Sesame Street theme at that age.

I love Frampton's melodic playing. 

Frampton and Steve Marriott made a great combo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqgslos32mk&ab_channel=Beat-Club

they are the equivalent of Goblin or Blodwyn Pig.

Not to me since I have never heard of either of those.

BTO I know. In fact , they were the first concert I ever attended (and it was in the USA, not Canada as a surprise)

Even as 80s/90s kid, i have never heard of this legendary guitarist or the bands.

There are too many popular musician from those days, i still don't know more than half of it and I am a rock dude.