Should the Guess Who be in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame?

Well a couple of things are good- the description of Burton Cummings voice is one, and the versatility of drummer Garry Peterson, but then we have Beatles comparisons without reasons why. Why is 'Eleanor Rigby and Taxman compared to 'Undun' and 'No Sugar..'? There's no reason for the comparison except 'the hilarity of 'One Man Army' and 'Get Your Ribbons On'. Then saying 'Bachman is an underrated guitarist capable of holding his own' doesn't really say anything. It doesn't explain why he's good. Why are Bachman and Cummings one of the greatest songwriting teams? It's more than posters have given but it's generalizing. Nice to read though, thanks.

 

Just for the history of it all. The Guess Who is all about Burton Cummings for me. Just like Jethro Tull is all about Ian Anderson for me. (I'm a lyrics freak.)

At least they got a good review:
Read more: Band brings songs alive, but is it the Guess Who?
Tell people you're going to see the Guess Who, and you're likely to hear the question "Is Burton Cummings singing?"

When the answer is no, not Cummings, and no, guitarist Randy Bachman isn't playing either, the next question may be "Who's still in the band?"

Seeing a Guess Who that has only the bassist and drummer as original members might require a leap of faith. It's a problem that's compounded when, on gig night, said drummer is a no-show due to illness.

Read more: The Guess Who
Post-Cummings Years
Cummings’s departure seemed to mark the end of The Guess Who, but a contractual obligation with RCA brought about the release of The Way They Were (1976), a collection of previously unreleased tracks from the Bachman era. Kale, realizing that there was still an audience for the band’s music and that its name had never been registered, reformed The Guess Who with Peterson, Winter and McDougall, and acquired legal rights to the name.

Peterson left and was replaced shortly thereafter by Brother alumnus Vance Masters, while Ralph Watts joined on keyboards. This lineup released Guess Who’s Back (1978) and All This For A Song (1979), both of which had lacklustre sales. So did Now and Then (1981), which featured Kale, singer Brent DeJarlais, guitarist Mike McKenna, and drummers Sonnie Bernardi and Dan Russell.

Read more if you're not bored yet: You may never Guess Who's back in Canada
The Guess Who is actually back playing Canada.

One of the finest musical groups this country has produced is, once again, giving American Woman a twirl north of the 49th parallel.

If you find yourself laughing at what, at first, appears to be a preposterous statement, quit grinning.

The Guess Who being discussed here is not the version with which many Canucks associate. There's no cocky Burton Cummings at the keyboard and microphone, and the once rotund Randy Bachman is not delivering blistering guitar riffs.

 

I think they should at least get a nomination and then see what happens. If The Zombies (who I like) can get a nomination, The Guess Who should be able to get one.

 

I'm not the one who commented on Alanis's current drawing power.

Even though I did bring up DisneyWorld, I don't think current drawing power should be a real factor for most potential inductees. It's a factor for a band like Bon Jovi - whose only real claim to HOF induction comes from the fact they've been so popular for so long - but it shouldn't be held against artists if they don't draw like they used to.

The "Alanis vs. GW" debate comes down to the notion that Alanis's style and success made a huge impact on music in her era but the GW didn't. As others have noted, the "path of rock" didn't change due to their music.

That's not a slam on them or their music - very few artists create work that clearly alters the path of music - but if you look at influence and cultural impact, Alanis wins in a rout...

 

No, I had no idea who makes up the current GFR. Someone brought up their current drawing power so I simply stated that they play casinos mainly...

 

canadaswalkoffame The Guess Who
They were the guys who made it okay to be Canadian, who proved that you didn't have to leave our shores to score big. And they've influenced just about every Canadian performer who has followed since.

In his best-selling biography, Takin' Care Of Business, Randy Bachman relates an incident that occurred the day after that 1999 PanAm Games concert - an early-morning encounter with an old acquaintance that encapsulated just how important the Guess Who's success was to an entire generation of fans and rock-star wannabes.

As Bachman recalls: "I recognized him as a guy I knew from one of the hundreds of bands that used to play the community clubs in Winnipeg in the '60s. He congratulated me on a superb performance the night before. I could see he was very emotional, he had tears in his eyes, and I realized something for the first time in my life. For him, the dream was gone; he had never gone any further than the community clubs. But in the four of us he had been able to live out that dream in our success.

"We were the four horsemen who rode out of Winnipeg to find glory and fame and had come back one more time. We had lived the dream of a thousand other kids growing up in Winnipeg. To them, we are still heroes."

 

Why not learn to educate yourself before dismissing or really posting so much about an artist? Not that I haven't tried to place them, and particularly Bachman and Cummings, in proper context for those who might need to learn. I am amazed really that there would be rock fans posting heavily on a music fan board who would honestly not know very much about such a major and historically important band from any country on the planet. Too much time spent posting about your opinions and less time listening and learning? The opinions of the 1 out of 4 is backed up by comparisons with artists who were not contemporaries and many admit they don't know very much, so...

Questioning Michael Jackson being the topper most King Of Pop is not very relevant here so much as people who want to totally deny what the Beatles did and accomplished, usually people who are either very young or have exceptionally narrow interests. If someone said The Guess Who were the greatest rock band ever I would dismiss that as hyperbole. But... the historical context would place The Guess Who as essential in any reasonably thorough rock or pop history. To say otherwise would be to say Canada's music is not important or worth recognizing as anybody in Canada who paid any attention to music for the '60s and '70s would be able to cite The Guess Who as one of a small handful of real success stories artistically and commercially. We've had to overcome a mentality that dominated which denigrated our own homegrown talent and enterprise within Canada, and it's ugly to see it still existing outside of Canada. I can definitely say, while they also had some of these nay sayers, England and Australia were far more supportive of their artists.

I don't feel qualified to pass judgement on all kinds of things, because a really knowledgeable person has some understanding of what they don't and even can't know. But I do question a King Of Pop label for someone based on only a couple of top albums and less than a dozen important songwriting credits. He would definitely be in a hall of fame though and a history of popular music.

If the Hall Of Fame in Cleveland is going to represent more than a shrine to a insularity and a U.S. industry it really would need to include The Guess Who and Randy Bachman alongside Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and The Band who moved south (like Hank Snow), someone not relocating to the U.S. should not disqualify them (although Randy did for awhile).

 

Amen!
To have lived through all the excitement that was The Guess Who is a big influence on me and my crazy friends. Wouldn't change a thing.

Hang on to your life....Cheers!

 

I know, that's why I separated the two comments, well tried to. no doubt alanis as well as sarah and tori and jewel and .... ushered in a new age of chick rock/pop. I remember when you couldn't turn on mtv without seeing one of them

ps her best song imo

 

I'm glad there is still so much or quality and uniqueness for me to discover and learn about from the past of popular music. A Hall could help in that, or it could be merely a shrine to a self-referential U.S. sales based stadium ticket reinforced view of things. The reductionist cycle of giving people what they already know and agree upon when what they know is a limited set of hits agreed upon redactively by the people. The U.S.-centric "they know Buckingham-Nicks, they barely know Bob Welch, nobody knows Peter Green" type of thing is the best way I can illustrate it. It is different elsewhere. It is different just in different parts of the U.S. Nick Drake is huge now but was ignored mostly at the time. The Stones pointed to Howling Wolf when everyone around them their age and race would've said "who?" and Randy Bachman points to Lenny Breau and people still say "who?"

 

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

But if Randy Bachman had stayed with the Guess Who they just might be a slam dunk for the RRHOF.

 

My thinking is along the same lines. After he left, over the course of the next couple of albums they turned into a vehicle for Burton Cummings' ballads and musical theatre-ready piano pop, which somewhat soured their legacy.

 

There ought to be a massive multi-artist stadium tour or compilation series with the title "Monsters of Theatre-Ready Piano Pop."

 

I don't see Randy as the only "rawker" in the band. To me, Randy was a well-rounded artist who made it big in rock.

As for Burton "souring" things by adjusting the bands' output through more personal works...gee, didn't Todd Rundgren do that as well? Didn't he do With A Twist...? Didn't he do "theater" pieces? Didn't he do...the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony...?

As for Randy being the "only" rocker in the band - hell, Burton was already a "rocker" in the Devrons, before he was even hired for The Guess Who. That was his attitude! He shoved the lead singer out of the way and grabbed his own spotlight*...how much more "rawk" do you need?!

(*not literally, of course, Allan was just being pragmatic by leaving)

 

Yeah, Cummings sure could rock...rock in his own way.

 

Absolutely yes! They truly ROCK; Burton Cummings has one of the greatest rock voices ever; Neil Young cites Randy Bachman as an early guitar idol, and they pissed Tricky Dick off...not to mention their numerous kick a&& songs, 4 solid albums, and mega talent coupled with hard work. IMO, they should've been in long ago.

 

Unequivocally yes.

 

Yes, if they were an US band, they'd be in already.

 

They were probably in until they did Clap For The Wolfman.

For the record, I vote yes. I was a freak for the So Long Bannatyne record. She Might Have Been A Nice Girl. Sour Suite. Rain Dance. Pain Train. And the title cut which makes so little sense, but what a terrific groove.

Don't see it happening for them, though, unless they can get James Corden to drive around Winnipeg with Burton Cummings and Corden starts weeping when they sing These Eyes.

 

I would vote yes.

 

I want the Guess Who to get in so we can start talking about Sloan getting in. The RRHOF is backed up on its Canadian artists. The only ones they put in are the folks who move to America like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and the guys in The Band. Heck, they want to put Joan Baez in and they haven't even nominated Gordon Lightfoot. (By the way, the Guess Who immortalized the latter with a song called "Lightfoot.")

 

Same here. And so should Steppenwolf. The reason I sort of group them together is that in many ways, both bands were/are known better known for their singles material than album tracks. But in my opinion, they are two "singles" bands which also had a respectable amount of album-worthy material as well as a couple of albums each that work very well *as* albums. Many artists/bands that are known primarily for their hits can't claim that (although, they'd like to)..and lastly and maybe most importantly, each band brought a distinct style to the overall musical "landscape" of its' time.

 

Yes & not because I live in Canada but because they were good enough to be voted in.

 

Hell Yes?

 

No