50 Fun Facts About The Guess Who

The Guess Who's 'American Woman' riff was born on stage in Ontario while Randy Bachman was doing what?

Retuning after a broken string, Bachman hit on a riff he wanted to remember and kept playing it. The band jammed along, and a fan's bootleg tape saved the words Burton Cummings made up on the spot.

Which American rock star's 1999 cover of the Guess Who's 'American Woman' for an Austin Powers film won him a Grammy?

Lenny Kravitz dropped the famous guitar solo, later telling Randy Bachman he couldn't get the tone. His slower version won the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

Which actor, as Lester Burnham, performs the Guess Who's 'American Woman' in Sam Mendes's 1999 film American Beauty?

Kevin Spacey won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Lester, an advertising executive in the grip of a midlife crisis. American Beauty took five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The Guess Who performed at the White House for which US president's family, leaving 'American Woman' off the set?

Richard Nixon's wife Pat was long said to have vetoed the song as anti-American. Burton Cummings later said dropping it was the band's own idea, and the ban story was a publicity stunt by their manager.

Burton Cummings says the Guess Who first jammed 'American Woman' on stage at what kind of Ontario venue?

A curling rink in Scarborough called the Broom and Stone is the setting Cummings gives for the jam, on a night when the band played two shows. Randy Bachman puts the concert in Kitchener.

Randy Bachman took the title of the Guess Who's 'No Sugar Tonight' from a woman he saw scolding whom in California?

A tough-looking biker, one of three who had unnerved Bachman on the street, was told off by a tiny woman for leaving her alone with the kids. Her parting threat gave the song its title.

Burton Cummings learned which instrument from scratch to play the solo on the Guess Who's 1969 hit 'Undun'?

Flute fingering matched the saxophone Cummings already played, so the band bought one at a music store and he taught himself the part. Randy Bachman calls 'Undun' his favourite of his Guess Who songs.

Which American disc jockey talks on the Guess Who's 1974 top ten single from the album Road Food?

Wolfman Jack ad-libs in his on-air voice through the tribute, and he joined the band to perform it on The Midnight Special. On other nights Burton Cummings did the impression himself.

Which veteran band headlined the 2003 Toronto benefit where the reunited Guess Who played to roughly 450,000 people?

The Rolling Stones suggested the show to revive Toronto's economy after the SARS outbreak and closed it with a 90-minute set. It was the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history.

The Guess Who's 1969 hit 'Laughing' soundtracks director Todd Phillips's camera-test clip for which 2019 film?

Joker lead Joaquin Phoenix appears in character as the DC Comics villain in the test footage, which Phillips shared on Instagram with the song as its soundtrack.

Which 1969 ballad, soon covered by Junior Walker, gave the Guess Who their first US top ten hit?

These Eyes reached number six in the US and sold a million copies, though the band had feared the gentle ballad strayed too far from their rock roots.

A Canadian label credited a 1965 single to 'Guess Who?' hoping buyers would link the mystery act to which pop movement?

The British Invasion was in full swing, so Quality Records hinted that famous English stars were recording incognito. DJs kept using the joke credit, and the group had to adopt it as a name.

Which Bachman–Turner Overdrive anthem did Randy Bachman begin as 'White Collar Worker' while still in the Guess Who?

Takin' Care of Business was shelved after Burton Cummings said its chorus sounded so much like the Beatles' 'Paperback Writer' that they would be sued. A Vancouver DJ's catchphrase later gave it a new hook.

Which singer, once a fellow teenage musician in Winnipeg, sings on Guess Who founder Randy Bachman's 'Prairie Town'?

Neil Young sings and plays guitar on both the fast and slow versions, which Bachman said stand for winter and summer in Winnipeg. The videos were partly shot in Young's California barn.

The Guess Who's 'Glamour Boy' was Burton Cummings's reaction to the rise of which theatrical glam-rock singer?

David Bowie made Cummings feel threatened, he later admitted, because looks and theatrics had started to outrank the music. After Bowie's death he took to performing the song as a tribute.

Randy Bachman's conversion to which faith left him at odds with the Guess Who's rock lifestyle before he quit in 1970?

Mormonism left Bachman uneasy with the band's rock 'n' roll lifestyle, and gall bladder trouble made touring harder still. He played his last show in May 1970, at the height of the band's fame.

The Guess Who's 1968 split album A Wild Pair could be bought only by mailing bottle-cap liners to which company?

