Who were the first Canadian band to top the US charts?
Apart from the war of 1812, where the United States tried to invade Canada, relations between America and its ‘Great White’ northern neighbour are at something of an all-time low. There’s always been an element of sibling-like rivalry between the two, but speaking as a dyed-in-the-wool limey, things are still pretty damn frightening between the two. Perhaps both parties would do well to remember the sheer amount of influence Canadian culture has had on their American counterparts, especially when it comes to music.
Some of the most beloved names in American music actually hail from the land of maple syrup and hockey, no matter how much the US of A tries to claim them as their own. I guarantee if you asked ten Americans to name their favourite American songwriters, at least a few of them would call on Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. This is despite Young being from Toronto and Mitchell being from Fort Macleod in southern Alberta.
Even today, the likes of The Weeknd, Drake, Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes all hail from north of the border despite colonising the Billboard charts for the past decade and a half. This is nothing new either. In fact, the very first Canuck to top the Billboard Hot 100 was way back in 1959 when it was called the Billboard Top 100. One of Ottawa, Ontario’s favourite sons, jazz crooning sensation and enemy of homicidal advertising mascots everywhere, Paul Anka, topped the chart with ‘Lonely Boy’.
This opened the floodgates for further Canadian artists to make themselves at home at the summit of the Billboard charts. However, it wouldn’t be until over a decade later that an actual Canadian band would be the first to take the top spot. It’s true; neither Buffalo Springfield nor Steppenwolf hit the top spot, despite the latter coming very, very close with ‘Born to Be Wild’ in 1968. Instead, the honour would fall on Winnipeg’s favourite sons, The Guess Who, in 1970.
What was the first Canadian song to top the US charts?
Perhaps they knew there was nothing Americans liked more than songs about them, so it’s really no surprise that the first song by a Canadian band to top the US charts was called ‘American Woman’. It was no fluke either. The classic rock radio standard stayed at the top spot for three weeks and was listed at number three on the Billboard Year-End list for 1970. What’s more, it wouldn’t be the last time that a member of The Guess Who took a song to the top of the Billboard charts, but not in the way anyone expected.
Shortly after topping the charts, mercurial guitarist Randy Bachman left the band, citing health problems and personal issues with the other members. He teamed up with his brothers Tim and Robbie, along with bassist Fred Turner, and combined their collected surnames to form the Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This new band were the second Canadian band to top the US Billboard Hot 100 with their fourth single, 1974’s ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’.
This also puts Randy Bachman in very illustrious company, being one of only few musicians to have two number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 across two different bands. Not bad for a kid from Winnipeg, right?
