In 1965, after four years of local success in Winnipeg, the band previously known as Chad Allan & The Expressions found itself with a new name, The Guess Who, and something no other Canadian band had previously achieved: a U.S. hit single.
Within a year of that success, the band lost both its original piano player and its lead singer. Though both were replaced by the charismatic Burton Cummings, The Guess Who endured difficult times before achieving their second wave of success.
Cummings arrival, meanwhile, solidified the band’s best remembered lineup:
- Randy Bachman, lead guitar
- Burton Cummings, lead vocals, piano, guitar
- Jim Kale, bass
- Garry Peterson, drums
After "Shakin' All Over," The Guess Who enjoyed a few other Canadian hits but remained locked out of the U.S. market. When a 1967 British tour failed to materialize, leaving the band deeply in debt, they considered breaking up.
Let’s Go and Wheatfield Soul
Things began to turn around later in 1967, when the band was hired to star in a television musical program, Let’s Go. Hosted, ironically, by their former leader, Chad Allan, Let’s Go provided The Guess Who with weekly national exposure and brought them to the attention of record producer Jack Richardson, who would produce every subsequent Guess Who record through 1975.
The first offering of the new partnership was the album Wheatfield Soul (1968). In the spring of 1969, a song from this album, “These Eyes,” landed in the U.S. Top Ten.
Unlike the isolated success of “Shakin’ All Over,” “These Eyes” launched a string of hits that carried the band through 1970: the double-sided “Laughing”/”Undun,” “No Time,” and “No Sugar Tonight”/ “American Woman”—the latter song becoming the band’s only U.S. Number One, an ironic accolade for a song that fiercely expresses the band's national pride.
The Guess Who excelled at something few bands dared at that time. During the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, “serious” rock bands eschewed hit singles in favor of extended album cuts. But The Guess Who’s shorter and finely crafted songs sounded good on the radio. Although bands that specialized in hit singles were often dismissed as “pop,” The Guess Who were serious musicians who bridged the gap between lightweight music and hard rock.
Exit: Randy Bachman
“American Woman” was still hot on the charts when Bachman, the band’s recognized leader, became sidelined with a gall bladder infection. His illness exacerbated ongoing tensions within the group. (A converted Mormon, Bachman avoided alcohol and drugs, which put him at odds with the others, who favored a less conservative rock lifestyle.) In May 1970, Bachman was edged out of the group; he later formed the highly successful Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Bachman’s loss—as both guitarist and songwriter—could have been devastating, but The Guess Who recovered by adding two guitarists, Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw. Without missing a beat, the band continued racking up hits: “Hand Me Down World” and “Share the Land” (both 1970), and “Rain Dance” and “Albert Flasher” (both 1971).
Albums Versus Singles
Having proved themselves as a hit singles band, The Guess Who next sought to conquer the lucrative albums market. Although they had released several albums following Wheatfield Soul, most had met with little success in spite of the hits. But with Bachman out of the picture, the band sought to re-envision itself as a “serious” rock band by concentrating on album-oriented material.
The gambit ultimately failed, as The Guess Who’s album sales never matched their expectations. Instead, the group endured three hitless years and frequent turnover in personnel. Leskiw and Kale both quit in 1972, to be replaced by Don McDougall and Bill Wallace, respectively. Winter and McDougall were sacked in 1974 and replaced by guitarist Domenic Troiano, returning the lineup to a quartet.
Shortly before Troiano’s arrival, The Guess Who had scored a surprise Top Ten hit with “Clap For the Wolfman,” a nonsensical ditty with spoken parts contributed by legendary disc jockey Wolfman Jack.
End of the Road
The brief upturn in fortunes did not satisfy Cummings however; in late 1975, the lead singer left for a solo career. (The following year, he scored his own Top Ten hit, “Stand Tall.”) Without Cummings, The Guess Who folded—the only constant member in the band's history had been drummer Peterson.
Two years later, Kale launched a new version of The Guess Who and has toured using the name ever since, sometimes without any other mainstays from the band's hitmaking days. Meanwhile, the classic lineup of Bachman, Cummings, Kale, and Peterson reunited for tours and special performances in 1983, 1999, and 2003.
The Guess Who was the first Canadian rock band to achieve international success. Although the turnover in band members and their failure to crack the albums market led to their undoing, The Guess Who's legacy of hits can still be heard on classic rock radio stations across the continent.
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