Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois, in 1973. The band's work bridged elements of 1960s guitar pop, 1970s hard rock, and the emerging punk rock sound, and helped set the template for subsequent power pop artists.
Cheap Trick released its self-titled debut album in 1977. Later that year, the band found success in Japan with the release of its second album, In Color. In 1979, the band released the triple-platinum live album At Budokan and a Top 10 single, a live recording of "I Want You to Want Me". The band followed with its most commercially successful studio album, Dream Police (1979), which reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart. After experiencing declining popularity in the 1980s, Cheap Trick enjoyed a major resurgence toward the end of the decade, topping the US charts with the power ballad "The Flame" (from 1988's Lap of Luxury). The band's other hits include "Surrender" (1978), "Dream Police" (1979), "Voices" (1979), "She's Tight" (1982), "Tonight It's You" (1985), a cover version of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" (1988), "Ghost Town" (1988), and "Can't Stop Fallin' into Love" (1990).
Cheap Trick has continued releasing new music into the 21st century. The band has performed live more than 5,000 times since its formation and has sold more than 20 million albums. The band's influence has been cited by a diverse range of rock artists. Cheap Trick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
History Background, formation, and early years (1967–1977) In 1967, Rick Nielsen formed Fuse with Tom Peterson (later known as Tom Petersson), who had played in another Rockford, Illinois band called the Bo Weevils. With Bun E. Carlos joining on drums, Fuse moved to Philadelphia in 1971. From 1972 to 1973, they called themselves Sick Man of Europe. According to Rolling Stone, the band adopted the name Cheap Trick on August 15, 1973. The name was inspired by the band's attendance at a Slade concert, where Petersson commented that Slade used "every cheap trick in the book" as part of their act.
When Cheap Trick formed in 1973, the band invited Robin Zander to become their lead singer, but he declined. They instead recruited Randy “Xeno” Hogan, a former high school classmate. Hogan left Cheap Trick shortly thereafter. In the fall of 1974, Zander joined Cheap Trick as its lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
The band recorded a demo in 1975 and played in warehouses, bowling alleys, and various other venues around the midwestern United States. Cheap Trick was signed to Epic Records in early 1976. The band released its first album, Cheap Trick, in early 1977. While favored by critics, the album did not sell well. The album's lone single, "Oh, Candy", failed to chart, as did the album. "We didn’t care about the sales of it," recalled Rick Nielsen to Vice Magazine in 2016. "They were playing one of the songs on a station in Chicago and Detroit was playing something. That was cool for us. When our first record was out it was out. That was all we cared about. So we just went and made another record real quick after that." Their second album, In Color, was released later in 1977. The singles "I Want You to Want Me" and "Southern Girls" failed to chart. In Color was ranked No. 443 on the 2012 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Budokan brings success (1978–1980) When Cheap Trick toured in Japan for the first time in April 1978, they were received with a frenzy reminiscent of Beatlemania. During the tour, Cheap Trick recorded two concerts at the Nippon Budokan. Ten tracks taken from both shows were compiled and released as a live album titled Cheap Trick at Budokan, which was intended to be exclusive to Japan.
The band's third studio album, Heaven Tonight was released in May 1978. The single "Surrender" peaked at no. 62 and went on to become one of the band's signature songs.
Demand for Cheap Trick at Budokan became so great that Epic Records finally released the album in the U.S. in February 1979. Cheap Trick at Budokan launched the band into international stardom, and the album went triple platinum in the United States. The first single from the album was the live version of "I Want You to Want Me", which had originally been released on In Color. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became Cheap Trick's best-selling single to date. The second single, "Ain't That a Shame", peaked at No. 35. "Need Your Love" had already been recorded for the forthcoming Dream Police album that had already been finished.
After the unprecedented success of Cheap Trick at Budokan, the release of Dream Police was postponed. The album was released on September 21, 1979. The title track of the album reached no. 26, and "Voices" reached no. 32. Dream Police also found the band taking its style in a more experimental direction by incorporating strings and dabbling in heavy metal on tracks like "Gonna Raise Hell". By 1980, Cheap Trick was headlining arenas.
On August 26, 1980, Petersson left the group to record a solo album with his wife Dagmar, using the band name Another Language. After a year of Cheap Trick touring and recording with Pete Comita on bass, Jon Brant became Petersson's steady replacement. In 1985, together with his replacement in Cheap Trick, Pete Comita, Tom resurrected the “Sick Man of Europe” name for a short-lived live band which played several shows at CBGB's, The Cat Club and L'Amour in New York. This band also featured Hall & Oates co-writer Janna Allen as lead singer, rhythm guitarist and co-songwriter.
All Shook Up (1980), produced by former Beatles producer George Martin, reached No. 24 on the charts and was certified gold. However, the album's high-class background did not save it from descriptions like "Led Zeppelin gone psycho".
Struggles (1981–1986) In July 1981, CBS Inc. sued Cheap Trick and their manager Ken Adamany for $10 million, alleging they were attempting to coerce CBS into renegotiating their contract and had refused to record any new material for the label since October 1980. The lawsuit was settled in early 1982 and work commenced on the next album: One on One. The album spawned two minor hits with the power ballad "If You Want My Love" (which peaked at no. 45) and the innuendo-laced rocker "She's Tight" (which peaked at no. 65).
