Why BTO Ditched Their Famous Neon Stage Sign in the Desert
Back in the 70s part of takin’ care of business for Bachman-Turner Overdrive meant performing underneath a large steel replica of the band’s gear-shaped logo, with flashing lights — a visual gimmick as heavy as the opening chords of “Not Fragile” or “Four Wheel Drive.” The quartet used the prop throughout its arena-filling heyday, when it had three albums in the Top 50 of the Billboard 200 chart (BTO II, Not Fragile, Four Wheel Drive) and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” lodged at No. 1. “that thing weighed tons,” Randy Bachman tells UCR. It was tonnage. It was built on one-inch plywood all bolted...