DONTCHA JUST LOVE IT WHEN THE GOOD GUYS WIN?!?!
After YEARS of undue anguish and aggravation, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman FINALLY wrested away the rights to the Guess Who name yesterday, shutting down the rotating list of musicians who had been operating under it for the past several decades.
While Cummings was NOT an original member of the band, it was HIS distinctive voice and creative songwriting that gave the group their identity. Even after songwriting partner (and original member and guitarist) Randy Bachman left the band after their "American Woman" album, Cummings propelled the group to nine more Top 40 US Hits with songs like "Share The Land," "Albert Flasher," "Rain Dance," "Star Baby" and "Clap For The Wolfman." (Add in their earlier hits "These Eyes," "Laughing," "Undun," "No Time," "American Woman" and "No Sugar Tonight," written by or with Randy Bachman during the Bachman-era of the band ... plus their initial breakthrough hit "Shakin' All Over" ... and The Guess Who reached the US National Top 40 a total of SIXTEEN times!)
Bachman went on to form Bachman Turner Overdrive, with whom he is currently touring, while Burton scored a Top Five solo hit with "Stand Tall" in 1976. A couple of reunion tours have happened over the course of the past nearly fifty years ... and fans are hopeful that Cummings and Bachman may team up once again to perform under the rightful moniker of The Guess Who.
Burton effectively shut the fake cover band down when he pulled the performance rights to all of his music, making it impossible for the touring Guess Who to perform any of his music live in concert without his permission. In the process, he stopped earning royalties on this music, but the move worked ... if the fake Guess Who can't perform music BY The Guess Who, then what are they going to play on stage? Their only drawing card was the rights to the name, which original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson have owned since 1986. By advertising the group under their original name, they were misleading the public into thinking they were getting the real deal when they bought tickets to see the band perform in concert, when in reality, the drummer and bassist were essentially just sidemen in the original line-up as it was the collective efforts of Bachman and Cummings that drove the band.
Rolling Stone Magazine broke the story yesterday, at which point Cummings told them, "If there is a group out there calling themselves the Guess Who, it's going to have the lead singer who wrote the songs and the guitarist who made the riffs."
My guess is that a revitalized and rejuvenated Burton Cummings will joyfully be performing his upcoming dates with new glee and vigor.
“It’s been a very stressful period, but I’m relieved that it’s behind us and confident that I can come back to the States with my band and play all my songs,” Cummings told Rolling Stone. “There’s been a fake band out there for a long time using the real records to promote their shows, and it handcuffed me in many ways. We’re trying to preserve the history and the legacy of the Guess Who for our fans all over the place have who have followed the real band and the real songs.”
What's next?
Well, how about giving The Guess Who their rightful place in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?!?! I'll take that as a final victory lap! (During their peak, The Guess Who were outselling ALL of the other Canadian acts COMBINED!!!) They created landmark, timeless songs that have been part of the DNA for over fifty years. It is time to FINALLY give these guys their due! (kk)
(You can read our interview with Burton Cummings from a few years back here:
https://forgottenhits.com/forgotten_hits_interviews_burton_cummings )
THIS AND THAT:
>>>60 YEARS AGO TODAY: The Animals make their US concert debut at The
Paramount Theatre in New York City (kk)
kk -
I Was At The Paramount That Day Listening To The Animals.
They Got Booed Off The Stage. Not The Right Type Show For Them To Make Their Debut.
They Were From England And Nobody Knew Who They Were.
They Were Singing New Songs That Nobody Knew At An Oldies Show. Since Then, They Became My Favorite British Group.
Similar Situation To Rick Nelson's "GARDEN PARTY." I Was Also At Madison Square Garden That Day ---
To Hear Rick Nelson Get Booed ... Although Everybody Knew Who He Was.
Bad Idea To Sing Dylan Type Folk Songs ( Instead Of His Own Hits ) At An Oldies Concert. At Least He Got A Hit Song Out Of It.
PART # 2:
Kenny Vance's "HEART & SOUL" / P B S --- NYC Area Screening. Sunday, September 22, 2024 / WNET Channel 13 At 6:30 PM.
Have You Seen It Yet?
FB
I have, and it's quite good. Hope this makes its way to ALL the PBS stations across the country. (kk)
I loved Ted Smucker's WLS/WCFL Rewound Weekend on Rewound Radio! An awesome station in itself!
I also LOVED the young Chuck photo spinning UK 45s. And hey, that girl is still studying. That's hard to do for me when Chuck was playing bubblegum OR Uncle Lar was reading a bad review of the Raspberries concert. Just too funny! PERSONALITY radio!
And how about this ... speaking about LONG times ...
23 YEARS AGO TODAY:
From Chuck Buell ...
Who just seems to know these things!!!
We've all heard of “The Longest Yard!” And of “The Longest Day!” Now, here’s our Forgotten Hits Professor of Hit Music, Chuck Buell with “The Longest Song!”
On September 5, 2001, a song began playing at St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany and it won’t be over until . . . the year 2640!
Composed by avant-garde artist John Cage in 1987, his song is titled “Organ2/ASLSP “As Slow As Possible” [correct]. And although the piece began in 2001, it opened with a 17-month-long pause before the first tone began to sound! And its notes can last much longer. This makes it the longest running non-computerized music piece currently being performed. The most recent note was played last February 5, 2024. The next note will be played on August 5, 2026. Cage’s drawn-out composition sounds its final note six centuries from now!
The selection of St. Burchardi Church to host this musical endeavor is no coincidence. In 1361, the first organ to split an octave into 12 semitones was installed in that old church. Some consider that occasion to be the birth of modern music which, of course, led later to the creation of Kent Kotal’s damn-near-daily “Forgotten Hits” posts and also brings up the Musical Question: How many astute On Air Radio Personalities could “Hit the Post” of THAT song?!
Meanwhile, while there are many lengthy Forgotten Hits and depending on whether one includes singles-only, extended album cuts or both, some of the longest songs that were the most popular with the help of their shorter “Radio-friendly AM Radio versions” and which landed on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s include;
1967’s “Light My Fire” by The Doors whose album version is just a little over 7 minutes long along with their shorter single version;
1968’s 7 minutes and 11 seconds, "Hey Jude" by The Beatles which was the longest single to top the charts at Number One when it came out then;
And later in 1968, there was Iron Butterfly’s 17 minute and 5 second long album version of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida;”
A few years later, 1971’s “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin came in at around 8 minutes;
Then in the following year, 1972, Don McLean’s "American Pie" was the longest song to ever hit #1 at 8 minutes and 30 seconds and held that charting record for almost 50 years;
In the same year of 1972, The Temptations released their 6 minute, 54 second edit of their song “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” far shorter than its 12 minute original length;
And in 1975, the occasional concert-going audience shout,“Play Free Bird!” a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd ran about 9 minutes;
Then in 1977, the Eagles gave us “Hotel California” at a little over 6 minutes!
Now, crying out for a “Longest Songs Chuck Buell Minute Medley,” attached are all eight of the aforementioned Forgotten Hits in just under a minute!
CB ( which stands for “Cumulation Boy!” )
I think MOST deejays took advantage of these longer tunes and used them as bathroom breaks, didn't they??? (kk)
