One of my favourite Canadian bands from the 1970’s era is the rock band Bachman Turner Overdrive. In 1971 “The Guess Who” lead guitarist Randy Bachman decided to leave the group to pursue other opportunities and create his own band.  Bachman recruited former Guess Who lead singer Chad Allen(Vocals/Keyboard) as well as his brothers Robbie (Drums) and Gary (Manager) to form the band “Brave Belt”. After Brave Belt had a year of minimal success, Chad Allen left the band and Bachman decided to replace him with fellow Winnipegger C.F. “Fred” Turner (Vocals/Bass) as well as add his other brother Tim Bachman (Second Guitar) into the fold.  With these new additions, the band decided to rebrand themselves and in 1972 Bachman-Turner Overdrive was formed. The band name came from the combination of Randy Bachman and Fred Turners names as well as the famous trucker’s magazine “Overdrive” (Ankeny).

In 1973 the band released their 1^st album self-titled “Bachman-Turner Overdrive” and had their first #1 hit later that year called “Takin Care of Business”.  In 1974 Tim Bachman left the group to pursue a career as a music producer and was replaced by British Columbia native Blair Thornton to be their new second guitarist. Shortly after the transition BTO released their   3^rd studio album titled “Not Fragile” which peaked at #1 on both the Canadian and US charts featuring the hit single “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”.

Bachman Turner Overdrive has had many moving pieces throughout the years. This was initially caused by the departure of founding member Randy Bachman who left the band in 1977 to pursuit a solo career. He eventually returned to the band in 1983 before deciding to leave again in 1991, this time due to creative differences between the band members. In 2004 the Canadian Music Hall of Fame voted to induct Bachman-Turner Overdrive into the Hall.  There was a catch however as the Hall wanted the band to be inducted with the members from the “Not Fragile” era this meant including Randy Bachman. The band ended up declining the invitation because of the tension that was still present between the band members and Randy Bachman and therefore Bachman Turner Overdrive wasn’t inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 2014 the band was finally inducted into the hall. (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2013)

I was first introduced to Bachman-Turner Overdrive when I was a young child. My Uncle would play their records whenever I went to visit his farm in Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan. My two favourite songs by BTO are the songs that brought them to fame. “Takin Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”.

The instrumentation for Takin’ Care of Business involves vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums/percussion and piano.  Randy Bachman first started writing this while he was a member of “The Guess Who”.  The guitar riff in this song uses a  I-VII-IV progression played with a shuffle.

The Instrumentation for “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” involves vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums/percussion. The Chorus  pertains the line “B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-nothin’ yet” Randy Bachman revealed  that the repetitive wording was performed as a joke for his brother, Gary, who had a stutter. The song is about a man who meets a devil woman while he searches for love. It contains mainly chord progressions and also has some catchy guitar riffs as well.

The Introduction of Can Con in Canadian radio broadcasting most definitely assisted Bachman Turner Overdrive in their rise to fame. When first created in 1971, The Can Con requirements stated that 25% of radio airplay must be devoted to Canadian music (Harrison, 2006). This rule helped Bachman Turner Overdrive because it gave Canadian radio listeners more exposure to the band as their songs were played more often. The rule having a positive effect is evident when you look at how BTO’s albums ranked on the Canadian charts vs the American charts. Almost all of their albums ranked significantly higher on the Canadian charts with the exception being “Bachman-Tuner Overdrive II” which ranked 4^th in the USA vs 6^th in Canada. I believe Bachman-Turner Overdrive still would have had a successful music career even without the assistance of the CanCon regulations. The album “Not Fragile” ranked #1 in the USA in addition to Canada as well.  Therefore, in a country where the CanCon regulations were not a factor, Bachman-Turner Overdrive had major success with 3 albums ranked in the top 5.

