Talk:The Guess Who/Archive 1

the SARS mega-concert in Toronto
Didn't Bachman and Cummings play a memorable set at this huge show? If so, I don't see it mentioned. Shawn in Montreal 16:54, 28 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, it was just Randy Bachman who played. It was supposed to be a Bachman Cummings show, but for whatever reason, Burton didn't show up. So Randy went on alone.

What's the name of the live guess who album released around 2000 that featured all of the originals for one show?


 * The album is called 'Running Back Thru Canada'. It's actually not all the originals. After the first show, Jim Kale was asked to leave the band, and he was replaced by Bill Wallace (who had also replaced Kale in the 70's). The group was then augmented by another latter day member, Donnie McDougal. These two, along with originals Cummings, Bachman and Peterson, then did a cross-country tour. The album documents the tour.

Discography
I created articles for the main studio albums and I'll work on the rest. But the only info I have is track listings, years, and artwork and I'd appreciate if others chipped in on more info for the albums.Sillywebby 18:20, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

US bias
The first line shouldn't read that they were the first Canadian rock group to have a number 1 hit in the US.


 * I think the biography is very accurate. I have nearly all of the band's LPs. One of them has a band history on one side of the album. As for the band's name, that album states, as in the biography, that the "Shakin' All Over" recording was labeled "Guess Who", but DJs introduced the recording as by "The Guess Who Band", or "The Guess Who Group". Over a relatively short time, they became known as "The Guess Who" or just "Guess Who". Burton Cummings WAS the main talent of the band. His powerful, emotionally intense vocals made the band. That is not to say that the other band members lacked talent, they were all talented, but Cummings style is what made The Guess Who The Guess Who. We all know about BTO, but that is a different band with a different sound, and the Guess Who band that performs today is a poor imatation of the band that gained fame with Burton Cummings. It's not bias to state that the band had most of it's success with Burton Cummings as lead singer.

Would being Canadian have been such a huge disadvantage in the mid-1960s? South of the border, it shouldn't have mattered much one way or the other. In Canada itself, it should have been a huge advantage, not just because of cultural chauvinism but also because of Canadian content rules on Canadian radio (which included a few stations such as CKLW with significant US listenership.) Timothy Horrigan 20:18, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

The "first Canadian rock group" bit is misleading. The Crew-Cuts "Sh'Boom" hit number 1 in the US and are at least arguably rock'n'roll. As to TimothyHorrigan's comments, CanCon rules weren't around in the mid-60s. They didn't come into being until 1971, and that led to a backlash by US stations against Canadian artists. But being Canadian (at least outside of Toronto) was a disadvantage before that as the infrastructure wasn't there, and you wouldn't have a 'home' city to showcase your songs in the US.Skyhawk0 (talk) 13:47, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Website name [non-]conflict
I was going to point out that the Infobox lists the band's website as "http://www.theguesswhocafe.com/" while the External links lists it as "http://www.theguesswho.com/", but as they both apparently point to "http://www.theguesswho.com/", it doesn't really matter. Typofixer76 (talk) 00:58, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Citations & References
See Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the  tags Nhl4hamilton (talk) 05:47, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Citations & References
This isn't written in encyclopedic style at all -- it reads more like an article. It's lacking citations all over the place and uses tonnes of weasel words. Needs work to sound credible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_peacock_terms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources etc. 216.254.209.82 (talk) 02:10, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

The picture is misleading
Burton had long hair and no moustache at the height of their career ('69-'70). Something like this would be more appropriate: ۝ ۞ ░ 06:12, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

And the current picture is the modern Guess Who, without the two stars. A historic photo at their best would be better. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.210.12.17 (talk) 22:28, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Ownership
How is that the 2 least known members, Kale and Peterson, own the band while Cummings and Bachman are forced to use clone names? 72.209.63.226 (talk) 20:57, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm confused by the Soprano's mention/quote:

"Jon Bon Jovi has called Bachman and Cummings Canadian rock 'n' roll royalty, and that together they have more combined hits than the final season of The Sopranos."

Is it supposed to mean that they Bachman and Cummings have more hits than the number of Soprano's episodes in the last season? Or more hits than the final season has received awards? Either way I don't quite get why the Sopranos are mentioned or the relationship. If it's a direct quote from Jon Bon Jovi then perhaps marking it as a quote would help, as would putting in parentheses the actual number of hits?

Just a suggestion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.176.203.58 (talk) 09:21, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

"hits" as in getting whacked. Ya know - mafia guys shooting each other, ordering a "hit." Presumably, a season of the Sopranos has a lot of guys getting killed (aka whacked or hit) but the Guess Who have even more hits. DragonsDream (talk) 16:57, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

I have a copy of The Staccatos_The Guess Who
The Staccatos appearing courtesy of Capitol Records(Canada) Limited. 2. The Guess Who? appearing courtesy of Quality Records Limited. 3. This record produced in Canada exclusively for Coca_Cola Ltd. by Nimbus 9 Productions Ltd. Toronto and manufactured by RCA Victor Company Ltd. 4. Recorded at Hallmark Studios Toronto.

