Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Takin’ care of an American Woman.
“@JohnJimmyBill 70’s kids had BTO ... 2000's kids have the fucking Jonas Brothers. Music today ... is pure, concentrated shit.” – Musicisliberation
Why not look at a little history behind the classics, since I always like finding out the origins of things that have been around forever. Here, Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame discusses his two biggest hits with each (American Woman and Takin’ Care of Business, and how much people are influenced by the culture of the times. American Woman may seem like just another riff, but Randy describes it as a statement against the U.S. war machine. Looking at music now, there isn’t that same anti-war vibe, even though we have just as much reason to have one. Film and TV don’t seem to have let off the gas on the topic while musicians seem to have shifted their focus to other causes. As for both songs, they’re just nice stories of creative serendipity. PIZZA DELIVERY GUY FTW. It’s also cool to go back and revisit songs you’ve known forever, but in a new context after finding out their real history.
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Though never a fan of BTO or The Guess Who, I do love Randy's CBC show. http://www.cbc.ca/vinyltap/
He has so many great stories, and tells them so well. My favorite has to be his tale of going down to the music store in Winnipeg with a young friend, and asking the owner if they could play the new Strat in the window. The owner refused, since they were just kids and not real musicians. The friend, BTW, was Neil Young.
No....wait....the best story has to be his Les Paul story. http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/randy-bachman-0616/
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