Bibliography

Ankeny, J. (n.d.). All Music. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bachman-turner-overdrive-mn0000062002/biography

Encyclopedia, T. C. (2013). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bachman-turner-overdrive-emc/

Harrison, T. (2006). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/popular-music/

For my concert review I attended the Country Thunder Music Festival in Craven Saskatchewan. I had the opportunity to listen to an up and coming country band called Midland. The group is composed of 3 members and best friends. Mark Wystrach, Cameron Duddy and Jess Carson. The band was first formed in 2013 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where Duddy was set to get married, Wystrach and Carson were his groomsmen. After a night of informal performances, the group realized they had musical chemistry and decided to form a band (Monger). Wystrach is the lead vocalist and does backup guitar. Duddy plays the bass guitar and contributes to backup vocals. Carson is the lead guitarist and also contributes to back up vocals.

The group then relocated to Dripping Springs, Texas where they recorded their first series of tracks at the Sonic Ranch Studios. After releasing a few tracks they were discovered by The Big Machine Record Company out of Nashville, Tennessee who signed them to their first major label in 2016.  Under Big Machine Records the group released their self-titled Expended Play (EP) in 2016 and later their first full length studio album titled “On the Rocks” in September of 2017. Their single “Drinking Problem” has reached #4 on the Billboard Country charts in the United States and #1 in Canada (Gugala, 2017). The group cites county legends The Eagles, George Strait and Dwight Yoakam as their main source of inspiration. The name Midland comes from the song by Dwight Yoakam called “Fair to Midland” and is also a reference to a town by the same name in southwest Texas.

The Band is described to have a very Traditionalist feel to it.  New traditional/Neotraditional country is a country music style that takes inspiration from the honky-tonk and bluegrass era. This style blends the old-school instrumentation with smooth contemporary production (ThoughtCo., 2017). Midland’s stage presence is also closely tied to this era as all the band members dress with styles relating to country music artists of the 1940’s and 50’s. The vocals from Midland differ from the traditional country vocals because there is a lot of infection and harmonizing performed by the band members. A song that exemplifies this is a song called “Make a little”. This song starts off with a harmonization from the three band members and has a catchy western swing throughout the whole piece.

Other instruments used in their set include the steel guitar, drums, banjo and the fiddle.  My favourite instrument that was used in their set is the steel guitar, it is not like your typical guitar which is played vertically. Instead the steel guitar is played flat across the lap using metal fingerpicks and a metal steel bar that slides up and down the neck. The result is the ability of the musician to play unlimited glissandos which is a slide from one pitch to another.

The Venue of the Country Thunder music festival in Craven Saskatchewan is about as country as a musical festival can get. It is located in a large open field where people can park their campers or pitch tents and have a fun weekend filled with music and entertainment. The venue in set with a mosh pit in front of the stage with bleachers in the back and an open area on the sides where people and sit on the grass of bring lawn chairs.

A lot of Midland’s songs are about love and the band members personal experience with romance. I feel like a lot of people who were in attendance can relate to these types of songs as everyone has had their own personal experience with romance whether it be successful or failed relationships. An example of this is the song “Out of Sight” where Wystrach talks about a girl who left him and her absence drove him crazy. The lyrics for this song are “She’s gone and everyone knows that she’s out of sight and I’m out of my mind”. This concert was very meaningful to me because my best friends brother was a big Midland fan, sadly he passed away in 2017. His favourite song was “Drinking Problem” and whenever I hear that song It brings back all the memories I had spending time with him.

Bibliography

Gugala, J. (2017). How Country Trio Midland Are Bridging the Country-Pop Divide . Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/how-country-trio-midland-are-bridging-the-country-pop-divide-128506/

Monger, T. (n.d.). Midland Biography. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/midland-mn0003567510/biography

ThoughtCo. (2017). History of Neotraditional Country Music. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-neotraditional-country-music-931987

The term Payola is defined as a secret payment given out in return for the promotion of a product (Dictionary.com). It comes from the words Pay and Victrola. “Pay” comes from the payment/bribe that record companies would offer to radio broadcasters in exchange for more radio air time for the songs recorded by their company. “Victrola” is the name of a phonograph which is a device that can mechanically record and reproduce sound, it was manufactured by the Victor Talking Machine Company.