P.S. Just so you know, This copy has been played a lot. It is not perfect, but it does not skip. I do not know if you care. Here is my contact information, markhatherly@xplornet.ca 911 Cottingham Road Omemee Ontario Canada K0L 2W0 204.237.87.46 (talk) 06:58, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Beatles RfC
You are invited to participate in an RfC at Wikipedia talk:Requests for mediation/The Beatles on the issue of capitalising the definite article when mentioning that band's name in running prose. This long-standing dispute is the subject of an open mediation case and we are requesting your help with determining the current community consensus. Thank you.--andreasegde (talk) 06:00, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

The Guess Who wasn't from Winnipeg!
This is just a short bit from someone who knows and from living in the same time period as The Guess Who... they weren't from Winnipeg they started in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada!! That's it, noting fancy no foot notes....I was just there. LM Lacombe Lloydminster, AB/SK — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.56.138.140 (talk) 03:42, 29 July 2013 (UTC)


 * You're wrong. Sorry.  There are TONS of authoritative citations and definitive first-person accounts from the band members that prove that all the original members of The Guess Who are from Winnipeg; that they began their career there; and that they were based out of Winnipeg for many years.  The band certainly played in cities in Saskatchewan many times, and circa 1966 (five years *after* their recording career started) they spent time in Regina and Saskatoon gigging fairly extensively. But The Guess Who were definitely, unquestionably, and beyond any scintilla of a doubt, a band from Winnipeg -- whether you were 'just there' or not! 70.52.220.201 (talk) 21:20, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

Would like to expand, fact check and cite
I own a copy of the "American Woman" book. If there are no objections, I would like to use it expand and clean up the sections through 1975, with appropriate citations to the book.

Proper Stranger (talk) 22:05, 6 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Be bold and go for it! 70.29.83.18 (talk) 20:33, 13 September 2012 (UTC

Having listened to him speak about the subject, I think the book's author is not unbiased. Perhaps another source?


 * I've read the book, and it's far & away the most comprehensive, accurate, detailed, footnoted & referenced book on the band. The author has written several other books on several other artists, he's a proper professional.  I don't think we should get too hung up on vague ideas about bias & objectivity... the author is allowed to have opinions, and to express them (in or out of his book).  But if we're after details on dates and persons and events, it's about facts.  Just 'cause somebody has expressed an opinion does not mean their facts become suspect, esp when footnoted!  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Notneils (talk • contribs) 00:20, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Other Guitarists previous bands.
The article mentions Kurt Winter's previous band Brother, but makes no mention of Donny McDougal's band Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, or Domenic Troiano's band Bush, which was followed by a stint with the mark 2 lineup of The James Gang. http://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/08/mother-tuckers-yellow-duck-home-grown.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_%28Canadian_band%29 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2606:A000:AF80:5D00:A8BD:BBEA:E083:921 (talk) 21:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Guess Who?
I have a 1965 aircheck of Casey Kasem on KRLA in California. He announced the single "Shakin' All Over" as being done by The Guess Who Group from England! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.154.253.120 (talk) 20:59, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

Exhaustive or exhausting?
Does anyone else find this entry so long that it's exhausting? I've been trying to copyedit it and have had to take several breaks because I keep encountering the same Manual of Style errors repeatedly. (For the record: band's name should be written as The Guess Who because "The" is part of the band's formal name. Ugh!) Anyone else want to try whittling down this overly long entry? Then please have a go at it. Anything to make article easier to read&mdash;and edit! Thanks. Kinkyturnip (talk) 06:37, 17 July 2018 (UTC)

