Guess Who Trivia

In 1964, it was very difficult for a Canadian based rock band to get onto the radio in Canada. Radio stations wouldn’t even listen to records put out by Canadian bands. To give the group time to come up with a new name, and fool the radio stations into playing their new record, the record label released the record with ‘Guess Who?” in place of the group name. They asked people to guess who the group really was. They hinted that it was a group that was already famous.

The song was a hit. They picked new name, “Chad Allan and the Expressions”, but the name Guess Who stuck, and when Chad Allan left the band in 1966, they adopted “The Guess Who” as their official name.

“Shakin’ All Over”

“Shakin’ All Over” was important not only for The Guess Who, but was also for the Canadian rock music industry. In 2006, producers named a documentary film about Canadian rock music in the 1960s “Shakin’ All Over”  in recognition of its importance. Strangely enough, while the documentary did mention The Guess Who’s success in the late 1960s, it didn’t mention their early success with “Shakin’ All Over”. Anyone who didn’t know the story behind the name must have wondered what it had to do with 1960s Canadian rock music.

In 1965, the British band The Who were relatively unknown in North America. When touring, some people in the audience thought they were the same band that did “Shakin’ All Over”. They added the song to their act to keep those people happy.

Chad Allan

Chad Allan started the Guess Who and was the original lead singer. In 1966, he decided that he didn’t want to tour any more and so he left the group. Burton Cummings  , who had joined the band on keyboards earlier, took over as lead singer. The band changed its name and went on to great success.

Several years later in 1970, Randy Bachman also left the band. He and Chad Allan started a band called Brave Belt. Again, Chad Allan decided to leave the group. The band changed its name to Bachman Turner Overdrive  and went on to great success.

Although Chad Allan missed two opportunities for big success, many fans remember him fondly.