You get up every morning
From your alarm clock’s warning_
Take the 8:15 into the city

When you play Guitar Hero and it’s a song that you particularly feel, like Santana’s "Black Magic Woman", when you hit those notes Carlos plays with such sustain you grab the body of your plastic guitar with two hands and shake it, the same way I saw Jimi Hendrix do it at the Bushnell back in ’68.  I never got good enough on the real thing to know exactly what’s happening, but when the stars do this the sound changes, it’s a triumphant moment exceeding any gold medal performance.

And that’s one of my favorite Guitar Hero moments.  "Black Magic Woman" is the song I play again and again, even though I’ve conquered it.  Even though I was never enamored of the track back in the seventies, when I play it on Guitar Hero and I hit the rave-up, I become one with my plastic Les Paul, I channel every gig I ever went to, I embody all the greatness of rock and roll.

So I’m at this awards show this evening.  Sitting next to Denise Donlon, I saw the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about her days at Much Music, the Canadian MTV.  Denise was there to induct one of her VJ cohorts into the Hall of Fame, John Roberts, presently featured on CNN.  He used to wear the silver pants, he used to romp with the Police and the Who.  That’s what we did in the eighties, we played through the entire decade, it was one big victory lap for music.  We were all tuned into music television, music was no longer a sad stepsister, but the driver of popular culture, oh what fabulous days those were.

But they didn’t compare to the seventies, never mind the sixties.  Before the whole world was watching, everybody under the age of 25 was.  Not only was the music the soundtrack to our lives, it WAS our lives.  The deejay was your best friend, emanating from the station, the clubhouse that existed on your prized possession known as your radio.  I owned multiple receivers, but not a single TV.  You didn’t need TV, you got everything you needed on the radio. Music and the news you required.  And we all had our favorites from that era, but we even heard the losers enough that they’re now embedded in our DNA.

And I won’t call BTO a loser, but I wouldn’t have called myself a fan way back when.

I liked them a bit better when they were known as the Guess Who.  And tonight Randy Bachman did an acoustic version of "These Eyes", which I remember Judd Magilnick singing in math class when we were studying imaginary numbers ("These i’s!").

And after playing a few more sixties numbers, in honor of another Hall of Fame honoree, DJ Chuck McCoy, Randy shucked the acoustic, called out a bevy of players with electric instruments and strapped on a Les Paul.

He told a wild story regarding the inspiration for "Let It Ride".  About American big rig drivers boxing the band in on the highway, and when ultimately confronted, one of the harassing drivers told the band to "let it ride".

Ah, the tiniest sparks generate the most heat, inspiration comes when you’re not searching for it.

But Randy didn’t sing the original verses, and tonight’s rendition suffered.

But "You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet" did not.  God, Randy stuttered just like on the record, after telling us it was an outtake that an A&R exec insisted be stripped onto the record.  But what truly stunned me was the guitar work.  There were two young players on stage, but they were not stand-ins, they didn’t play the leads, RANDY DID!

And I’m being brought back to all those Bar Mitzvah parties, featuring bands with royal names like "The Valiants".  They’d seen the Beatles, picked up guitars and sans auto-tune or backup on hard drive rendered faithful versions of the hits of the day.  Everybody had a guitar.  You wanted to participate.  Sure, you wanted to be famous, you wanted to be a Beatle, but no one doubted you had to learn how to PLAY!

And then it appeared Randy was done.

YOU’RE KIDDING ME!  YOU’RE NOT GOING TO PLAY TCB?

That’s "Takin’ Care Of Business" to you.  A song that was such a radio staple, prior to "Free Bird" it might have been the most played track on radio, eclipsing even "Stairway To Heaven", hell, they even played "Takin’ Care Of Business" on AM!

After a few beats, Randy hit the riff, and a jolt went through my body akin to stripping decades from my life and jetting me right back to way back when.

Then he stopped.

But then he got ANOTHER gold Les Paul, started again and positively WAILED!

He’d done the song a million times, but he’d earned the right.  You know how hard it is to have a hit?  And Randy Bachman has had more than one.  He might look a bit worse for wear, but he doesn’t need plastic surgery, because when he straps on that axe and plays that classic material he’s younger than everybody on the hit parade.

He’s pulling out notes, he’s holding on to the body of the guitar with two hands and shaking it, just like I do when I play Guitar Hero.  He was playing ROCK AND ROLL!

We lived through something.  I’m not saying it can never come back.  But it’s certainly gone. Music ruled the world.  There was nothing fake about it.  If you got a second hand guitar you could go mighty far if you fell in with the right bunch of fellows.  Actually, the second hand instruments sounded better than those that were brand new!

Those labels lamenting their decline…  They were built on the backs of people like Randy Bachman.  Who, without guaranteed incomes, worked in basements, in shitholes perfecting a sound so magical that it infected the world’s youth.  Radio just had to spin this shit and the audience arrived in droves.  Talk radio was for pussies.  Music was what it was all about.

You could pick up a guitar, and if you were good enough, you could get laid, get rich and be famous all at once.  Not needing to compromise whatsoever.  Actually, it was your renegade spirit that drew listeners to you.  In a world where the man was telling you how to do it, you could chart your own course, and WIN!

If the golden era comes back, it will be on the backs of players giving the middle finger to not only record labels, but "Grey’s Anatomy" and the Fortune 500 corporations trying to ride on their shoulders.  Music, when done right, is enough.

But you’ve got to take care of business.  You’ve got to practice, you’ve got to write.  Hell, by time "Takin’ Care Of Business" hit Randy Bachman had already jettisoned his first band, had already made an album that had not broken through with BTO.  But hanging in there, believing in himself, with a supportive manager as opposed to a naysayer in bed with his buddies at the label, Randy and his new mates suddenly struck gold.  Success that is still paying dividends today.  Bear Stearns might have gone broke, but radio stations are still playing and paying for Bachman Turner Overdrive tracks to this day.

Great music is timeless.  It survives.  People get old, a pretty face does not last forever, but a killer track, it’s forever young, forever fulfilling, hearing it one more time makes your life complete.  Like tonight.