general band problem, not just guess who
So here I'm sitting and listening to American Woman on youtube, and get curious about who the singer is, and where he is today, and this is not the first time I have found this nearly impossible to establish. This is a problem with Italic textalmost all Wikipedia articles on rock bandsItalic text The other day I was looking for who was the singer in Toto. Almost doesn't matter which band it is. Always the same issue: So here is the problem the way I see it. Yes I know this is all volunteer of course, but I would like to tell anyway. Often there is no picture of the band at all. If there is, as likely as not it is a picture from 2016 of old people, and all the original members from 1970 have been replaced, or have become unrecognizable. So first of all we need a picture of the original lineup, and/or significant later lineups WITH "from left....." because otherwise there is no way of knowing who is who, unless you already know, of course. You can't tell from a picture who is the drummer, and what his name is, unless he is drumming. Sometimes there are lists that say original lineup, which may or may not be any help at all, such as with the guess who which started what, in the 50s, just a long list of past members. Sometimes I have clicked on all of them, and sometimes been lucky to find a recognizable picture, as likely as not the second to last of 20..... So please, people, please make it so that it helps make it possible, preferably even just a little bit easy to identify who is who, and what they did, and when, maybe in table format. I know sometimes with diligent reading, one can figure out from the article that the singer joined in 68, and 3 paragraphs farther down, that the bassist joined in 74, but was replaced 2 weeks later by someone else, meanwhile the drummer had joined in 71. We need something a bit more accessible. Ok, I'm just laying here on the couch with cancer, and sometimes have nothing more important to do than figure out who sang in this that or the other band on this that or the other song in this that or the other year, but that doesn't mean that I enjoy it more the more difficult it is to find an answer. So thanks all for hearing me out.Nnnooottt (talk) 03:16, 8 November 2018 (UTC)

Cleanup Time
This appears to be one of those articles that started out concise, but got bloated over time. One particular problem is descriptions of every unknown new person joining yet another lineup on the nostalgia circuit, or yet another reunion by the members of the classic lineup. Unless anyone objects, I plan to remove some of the bloat from this article, re-title and rearrange some sections, refocus on the classic years, and split the personnel section to a new "list of Guess Who members" article. Thanks. ---  DOOMSDAYER 520 (TALK&#124;CONTRIBS) 02:40, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I have enhanced the membership timelines and lists of lineups, but those are now so extensive that they would clutter up this band article even worse. Therefore, please enjoy the new article List of The Guess Who members. Next I will streamline the band article as described in the previous post. ---  DOOMSDAYER 520 (TALK&#124;CONTRIBS) 13:52, 27 February 2021 (UTC)

Featured in the movie Superbad.
Might add a line here about These Eyes being featured and sung in the movie Superbad. It’s probably the reason a lot of people that are younger are familiar with the song. 107.115.165.3 (talk) 13:59, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Jazz-rock?
I just listened to the entire “Power in the Music” album. There isn’t a hint of jazz or jazz-rock in it. It’s straight rock, pop, R&B, and a a bit of funk. Contrast this with the much earlier “Nashville Sneakers”, which is straight jazz, and the great “Undun”, which is very jazzy. Once again, Wikipedia editors haven’t the slightest clue about anything having to do with music. TheScotch (talk) 23:42, 12 September 2023 (UTC)

Band's name
The band's name is The Guess Who, not Guess Who. Where the word The is part of a name, whether of a book, newspaper, band or whatever, it stays in the title. Where it is used when talking about something, but isn't actually part of the name it is dropped, eg The Irish Times, the Irish Independent. FearÉIREANN 02:55 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I think perhaps we should set up a disambiguation page so as to distinguish between The Guess Who and the Hasbro game Guess Who?. -Branddobbe


 * I started work on the article's language, but I may have incedentally distorted some facts in my rephrasing. Tyharvey313


 * the BAND the Guess Who have been around since the early 1960s, the game has only been around since the 80s


 * I don't know about the connection to The Who either. I think the "Guess Who?" label on "Shakin' All Over" was strictly a gimmick to denote a mystery group.


 * The Guess Who were referred to as "Guess Who?" for a bit, until it was changed (minus the question mark) to The Guess Who.

I removed the redirect of "Guess Who" page to "The Guess Who", it's now a navigation page to redirect uses to either "The Guess Who" or "Guess Who?


 * This biography on the Guess Who is awful. It makes it seem as it Burton Cummings was the talent of the band, entirely bias.

I believe that if you check further you will find out that the name "Guess Who?" originally came from a DJ on one of the local AM stations (either CKRC or CKY). The announcer was introducing a new record from Chad Allan and referred to the band as Guess Who? since everyone in Winnipeg knew who they were! The name was changed shortly thereafter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.48.75.179 (talk) 22:52, 6 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Not at all true. The name was assigned to them by their label.  The band hated it, but was stuck with it. Plenty of documentation to back this up, including Einarson's band bio and many Randy Bachman radio appearances.  174.91.171.104 (talk) 05:33, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

In a concert from 2011 at Roseland Ballroom (airing on AXSTV as "Bachman & Turner" in Sep. 2017), Randy says the Reflections' (Romeo & Juliet) lawyer forced them to stop using that name about the time they covered "Shakin' All Over", so the label chose to release that record with "Guess Who" as the artist. Naturally, a DJ would read that on-air, but he wouldn't be the origin of the name. BTW: "Guess who" is not a question; it's a command (the imperative tense of the verb). So there would never be any reason to follow it with a question mark. Steve8394 (talk) 06:21, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

Who gives a flying fig? what is wrong with you people? TheScotch (talk) 23:44, 12 September 2023 (UTC)