One of the all-time great Canadian rock bands, Bachman-Turner Overdrive released their eponymous debut today in 1973. BTO remains a staple of classic rock radio today, though they didn't get off to a rollicking start.

While their debut album would eventually go gold, the band started out rather slowly in the United States. Randy Bachman, former guitarist from The Guess Who, started a band called Brave Belt in 1971. Brave Belt would eventually morph into BTO with the additions of Fred Turner and a bunch of Bachman's relatives.

Brave Belt lost their record deal and sent out dozens of demos trying to land a new one. A stroke of luck led them to be signed to Mercury Records in 1973. A label executive cleared his desk by swiping a stack of demos into a garbage can sight unseen (hearing unheard?) and one of them missed the can and fell to the floor. That tape, of course, was Brave Belt and BTO was saved from the dustbin of rock and roll history.

BTO released two albums in 1973, the second of which, BTO II, reached the top 5 on the album chart. Their third album, "Not Fragile", reached #1 in 1974. "Not Fragile" was a swipe at the Yes album "Fragile", which was infecting the world with bland and obnoxious prog-rock. BTO not only scored a #1 album but proved themselves as defenders of the faith to blue collar rock fans with that album.

Track one, side one from BTO's debut:

Cover of the song "Not Fragile" by Neil Fallon and The Company Band:

 A song from the Allman Brothers just because it's raining in Cleveland, Ohio: