If you’ve spent much time listening to classic rock radio, more than likely you’ve heard one of Randy Bachman’s bands.

Maybe it’s The Guess Who, who came of age during the British Invasion and notched top 10 hits like “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “No Time,” and “American Woman.”

Or maybe it’s Bachman’s subsequent band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, who scored chart-topping harder rock hits like “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet,” “Takin’ Care of Business,” and “Let It Ride.”

While Rush went on to take the lead among Canadian bands when it comes to album sales and widespread recognition, The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive come in a close second and third.

All of this despite the fact that Bachman-Turner Overdrive — which, with the exception of a couple of breaks, have consistently toured since their formation in 1973 — had not stepped into a recording studio in nearly three decades.

That changed this past March with the release of their “60 Years Ago” single, which reflects on the artists’ early years in the Winnipeg music scene and includes a guitar solo from Neil Young.

“In our teenage dreams of rock and roll, we never thought we’d get this old,” sings Fred Turner, who came out of retirement for the single.

Even more unexpected is the news that Guess Who cofounders Bachman and Burton Cummings plan to reunite next year for a string of live dates in which they’ll perform as The Guess Who, having finally won a lawsuit to regain the rights to the band name.

Bachman’s musical journey began when he and Cummings both caught chronic cases of Anglophilia. Like many of their friends growing up in Winnipeg, Canada, they were addicted to a local radio station that played British hits for two hours a day.

“We also had relatives in England who would get their friends’ singles and put them on a reel-to-reel tape recorder and send them to us as a Christmas present,” recalled Bachman in an interview. “We’d get this seven-and-a-half-inch reel of singles that were hits in England. We wouldn’t even know what the songs were.”

One of those songs was Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over,” which would play a crucial role in Bachman’s career and is virtually guaranteed to show up in Bachman-Turner Overdrive sets.

“It was a No. 1 hit in England in 1961, but it was 1963 by the time we got it,” said Bachman. “We started to play it at high school dances, and everybody loved it. So we recorded it in mono with one microphone and one tape recorder, and it became a hit song. And that’s when we became The Guess Who.”

In 1970, the group released its signature song “American Woman.” It was their first single to reach No. 1 on the “Billboard” magazine Hot 100 chart. It would also be Bachman’s last recording with the band due to a combination of gall bladder attacks on the road and his conversion to Mormonism, whose beliefs weren’t compatible with the rock and roll lifestyle.  Bachman subsequently required future band members to be clean and sober.

After leaving the Guess Who, he returned to Winnipeg to have his gall bladder operation and to figure out what to do next, which is where Neil Young comes into the picture. Both musicians had been part of the same Winnipeg music scene growing up and were now at a crossroads in their careers.

“After ‘American Woman,’ I knew I could not top what I had done with The Guess Who, so I had to do a different kind of music,” Bachman said. “And Neil Young had come back to Winnipeg after Buffalo Springfield had broken up, and he didn’t know what he was going to do. He was being asked to join Crosby, Stills & Nash at the time, and I wanted to be in kind of a country-rock band like Poco. So Neil helped me get a record deal with Reprise Records, and I did two albums that were a real lot of fun.”

Those albums, released under the band name Brave Belt, served as the precursor for B.T.O. Randy had recruited his brothers Robbie and Tim as rhythm guitarist and drummer, while Turner played bass and shared lead vocal duties with Randy.

There have been a number of lineup changes in the years since, but the prohibition against drinking and drugs remains in force. Instead, band members focus on playing music and packing arenas, amphitheaters and concert halls. Among their upcoming shows is Thursday’s appearance at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem.

Today’s lineup includes Bachman’s son, Tal, on lead guitar, along with three musicians who have been in the band since 2009 — bassist/keyboardist Mick Dalla-Vee, guitarist Brent Howard and drummer Marc LaFrance.

“I’ve never really had to work,” Bachman said. “When you put on a guitar and play songs that you made up, you’re just doing a fun thing that you always do, and people suddenly pay you money to play that music.”

For their “Roll On Down The Highway 2025 Tour,” the band is co-headlining shows with a who’s who of classic rock acts that will join B.T.O. at various dates along the tour. Among them are The Marshall Tucker Band, Jefferson Starship, The Outlaws, and Blue Öyster Cult, who will join them in Bethehem.

“Every single band has its own magic,” said Bachman, who figures he’s shared the bill with just about every classic rock artist except Eric Clapton.

“The whole world revolves around music,” he said. “It’s the soundtrack of everyone’s life.”

Bill Forman is a freelance writer.