The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Why Cummings & Bachman Are Suing "The Guess Who"

**Posted by RadioActive** December 20, 2023 12:12 pm

There's nothing more irritating than going to see a legendary rock band only to discover that the only original member is a guy in the back who plays the ocarina.

In the case of the Guess Who (minus the ocarina), it's original drummer Gary Peterson and bassist Jim Kale, who have been touring under the famous moniker for years. Now both Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are suing the current incarnation, demanding they stop using the famous name to help sell tickets.

But the modern-day band members don't think the two originals have a case. For one thing, they've been using the "Guess Who" title for years and the other two didn't do anything to stop them. And for another:

"Like many other bands from the 1960s that still exist today, the Guess Who’s lineup has changed numerous times over the past six decades," Kale and Peterson wrote in their motion, filed on Dec. 7.

"Consumers who see an ad for a concert by the Guess Who would not reasonably assume that Bachman and Cummings are performing merely because they were in the band many years ago."

But the two former leads insist that's not the point.

"Bachman and Cummings argue that the Guess Who today is not the band people knew for the hits "American Woman" and "These Eyes," despite how it's marketed. They claim Kale has not performed publicly with the current Guess Who iteration since 2016, while Peterson appears "infrequently."

I hate when obscure group members trade on a name that clearly doesn't represent what the band was, especially without their two leads. Still, if a court decides in their favour, it literally means you may have to continue asking "Guess Who" if you see them perform.

Guess Who members seek to dismiss lawsuit from Cummings and Bachman

**Posted by canam2021** December 20, 2023 3:14 pm

I recently saw the current "Guess Who". They were terrible. I also saw Burton Cummings solo. He did some of the old Guess Who songs. He was excellent. It sounded like the old Guess Who.

**Posted by R-S-T-L-N-E** December 21, 2023 5:09 pm

canam2021 wrote:
I recently saw the current "Guess Who". They were terrible.

Chad Allan's recent death would make booking the original Guess Who, difficult

**Posted by RadioActive** January 5, 2024 9:40 am

This Q&A with former Guess Who lead singer Burton Cummings has a ton of great revelations.

Among them:

-Why he didn't like the name "Guess Who"
-Why they changed the name from Chad Allen & The Expressions
-How his goal was to make it big in the U.S. and
-The reason for the lawsuit with some of his former colleagues.

"It's five guys, none of whom were on the records...they've taken over the landing pages on Spotify and iTunes. They've replaced the images of us — the guys who really did the records — they've replaced those pictures with the fake band, the pictures of the cover band. And then they go on social media and they literally thank the fans for the millions of streams...This is just such nonsense."

He also indicates that he hopes to do a syndicated radio show of his own, similar to Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap, if he ever gets around to it. He would use his own personal collection of almost 500,000 songs as a playlist.

Burton Cummings on legacy of The Guess Who, lawsuit against current lineup, more

**Posted by PeterY** January 5, 2024 1:22 pm

That’s a good article RA, well worth the read.

Randy Bachman also ran into legal problems with his brothers over rights to the original name Bachman Turner Overdrive after he left the band in 1977. When he did get back together with Fred Turner for a while, they could only use their last names: Bachman/Turner.

On a wider note, the problem of losing “rights” was not uncommon in the earlier days of rock, whether it was controlling the name of the band, or missing out on some songwriting and/or publishing royalties from the music they created. Many musicians were not savvy about the business side of the industry and some of them consequently lost out on revenue from their creations.

Geddy Lee, in his great new book, “My Effin’ Life,” addresses the band’s experience with publishing rights very early in their career.

Humber College has had a Music Business course for some tine now, which covers all aspects of the industry. The music business is just like any other, so it’s important that a person knows how to look after their own interests when they choose to work in music.

The irony is, BTO had a hit in 1976: “Lookin’ Out for #1.”

**Posted by Ian** January 5, 2024 9:23 pm

Canned Heat shows over 50 credited band members on Wikipedia. Not bad for a 4 or 5 piece band. And Steppenwolf had up to 4 bands touring under with the same name.

**Posted by RadioActive** September 5, 2024 7:19 am

Cummings and Bachman have finally won this long running suit - and now only they can use the "Guess Who" name. Accoring to the lead singer:

“If there is a group out there calling themselves the Guess Who, it’s going to have the lead singer who wrote the songs and the guitarist who made the riffs. It’s going to have Bachman and Cummings in it."

The Guess Who End Decades-Long Legal Battle: ‘An Impossible Task’