Bachman–Turner Overdrive, often abbreviated as BTO, is a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1971 under its original name "Brave Belt" by brothers Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman, and Tim Bachman, along with their friend Fred Turner. Their 1970s catalogue included seven top-40 albums (five in the US) and 11 top-40 singles in Canada (six in the US). In Canada, they have six certified platinum albums and one certified gold album. In the US, they have five certified gold albums and one certified platinum album. The band has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has fans affectionately known as "gearheads" (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 regular play on classic rock stations.
The original line-up consisted of Randy Bachman (lead guitar, lead vocals), Fred Turner (bass guitar, lead vocals), Tim Bachman (guitar, vocals), and Robbie Bachman (drums, percussion, backing vocals). This line-up released two albums in 1973. The second and most commercially successful line-up featured Blair Thornton (lead guitar), in place of Tim Bachman. This line-up released four albums between 1974 and 1977, including two that reached the top five on the US pop charts, as well as the band's only US number-one single ("You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet").
After the band went into a hiatus in 2005, Randy Bachman and Fred Turner reunited in 2009 to tour and collaborate on a new album. In 2010, they played the halftime show at the Grey Cup in Edmonton. The two continued to work together until Turner retired from music in 2018.
On March 29, 2014, the classic Not Fragile line-up reunited for the first time since 1991 to mark Bachman–Turner Overdrive's induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and participated in a tribute performance of "Taking Care of Business". On January 12, 2023, drummer and co-founder Robbie Bachman died at age 69, followed three months later by his brother, rhythm guitarist Tim on April 28, 2023 (aged 71).
On June 29, 2023, Randy Bachman announced that Bachman–Turner Overdrive would reunite to tour once again, with Turner making appearances on select dates. The rest of the group is made up of Bachman's son, Tal, as well as his backing band used for solo tours and Bachman and Turner.
History
Early history: Brave Belt (1971–1973)
After finding success with the Guess Who, Randy Bachman left at the height of the group's popularity in July 1970, citing health issues and lifestyle differences with the other band members. He recalled being labelled "a lunatic and a loser" and being told "nobody wanted to work with me." The exception was Chad Allan, former Guess Who lead singer, who had left that band four years before Randy. The two agreed to explore a musical project, and Randy then turned to family. The result was the band Brave Belt, formed in Winnipeg in 1971 with the additions of Randy's brother Robin "Robbie" Bachman on drums, and Gary Bachman acting as band manager.
Turner was soon asked to be a full-time member and sing lead for the recording of Brave Belt II in 1972.
According to Randy Bachman's autobiography, Bachman–Turner Overdrive's sound was born at a university gig in Thunder Bay, Ontario, shortly after Allan's departure. A promoter, disheartened with reactions to Allan's country-flavoured songs, which the band was still playing, decided to sack Brave Belt for the Saturday night show and bring in a more rock-oriented replacement from Toronto. When the replacement band did not materialize, he begged Brave Belt to stay on and play a set of classic rock cover songs. As the band played songs like "Proud Mary", "Brown Sugar", and "All Right Now", the dance floor filled up, and according to Randy, "We instantly saw the difference between playing sit-down music people could talk over and playing music they would jump out of their seats and dance to."
The band eventually landed a deal with Mercury Records, one which Randy proclaimed as a pure stroke of luck. In April 1973, Charlie Fach of Mercury Records returned to his office after a trip to France to find a stack of demonstration tapes waiting on his desk. (This was after Fach's assistant had already sent one refusal letter to Randy.) Wanting to start completely fresh, he took a trash can and slid all the tapes into it except one, which missed the can and fell onto the floor. Fach picked up the tape and noticed Bachman's name on it. He remembered talking to him the previous year and had told Bachman that if he ever put a demo tape together to send it to him. Coincidentally, Mercury had just lost Uriah Heep and Rod Stewart to other labels, and Fach was looking for new rock acts to replace them.
New band name: Bachman-Turner Overdrive
At this point, the band's demo tape was still called Brave Belt III. Fach convinced the band that a new name was needed, one that capitalized on the name recognition of the band members. The band had already mulled over using their surnames (à la Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). While on their way back from a gig in Toronto, the group had spotted a copy of a trucker's magazine called Overdrive while dining at the Colonial Steak House in Windsor, Ontario.
BTO released their eponymous first album in May 1973. and Buffalo and stayed on the charts for many weeks, despite lacking a hit single. The Turner-penned "Blue Collar" reached number 21 on the Canadian RPM charts, but stalled at number 68 on the US chart. The album's eventual success was the result of the band's relentless touring. Reportedly, Fach had agreed to put this album on the Mercury label only if the band would promote it with a heavy concert schedule. Wherever the band was getting significant airplay, Bachman–Turner Overdrive immediately traveled there, regardless of the tour routing, to build momentum.
One such opportunity occurred in St. Louis. Fred Turner said, "We got a call from radio station KSHE that was putting on a benefit. They wanted a band to headline that nobody heard of because the headline acts they had booked got bigger offers and weren't coming. We had the BTO I album out then, so they at least had something to play and make it look like we were big. They started playing our record every hour, every cut off the album, across six states – 150,000 watts. The record company called and said, 'What the hell's happening? We shipped 10,000 records to St. Louis in one week!' We got there and it was an outdoor drive-in theatre, 15 to 20 thousand people. The region had been saturated with our album. They didn't know we were Canadian, they just knew the songs. It was incredible."
Backed by manager Bruce Allen (who replaced Randy's brother Gary in 1972 when Gary was unable to relocate to Vancouver with the rest of Brave Belt), BTO logged over 300 dates in its first year of existence, which paid off. BTO I was later certified gold in 1974 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Breakthrough and success 1973–1976
BTO's second album, Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, was released in December 1973 and became an enormous hit in the US (peaking at number four in 1974) and their native Canada (peaking at number six on the RPM albums chart).
Tim Bachman left the band in early 1974 shortly after the release of Bachman–Turner Overdrive II.
BTO continued a very busy tour schedule and during the supporting tour for BTO II, Tim was replaced by Blair Thornton. and album-oriented rock favourite "Roll on Down the Highway" (number 14 Billboard, number four RPM). Not Fragile remains BTO's top-selling noncompilation album, selling over eight million copies to date.
In 1975, the band engaged in highly successful tours of Europe and the US, wherein BTO was supported by Thin Lizzy, an emerging band also on the Mercury Records label. Said Randy, "Lizzy were just opening in England, but our label wanted to bust them in the rest of Europe and break them wide open in the States, so we toured with Phil and the boys for seven or eight months."
The first BTO compilation album, Best of B.T.O. (So Far) released in July 1976, featured songs from each of the band's first five studio albums. A single, a re-release of "Gimme Your Money Please", was put out from this album, and it also charted well, keeping BTO on both the AM and FM airwaves. Although peaking at only number 19 on the charts, this compilation album became the best-selling BTO album to date, reaching double platinum status in the US.
Randy's departure and the new "BTO" 1977–1979
thumb|right|BTO in [[Örebro, Sweden, April 1991 <br /> L-R: Randy Bachman, Fred Turner, Blair Thornton, Robbie Bachman]]
Freeways, BTO's sixth studio album that was recorded in late 1976 and released in February 1977, signaled the end of BTO's most successful line-up. Facing some criticism for the "sameness" of the band's songs on the two follow-up albums to Not Fragile, Randy Bachman wanted to update BTO's sound, including adding horns and strings on some songs, but the rest of the band seemed to disagree. Said Fred Turner: