"These Eyes" vs. "No Time" vs. "American Woman" vs. "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature"

"No Time," but WHY CAN'T I VOTE FOR "SHARE THE LAND?"

My first favourite group--saw them four years in a row when I was a teenager. I'd take "Rain Dance" and "Albert Flasher" over all four, but between them, probably "No Time." Love "American Woman" in American Beauty, and it's great in the trailer for the Palin HBO film. Lenny Kravitz's cover is an abomination; the Butthole Surfers', really good.

Lenny Kravitz's cover is an abomination; the Butthole Surfers', really good.

x∞

Look how happy those guys look in the band photo. Great songs.

voted for "no sugar tonight/new mother nature", "no time" a close second.

never thought much of this band, but a year or so ago i was browsing records in a junk store and the guy behind the counter played some kind of long-form greatest hits comp and i loved almost everything on it, though most of the supposed "hits" were unknown to me. of their songs with an FM playlist profile, don't "share the land" and "hand me down world" belong on this poll? or is it narrowed in some way i don't get?

it's narrowed down in a way where I picked four guess who songs

"No Time" by a mile. great songwriters

"No Time" was the closest they came to the Yardbird so I will likely vote that, but "These Eyes" and "Undun" are both dope as hell

I love These Eyes

Bro you forgot Undun!

So given the options, "No Time" it is.

I just listed the only Guess Who songs I ever hear on the radio tbh

I kind of want to vote for "American Woman" because of the guitar sound, where Randy Bachman ruined a perfectly good amp (correction: TWO perfectly good amps). But "These Eyes" is too perfect.

No Time No Contest.

these eyes. i've never liked any version of american woman.

these eyes have never liked any version of american woman

No Time def

if only for no other reason than Dat Fuzz

Definitely No Time. The first version from Canned Wheat is different in some pretty significant ways, btw, not least of which is some freak-out guitar wankery in the last half:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJnFtBq8C0

These Eyes as a runner up. That song is like the definition of "AM Gold" music for me, and I'm really partial to that flurry of key changes in the chorus.

It's really weird to me that the same group did all these songs. I didn't realize. These Eyes followed by No Time.

Voted "No Time", but I like all these songs. "It's My Pride" is a pretty awesome fuzz-garage tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTmDg9jARis

"Laughing" is pretty dope.
A girl who lived in the same apartment complex as my girlfriend (in lol college) once listened to "These Eyes" on repeat for like six hours.

Medium-sized hit in Toronto from the early '90s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1msMpZUNU

No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature because of the four it best reflects what a mofo of a drummer Garry Peterson is

All of 'em. But have fond memories of hearing "These Eyes" on AM radio constantly the year it came out.

Always get these guys confused with grand funk railroad. Dont really know anything by either band and probably dont have brainspace for both. Which is better.

Oh man, these are very different. I had always figured "No Time" for Buffalo Springfield or someone.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I would've voted for UNDUN if it were an option.

Finally voted "These Eyes," but it was tough

Yeah I thought Undun was a frequent radio song.. maybe not as much today? I remember hearing it often on radio 10+ years ago.

Oh shit, Undun. Never knew the name of this song. I don't hear it very often anymore. The Guess Who ruuule

Yeah, Undun totally rules. I never listen to classic rock radio, do these guys still get played amongst the Petty and Skynyrd, or are they considered too pop?

So weird that the rhythm section owns the name The Guess Who, and tour without Cummings, one of the most identifiable voices of that era.

Finally voted "These Eyes," but it was tough

^^^

Undun is the best – excellent singing plus some of the best pop flute.

it was too-oo la-yaa-YAA-ee-yaa-ee-YATE

Any song with soft "chh-pah" sounds always gets me.

otm

I never listen to classic rock radio, do these guys still get played amongst the Petty and Skynyrd, or are they considered too pop?

WNCX in Cleveland definitely still plays "American Woman," and I think I've caught "No Sugar Tonight" once in a while, but all the other hits are relegated to the oldies station. BTO is much better represented on classic rock radio, I think.

i had to stare at the options waiting for the choruses of the 3 besides "American Woman" to slowly pop into my head, one at a time every 10 seconds. i made the mistake of voting after i recalled "No Time" but before recalling "No Sugar Tonight."

I feel like classic rock radio retired American Woman for a few years after Lenny Kravitz made his version. It made me cranky!

Interesting fact I learned today: Randy Bachman left the band because of friction between him and Burton Cummings over Bachman's Mormon beliefs.

I never listen to classic rock radio, do these guys still get played amongst the Petty and Skynyrd, or are they considered too pop?

Because of (archaic, if you ask me) Cancon rules, the Guess Who are played on Toronto's oldies and/or classic-rock stations almost as much as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc. Cummings and Bachman are probably millionaires several times over thanks to a government decree 40 years ago that all programming must be 30% Canadian. Fludd and Chilliwack have not been as lucky.

Ha, Chilliwack! Yeah, that Canadian content law...

I'm looking at the playlist for my local oldies (not classic rock) station, and they have shifted so far away from the 60s/earlier 70s that used to be their bread and butter. (And 50s is non-existent, I know we talked about that on another thread.) The last 10 artists played:

Boston
ELO
Styx
Seger
Benatar
Billy Joel
Carly Simon
Doobies
Bill Withers
Van Halen

I'm guessing (ha!) The Guess Who and Three Dog Night and some of those more top 40 leaning early 70s acts show up occasionally, but they're really trying to play a bunch of the same Boston and Seger and Van Halen that the classic rock station plays.

"No Time," but the correct answer is actually "Undun"

One could say the guess who were an "undud"

Living within receiving range of Canadian radio stations as a teen was always interesting. It was like "Who are these bands?!?!" I always heard acts like Glass Tiger, Saga, Honeymoon Suite, Platinum Blonde, Sarah McLachlan, etc., long before they hit in the US.

Racking my brain for the Chilliwack song I remember; turns out it wasn't them at all, it was (Make Me Do) Anything You Want by A Foot In Coldwater.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Maybe this is obvious, but I always thought there was a significant part of the Black Crowes' template that came from these songs - I think "Share the Land" and "No Sugar Tonight" in particular.

How the mighty have fallen. "American Woman" would finish Top 10 of All-Time on countdowns at one point...up here it would, anyway. I proudly belong to a vanishing breed of people who remember deep GW cuts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M0DnakuzOk

I missed this! Would have probably voted for "No Time" but "American Woman" is pretty great.

There are a few Canadians on here who skipped this...I've contacted the Department of Citizenship about all of you.

Pierre Juneau is turning over in his grave: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/arts/music/pierre-juneau-champion-of-canadas-pop-music-industry-dies-at-89.html?hpw

The Canadian music industry named its annual award the Junos in Mr. Juneau’s honor.

oh man I never got that before

Always figured it was after the Roman goddess.

Holy cow--would never have guessed that Cancon's architect was still alive, and would never have jinxed him if I'd known he was.

You know what would be a great sample? The little electric-piano part that goes right after he first sings "These eyes..."

Missed this poll - would've voted "Sugar," although my favorite of theirs on principle is "Clap For The Wolfman." Love the whole concept, nobody writes songs like that anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u12xbLeMY6A

Years and years ago on a defunct and sort of stilted blog I wrote this:

While not utterly obscure (I'm pretty sure this is on a few of their greatest hits compilations), "Clap For The Wolfman" definitely hasn't gotten the airplay of, say, "American Woman" or "No Time." The reason for this is probably mainly due to the fact that those other songs are much better and more rocking. But "Clap For The Wolfman" has a tremendous charm, thanks to its unique premise: a guy wants to pick up a girl, but she gives him the cold shoulder while focusing all her attention on to the Wolfman Jack's radio program. To add insult to injury, the Wolfman himself (a weird-voiced syndicated DJ of the times) actually guests on the track to make such boasts as, "You thought she was diggin' you, but she was diggin' me! Ha ha ha!" The chorus doesn't really relate to the plot of the song - if the Wolfman's stealing your girl, why would you clap for him? - but it does feature hand-claps to go along with the "clap for the Wolfman" idea. I can't dispute that.