Julien's Auctions, which leads the industry as a music memorabilia auctioneer, announced last Thursday, April 18, its exclusive offering from Randy Bachman, the Canadian classic rock and roll maverick and founder of legendary bands Bachman-Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who.
The auction event, dubbed "Music Icons," will be putting on the block more than 200 iconic, stage-performed guitars from "The Randy Bachman Collection" starting on May 29 until May 30 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. An online sale will also be available at juliensauctions.com.
Offerings on the Upcoming Music Icons Auction
The Winnipeg native first burst onto the music scene in 1965 with his band The Guess Who.
From 1969 to 1970, the musical act would take the world by storm by releasing a series of now-classic hits like "These Eyes," "Laughing," "Undun," and "No Time," all of which are written by the band's songwriting duo of Bachman and Burton Cummings.
Eventually, they would release their No. 1 hit "American Woman," which has since sold 5 million singles and launched the Canadian rock band into superstardom.
Now, Bachman is offering nearly 200 of his signature guitars, instruments, and gear that he accumulated across his legendary career in the upcoming auction.
Taking center stage is the iconic rocker's 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, famously dubbed as "The American Woman Guitar" for being the instrument responsible for birthing The Guess Who's most well-known and most beloved song.
The axe, estimated to sell between the conservative range of $200,000 to $400,000, was first acquired by Bachman during a 1968 gig at a Nanaimo, British Columbia church basement when an audience member passed him the guitar in place of his currently broken instrument.
He would then stumble upon the now-iconic riff in a momentous performance at a Canadian Curling Rink using the guitar after snapping a string.
"I start to play that, and the audience's heads snap around," said Bachman, recalling the "lightning in a bottle" moment he had with his fellow members. According to him, he even asked Burt to "sing anything" on top of the riff, and right then and there "American Woman" was born.
For more information on other storied guitars offered in the upcoming "Music Icons" sale, click here.
