#59: Mainstreet U.S.A. by Union
City: Regina, SK
Radio Station: CJME
Peak Month: August 1981
Peak Position in Regina ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Mainstreet U.S.A.”
Lyrics: “Mainstreet U.S.A.”
Union was a short-lived band that evolved out of Ironhorse. This Canadian band consisted of Randy Bachman, C.F. Turner, Chris Leighton, and Frank Ludwig. Randolph Charles Bachman was born in 1943 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When he was just three years old he entered the King of the Saddle singing contest on CKY radio, Manitoba’s first radio station that began in 1923. Bachman won the contest. When he turned five years he began to study the violin through the Royal Toronto Conservatory. Though he couldn’t read music, he was able to play anything once he heard it. He dropped out of high school and subsequently a business administration program in college. He co-founded a Winnipeg band called The Silvertones with Chad Allan in 1960. In 1962 the band became Chad Allan and the Expressions, and was renamed The Guess Who in 1965 with their first big hit, “Shakin’ All Over“.