“I was devastated”: how band bitterness stopped Randy Bachman from meeting Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley is still, in the eyes of many, the archetypal rock star.
Whether it was the youthful, hip-shaking rebellion of his younger years or the grandiose, bejewelled hedonism of his Vegas days, Presley set a standard that has been worshipped by countless rock and roll figures over the decades, including one Randy Bachman.
A defining figure of the mainstream rock airwaves during the 1970s, Bachman’s tenure with the Bachman-Turner Overdrive followed on from the comparatively otherworldly rebellion of The Guess Who during the prior decade. It was that group that fueled Bachman’s countercultural years, experimenting with psychedelic rock and flipping the script that had been set out by the band’s 1950s rock forefathers. Yet, in spite of that rebellion, the songwriter always held the classic stylings of Elvis Presley very close to his heart.
Coming of age during the late 1950s, after all, the young songwriter was bound to fall in love with the cutting-edge output of Presley. “It was thanks to seeing Elvis doing ‘Tutti Frutti’ on TV that I gave up the classical violin and took up rock ’n’ roll,” the songwriter once declared to Classic Rock, explaining the life-changing quality of Presley’s output.
“Years later, I wrote the song ‘Takin’ Care Of Business’ for BTO,” he went on, beginning the tale of a full-circle moment in his life. That Overdrive song quickly became the band’s defining anthem, reaching number 12 on the US singles charts and becoming a mainstay of rock radio stations for many years.
It also helped to attract some rather high-profile fans to BTO, with Bachman adding, “Elvis heard it on the radio and liked it so much he adopted it as his anthem.”
Inevitably, that soon led the Bachman-Turner Overdrive to be given the rather daunting honour of being invited to meet the man himself. Much to his lasting regret, though, Randy Bachman himself wasn’t privy to that meeting.
In a tale of 1970s rock that is far from unique, the group were deteriorating rapidly at the time, with ego battles, musical differences, and respective addictions plaguing the personal relationships within the group, leading to a certain breakdown in communication.
“Well, the rest of the band were told about the meeting, but things were so bad between us that they never told me,” the songwriter explained, through still-gritted teeth. “So off they went to meet the man. First thing he said was: ‘Where’s Randy Bachman, the guy who wrote that song?’ They said: ‘Er, he didn’t wanna come along.’” In reality, Bachman’s lasting adoration for Presley meant that he would have rather attended that meeting than do literally anything else, but it was not to be.
“I was devastated when I found out what had happened,” he recalled. “This was the man who changed my life.” Still, at least Presley himself maintained his appreciation for Bachman as a songwriter; an accolade bestowed upon very few people, far fewer than those who managed to meet Presley over the course of his illustrious career.
Tragically, Bachman didn’t get the chance to rectify that missed opportunity before Elvis Presley passed away in 1977, causing some understandable bitterness between him and his Overdrive bandmates. Following the rock pioneer’s death, though, Bachman was given a solid gold pendant worn by Presley by one of the performer’s entourage – a token of his lasting appreciation.
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