Coca-Cola asked for ten bottle-cap liners and a dollar for shipping. The band shared the record with Ottawa's Staccatos, who soon found fame as the Five Man Electrical Band.

Which American band covered the Guess Who's 'Running Back to Saskatoon' on stage in Saskatoon in both 2005 and 2011?

Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder muddled the lyrics on one visit, so the band tried the song again before the night ended and brought a fan up to sing it properly.

Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman reunited in 1997 for a benefit after what disaster hit the Guess Who's hometown?

A flood emergency in Winnipeg brought the two songwriters together at a relief fundraiser organised by actor Tom Jackson. Two years later all four classic members shared a stage again.

Winnipeg's 1907 Walker landmark, renamed for Guess Who singer Burton Cummings in 2002, is what kind of building?

A theatre built to be fireproof, it opened with Puccini's Madame Butterfly and seated about 1,800. The singer it now honours grew up in the city and left high school at 17 to play music.

Which Muppet abandons a karaoke 'American Woman' in a viral video, then learns the Guess Who song is Canadian?

Sam Eagle, the Muppets' resident patriot, stops mid-song in protest at the lyrics. Finding out that the anthem he picked comes from Canada upsets him even more.

Which song, a 1960 UK chart-topper for Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, gave the future Guess Who a Canadian number one?

Shakin' All Over reached number one in Canada in spring 1965 and number 22 in the US. The Who later put a famous version of the same song on their album Live at Leeds.

Which Guess Who song was recorded twice, the faster remake on the American Woman album becoming the hit single?

No Time first appeared in 1969 with an extended guitar solo. The tighter remake reached number five in the US, and Randy Bachman called it the band's stab at country rock.

Which 1970 top ten hit gave its title to the Guess Who's first album made without Randy Bachman?

Share the Land looks ahead to a day when everyone lives together. Burton Cummings wrote it alone, and its album introduced the two guitarists hired to fill Bachman's shoes.

Which 1974 Guess Who single spent 19 weeks on the Hot 100, longer than even the chart-topping 'American Woman'?

Star Baby peaked at only number 39, yet it lingered four weeks longer than the band's number one. Burton Cummings wrote it in about 20 minutes, imagining a roadie's romance with a touring singer.

The Guess Who's single 'Running Back to Saskatoon' is a live 1972 recording, never redone in a studio, from which city?

Seattle's Paramount hosted the show that became the album Live at the Paramount. The radio edit trimmed the six-minute performance to under three and a half.

Burton Cummings moved in 2017 to which Saskatchewan city, a place named in the Guess Who's 'Running Back to Saskatoon'?

Moose Jaw gets a mention alongside Moosomin, Red Deer and Medicine Hat in the song's roll call of western towns. Cummings had spent many years in Sherman Oaks, California, before the move.

Which founding Guess Who bassist quietly trademarked the band's name for himself and toured hired lineups for decades?

Jim Kale found in the 1980s that the name had never been trademarked and filed for it without telling his old bandmates. Bachman and Cummings finally won it back in a 2024 settlement.

The Guess Who's first two albums were credited to which founding singer 'and the Expressions' before he left in 1966?

Chad Allan took his stage name from folk singer Chad Mitchell and started the group at high school in 1958. After leaving he went back to college and later hosted a CBC music show.

Domenic Troiano, the Guess Who's final lead guitarist, had earlier replaced Joe Walsh in which American rock band?

James Gang made two albums with Troiano in 1972. Raised in Toronto, he joined the Guess Who for their last two albums, and the jazz-rock turn he brought helped split the band.

Which pop singer recorded the Guess Who's 'American Woman' as the theme of a Paramount Network sitcom of the same name?

Kelly Clarkson's cover opened a 2018 comedy starring Alicia Silverstone as a 1970s single mother, inspired by the childhood of reality star Kyle Richards. It was cancelled after one season.

Randy Bachman has described the Guess Who's 'American Woman' as a protest song against which conflict?

The Vietnam War troubled both band and audience, Bachman said, and US border officials once tried to draft the group in North Dakota. Burton Cummings insists his words were never political.

Burton Cummings joined the Guess Who at 18 as lead singer and to replace a departing player of which instrument?

Keyboards had been Bob Ashley's job until the grind of touring drove him out in early 1966. Cummings arrived from a local R&B band, the Deverons, and was soon the group's only lead singer.

Which producer mortgaged his own home to pay for Wheatfield Soul, the Guess Who's 1969 breakthrough album?