The Scandal started in 1958 with an investigation into the popular NBC game shows “Twenty-One” and “$64,000 Question”. There was evidence that these shows were fixed by the producers as a method to increase their television ratings (Neira). This scandal resulted in the cancellation of the guilty shows and led to a similar investigation into the radio broadcasting industry.

As Payola in the radio broadcasting industry was being brought into the light, numerous disk jockeys from across the United States admitted to receiving payments from record companies in order to get their records played more often on the radio which in turn would increase the popularity of their music (History.com). Although Payola wasn’t investigated until 1958 it had actually been around in the vaudeville era of the 1920’s and the big band era of the 1930s/40s.

In 1960 the National Association of Broadcasting proposed legislation that would see any disk jockey who accepted payment be fined $500 and possibly spend a full year in prison (Neira). The President of the United States at the time was Dwight D. Eisenhower, he expressed his strong disapproval of Payola calling it an issue of public morality.

Congressman Oren Harris from the state of Arkansas conducted a set of investigative hearings in February of 1960. Harris stated that the reason for the hearings was that Payola was an abuse of public trust. At these hearings Wesley Hopkins from KYW Cleveland and Stand Richard from WILD Boston confessed to receiving thousands of dollars in what they called “listening fees” from the record producers (History.com). Although Richard stated he never actually let the bribe persuade his selection of music to put on the air. Other popular Dick Jockeys who were a part of these hearings were Alan Freed and Dick Clark. Freed is known for being the man who coined the term “rock and roll”.

After the conclusion of the investigation Freed along with several other radio personnel were arrested under the suspicion of commercial bribery. Freed ended up being charged with 26 counts of commercial bribery but only had to pay a fine. Clark denied any involvement in the payola scandal saying that he never received any payments (Hutchinson, 2015).

What came from the investigation performed by the government, was the amendment of the Federal Communication Act. This act abolished any under the table payments to disc jockeys and stated that broadcasters must disclose if a record company had purchased airtime for their music (Institute, 2010). Payola was also classified as a misdemeanour and a penalty of a $10,000 fine and a possible year in prison were set in place. However, there was a loophole in the legislation as record companies continued to send secret undisclosed payments, because of this loophole Payola was thought to have been only reorganized and not completely eradicated as first hoped.

Fast forward to the modern era and Payola still very much exists and is still illegally performed in the radio broadcasting industry. In 2005 one of the biggest record labels in the world Sony BMG was forced to pay a $10 million fine in New York after they were caught in their own payola scandal. The majority of the charges against Sony were for the playing time of Jessica Simpson and her most recent album at the time (Macdonald, 2018). To avoid being caught for Payola some record labels today will hold promotional competitions with a preselected DJ as the winner. This is used a way to conceal the prize money and claim that every contestant had the same opportunity to win the prize, when in reality the money would go to the DJ who agreed to participate in Payola.

In my opinion I am against Payola and I believe Payola laws should be heavily enforced. The popularity of the songs played on the radio shouldn’t be decided by the record companies who produce the songs or the DJ’s who work for the radio stations. Popularity should be solely based on what appeals to the listeners of the radio.

Bibliography

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Payola Definition. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/payola

History.com. (n.d.). The Payola scandal heats up. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-payola-scandal-heats-up

Hutchinson, L. (2015). Alan Freed and the Radio Payola Scandal. Retrieved from http://performingsongwriter.com/alan-freed-payola-scandal/

Institute, R. (2010). Communications Act of 1934. Retrieved from http://rooseveltinstitute.org/communications-act-1934/.

Macdonald, H. (2018). Payola: Influening the charts. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/payola-influencing-the-charts-2460759

Neira, B. (n.d.). Payola Scandal Rocks 50’s Radio. Retrieved from Modesto Radio Museum: http://www.modestoradiomuseum.org/payola.html

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