Are you among the "Gearheads"?

Today in Music History: November 9, 1974

Do you find yourself Stuck in the 70s? Did you find the music Just Duckie? Were you In the Groove?, Sizzlin' but not in oil? Do you relive Yesterday with Sunshine? How do you describe the Groovy Times - Music Explosion, Peace Love Joy, Disco 70s, Feel Good 70s, 70s One-Hit Wonders, Flower Power? If any of those descriptors fit your bill, then, back to the mid-70s today will jolt your memory of a Canadian group that absolutely rocked the charts. 

Image Source: Rolling Stone

Bachman-Turner Overdrive parlayed workmanlike heavy metal, a blue-collar image, and nonstop touring into over 7 million records sold in the U.S. by 1977. Source: Rolling Stone

The band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has Canadian roots as a rock group from Winnipeg, Manitoba. To their credit lies five Top 40 albums and six Top 40 singles (ten in Canada). The band has sold close to 30 million albums worldwide. Their fans are affectionately known as "gearheads" being derived from the band's gear-shaped logo. Many of their songs, including 'Let It Ride', 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet', 'Takin' Care of Business', 'Hey You', and 'Roll on Down the Highway', still receive play on classic-rock stations. One of those songs is in the spotlight today...

1974 Bachman Turner Overdrive went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet', the group's only No.1. A No.2 hit in the UK. Randy Bachman did not intend to release this song with a stuttering vocal. It was recorded in this fashion as he was making fun of his brother who stuttered. His record company totally preferred this version to the one without the stutter. Eventually, Bachman's brother quit stuttering.

Songfacts: Since they didn't think this take was going to be released, they considered it a scratch track to get the sound correct in the studio. The band didn't even tune their instruments for it. It was released while they were on tour and later had to be remastered to hide the fact that the instruments were not in tune.

A Bit of Music Trivia on this Day in History...

•  2002 Viewers of the UK music channel VH1 voted 'I Will Always Love You' by Whitney Houston as the number 1 most romantic song ever. In second place Elvis Presley, 'You Were Always On My Mind' and third place went to 'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion.

• 2002 It was announced that Madonna's latest movie 'Swept Away' would not be released in the UK because it had been such a box office flop in the US. The Washington Post said the film was "as awful as you've heard and as bad as you've imagined."

• 2008 Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who reached No.12 on the Billboard chart in 1967 with 'Pata Pata', suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 76. Among her many notable achievements was becoming the first African woman to win a Grammy, for Best Folk Recording in 1966 with Harry Belafonte for 'An Evening With Belafonte / Makeba'.

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...