Cheap Trick released Next Position Please in 1983. The album's two singles, "Dancing the Night Away" and "I Can't Take It", failed to chart. In the same year, Cheap Trick performed two songs for the soundtrack of the adult animated film Rock & Rule, which became a cult classic.
In 1984, the band recorded the title track to the Tim Matheson comedy Up The Creek, which Nielsen later called "one of the worst" songs he'd ever written.
The band released Standing on the Edge in 1985. This album was called their "best collection of bubblegum bazooka rock in years". The album's first single, "Tonight It's You", reached No. 8 on Billboards Top Rock Tracks chart.
In 1986, the band recorded "Mighty Wings", the end-title cut for the film Top Gun. On April 5, they played the venue L'Amour in Brooklyn, NY with former bassist Tom Petersson in the audience as guest of the venue's DJ/Host/Booker Chuck Kaye. It was the first time the four original members were in the same room since Petersson left the band. They then released The Doctor in the fall. The album's lone single, "It's Only Love", failed to chart. The music video for "It's Only Love" made history as the first music video to use captioning for hearing-impaired persons. The Doctor turned out to be the band's final album with Jon Brant as bassist.
Popular resurgence (1987–1989) Petersson rejoined the group in 1987 and helped record 1988's Lap of Luxury, produced by Richie Zito. Due to the band's commercial decline, Epic Records insisted that the band collaborate with professional songwriters on the album. Nielsen said, "Lap of Luxury was a tough record to make. We could lie to you and tell you it was all wonderful and great. It wasn't. It was tough working with other writers. But it was a lesson for us."Billboard, "Talent: Cheap Trick offers new audio treat," Ed Christman, October 6, 1990, page 32
"The Flame", a power ballad written by British songwriters Bob Mitchell and Nick Graham, was issued as the first single from Lap of Luxury. Producer Richie Zito stated that during the recording process, it became "'screamingly obvious'" that "The Flame" was "'tailor-made'" for Zander. Upon the release of "The Flame", Billboard described the song as an "endearing rock ballad" that "has the potential to put these boys back at the top". The single became the band's first-ever No. 1 hit. The second single from Lap of Luxury, a cover of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel", peaked at no. 4 and reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 1988. The other singles from the album were "Ghost Town", "Never Had a Lot to Lose", and "Let Go"; "Ghost Town" reached no. 33, and "Never Had a Lot to Lose" also charted. Lap of Luxury went platinum and became recognized as the band's comeback album. Billboard commented: "After a long hitless streak, Cheap Trick brings it all back home".Haring, Bruce, Gett, Steve (July 9, 1988). "Talent: 'Lap' splash no cheap trick". Billboard p. 20.
1990s
Busted was released in 1990. The band was allowed more creative control, and professional songwriters were only used on a handful of songs. The first single, "Can't Stop Falling Into Love", reached on the Billboard Hot 100, and on the Album Rock Tracks chart. The second single, the Diane Warren-penned "Wherever Would I Be", reached on the charts. The single "If You Need Me" was not successful, although the track "Back 'n Blue" reached on the U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
In 1991, Cheap Trick's The Greatest Hits was released.
The group left Epic after the disappointing sales of Busted to sign with Warner Bros. Records. In 1994, the band released Woke Up with a Monster. The album's title track was issued as the first single and reached No. 16 on the US Mainstream Rock charts. The album's sales were poor, and it peaked at only No. 123.
In 1997, Cheap Trick signed with indie label Red Ant Records and released Cheap Trick. The band attempted to reintroduce themselves to a new generation, as the album was self-titled and the artwork was similar to their first album which had been released twenty years before. The album was critically acclaimed and hailed as a return to form. Eleven weeks after the release, Red Ant's parent company Alliance Entertainment Corporation declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The single "Say Goodbye" only reached No. 119 on the charts, and the band again found themselves without a record label. Two other singles were released from the album, "Baby No More" and "Carnival Game".
Cheap Trick began to rebuild in 1998. The band toured behind the release of Cheap Trick at Budokan: The Complete Concert, and the remastered reissues of the band's first three albums. One of the multi-night stands from this tour resulted in Music for Hangovers, a live album that featured members of the Smashing Pumpkins on two tracks. In 1999, the band recorded a cover of Big Star's 1972 song "In the Street" that was used as the theme song for the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. Cheap Trick ended the song with the lyric "We're all all right," which was drawn from their own 1978 song "Surrender".
2000s After spending much of 2001 writing songs and about six weeks in pre-production, Cheap Trick went into Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, in March 2002, where they recorded their first studio album in six years, Special One in May 2003.
Cheap Trick released Rockford on Cheap Trick Unlimited/Big3 Records in 2006. The first single from the album was "Perfect Stranger" (produced by Linda Perry and co-written by Cheap Trick and Perry). The band also appeared in a McDonald's advertising campaign called "This Is Your Wake-Up Call" featuring the band.