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Bachman Turner Overdrive (frequently known as BTO) is a Canadian rock band that had a series of hit albums and singles in the 1970s, selling over 7 million albums in that decade alone. Their 1970s catalog included five Top 40 albums and six Top 40 singles. The band has sold nearly 30 million albums worldwide, and many of their songs, including "Let It Ride", "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", "Takin' Care of Business", "Hey You" and "Roll On Down the Highway", still receive play on FM classic rock stations.

BTO released their eponymous first album in May 1973. The album broke through in the U.S. via border towns such as Detroit and Buffalo and stayed on the charts for many weeks despite lacking a true hit single.&nbsp Their second album, Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, was released in December 1973 and became a massive hit in the U.S. and their native Canada. It also yielded two of their best known hit singles, "Let It Ride" and "Takin' Care of Business".

The first album with the modified lineup, 1974’s Not Fragile, became a massive hit and reached #1 on the Canadian and U.S. album charts. It included the #1 single "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and AOR favorite "Roll On Down the Highway". The band continued to steadily produce successful albums through the mid-1970s including Four Wheel Drive and Head On. Each of these albums produced a hit single: "Hey You" and "Take It Like A Man".

Freeways, a sixth studio album released in 1977, would signal the initial unraveling of the band. The song "My Wheels Won't Turn" was BTO's first single since their first album that didn't chart in the U.S. Randy Bachman left the group following the album and was replaced by bassist Jim Clench, formerly of April Wine. The re-structured BTO released Street Action in 1978. The album became a commercial failure, spawning no hit singles. The band also released Rock n' Roll Nights in 1979 and disbanded after the supporting tour for that album had finished.

BTO reunited in 1983. Their line-up for their first studio LP in five years consisted of Randy and Tim Bachman, Fred Turner, and former Guess Who drummer Garry Peterson. The new album titled Bachman–Turner Overdrive was released in 1984. In 1986, they released a live album culled from their 1985 tour called Live! Live! Live! which featured two new tracks, "Bad News Travels Fast" and "Fragile Man." Fragile Man was actually a studio recording with the audience sound added to it. A studio version of "Bad News Travels Fast" was released on the soundtrack for the movie Body Slam. They were the opening band for the new Sammy Hagar-fronted Van Halen on their 5150 tour in 1986.

After the Van Halen tour ended, Randy split and Tim kept going briefly as BTO. In 1988, the 1974–77 Not Fragile line-up reformed once again, took to the road and recorded an unknown number of songs together. The only song to make it out into the public by this version of the band was a cover of the song Wooly Bully, which is only available on the American Boyfriends movie soundtrack. But by late 1991, Randy Bachman had left the group again.

Randy Bachman was replaced by Randy Murray after his last departure from the band in late 1991. This reconstituted version of BTO proved to be its most enduring as they toured together from 1991 until December 2004. Trial by Fire: Greatest and Latest was released in 1996 and was their last album to contain any new material. In 2003, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame voted to induct Bachman–Turner Overdrive into the museum. However, the band would have had to play as the Not Fragile line-up, meaning the inclusion of Randy Bachman to the band for that performance. The current version of BTO at the time declined the invitation unless they could be inducted as "BTO" without Randy Bachman playing on stage. The Hall refused and the band was not inducted

Since the last disbandment of the band in 2005, several of their albums have been reissued. The first one to be made available again since the disbandment was Freeways in 2005, followed by Bachman–Turner Overdrive II in 2006 and Four Wheel Drive in 2008. Brave Belt I and Brave Belt II were re-released on a single CD March 17, 2009.

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