Jack Richardson had first worked with the band on a soft-drink promotion album. He stayed until the 1975 split and also produced Bob Seger's 'Night Moves' and co-produced Alice Cooper's Love It to Death.

Wheatfield Soul, the Guess Who's 1969 breakthrough album, was recorded at Phil Ramone's A&R studio in which city?

New York was home to the independent A&R studio, whose sound the band and their producer preferred. When the label later insisted on its own studio, they sneaked back to A&R to redo two songs.

The Guess Who album Wheatfield Soul includes a tribute song named after which Canadian folk singer?

Gordon Lightfoot was saluted in 'Lightfoot', a song Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings co-wrote, which doubled as the flip side of the album's hit single.

Which 1976 ballad was Burton Cummings's first solo hit after the Guess Who split, reaching the US top ten?

Stand Tall was the lead single from his self-titled debut album. It spent 21 weeks on the Hot 100 and went gold.

Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman spent 2005 to 2021 telling the stories behind records as host of which CBC Radio show?

Vinyl Tap mixed classic rock with Bachman's own anecdotes and live guitar demonstrations. For years his wife read out the listener mail, and his stories were collected in a book in 2011.

Which country-rock band did Randy Bachman form after the Guess Who, later renamed Bachman–Turner Overdrive?

Brave Belt lost about $150,000 in two years by Bachman's estimate, much of it covered from his Guess Who royalties. Its rejected third album became the first Bachman–Turner Overdrive record.

Turned away from a Winnipeg supper club, the Guess Who's Randy Bachman got a lesson from which guitar pioneer?

Les Paul let the under-age fan help set up and pack away his gear, then showed him his own version of 'How High the Moon'. Bachman had taken up guitar after seeing Elvis Presley on television.

The four classic members of the Guess Who reunited in 1999 at the closing ceremony of which sporting event in Winnipeg?

The Pan American Games appearance came at the request of Manitoba's premier and reportedly earned the band $250,000. It sparked the reunion tour that ran from 2000 to 2003.

The album version of the Guess Who's 'Hang On to Your Life' ends with Burton Cummings reciting from which biblical book?

Psalms supplies the closing words: verses 13 to 15 of Psalm 22, spoken over the fade of the anti-drug song. The single version stops just before the recitation starts.

Before the Guess Who topped the US Hot 100, which Canadian vocal group had a US number one back in 1954?

The Crew-Cuts hit the top with 'Sh-Boom', but that was before Billboard launched the Hot 100. That leaves the Guess Who as the first Canadian band to head that chart.

In 2024 Burton Cummings halted a rival touring 'Guess Who' by pulling his songs from which performing-rights body?

BMI licences let venues host its catalogue, so ending his agreement exposed any hall that staged his Guess Who hits to damages. The rival band's shows were cancelled and its website shut that July.

CKLW, the radio station whose support helped the Guess Who win a US record deal, broadcast from which Ontario city?

Windsor's CKLW programmed for the Detroit market and played down its home city. Its music director Rosalie Trombley was famed for picking hits, and Bob Seger wrote a song about her.

Randy Bachman built the Guess Who's 'Undun' on chords taught by which guitarist, his Winnipeg friend and neighbour?

Lenny Breau had been teaching Bachman finger-picking since the two met as teenagers, and he introduced him to the music of Chet Atkins. Bachman said the song's odd structure shouldn't have worked at all.

Guess Who drummer Garry Peterson was a child prodigy who, aged five, played behind which American singer in Chicago?

Peggy Lee was only the start: the young drummer also backed Lionel Hampton and the Andrews Sisters and joined the musicians' union at nine. His father, a drummer too, had him playing at two.

The Guess Who album title So Long, Bannatyne says goodbye to what on a Winnipeg avenue, pictured on the cover?

An apartment block at 545 Bannatyne Avenue fills the front cover, marking guitarist Kurt Winter's move out to the suburbs. The same red Chevrolet turns up in the back-cover photo of a house.

Which CBC television music show hired the Guess Who as its house band in 1967, hosted by the group's own former singer?

Let's Go began with the band covering other acts' chart hits, but the producers pushed them to write more of their own. The steady pay kept them afloat for two years after a ruinous promotional trip overseas.

Barred from the Guess Who name in 2006, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings toured with which Canadian backing band?

The Carpet Frogs backed the pair as Bachman-Cummings on a 2007 covers album called Jukebox. Some of the same players returned when the two relaunched the Guess Who for a 2026 tour.