Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, that gained popularity in the late 1970s. The band consists of Robin Zander (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick Nielsen (lead & rhythm guitars), Tom Petersson (bass), and Bun E. Carlos (drums). Though they have had only brief flirtations with mainstream success, Cheap Trick has held a substantial following through regular touring and a hard-edged yet blissful pop sound that combines the tunefulness of The Beatles with the speed and energy of punk rock. The band's biggest hits over the years include "I Want You to Want Me", "Surrender", "Dream Police", "Don't Be Cruel" (a cover of Elvis' hit), and "The Flame". Their most recent release, Rockford, has gained critical acclaim.[1] [2]

History

(1968-1974) Virgin years

Rockford, IL natives Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos, along with Loves Park,Il native Robin Zander formed a Midwest coming-of-age band just as the British Invasion hit. Inspired by British rock, these young men did what a lot of other young music fans did, picking up instruments and forming bands.
In 1961 Nielsen began playing locally in Rockford, utilizing his ever-increasing collection of rare and valuable guitars. He formed The Phaetons which became The Boyz, then The Grim Reapers, and finally Fuse in 1967 with the addition of bassist Tom Petersson. Prior to joining Fuse, Petersson was in a band called The Bo Weevils. Fuse released a self-titled album FUSE for Epic in 1968, which was generally ignored. Frustrated, Fuse, which by then included college dropout Bun E. Carlos on drums, moved to Philadelphia in 1971. As Sick Man of Europe, they enlisted ex-Nazz vocalist Robert “Stewkey” Antoni, but the group soon disbanded. After a year in Europe, Nielsen and Petersson returned to Rockford, reunited with Carlos, and a few months later asked folkie vocalist Zander to join the group they named Cheap Trick. Midwestern booking agent Ken Adamany, who’d played in one of Steve Miller’s high school bands, became their manager. Adamany encouraged them to develop their stage show, and Cheap Trick toured incessantly over the next several years, playing an average of 250 shows a year, opening for Kiss, the Kinks, Santana, Boston, and others.[1]
In its early days Cheap Trick would be seen playing some free admission venues, such as Sinnissippi Park, on Rockford's east side (forshadowing their performances at parks in years to come). With a vivid image, a great singer and more instruments than a music store, Cheap Trick brought arena-scaled flamboyance to the unsigned band circuit, and became the area's biggest local attraction. After being sold on the idea by producer Jack Douglas (who had seen the group play at the Sunset Bowl in Waukesha, WI), Epic signed the group in 1976, and released its self-titled album the following February. The roaringly wild debut got great reviews but didn't sell; the more pop-conscious follow-ups, In Color and Heaven Tonight, were amazing pop records but it was the unexpected surprise platinum album At Budokan that made Cheap Trick a household name.

(1976-1979) Success in Japan

The Budokan concerts introduced the Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson composition "Need Your Love", which the band had already recorded proper for their next studio album, Dream Police, which was released later that year. The success the band enjoyed in Japan was enormous, some even describing the band as superstars in that country. This success far exceeded their popularity in the States, at least initially. After their Budokan success the band gained in popularity in the U.S. The look and sound of Cheap Trick in these early years was somewhat groundbreaking, if not always categorizable. The black and white checkerboard motif used by Nielsen seemed to foreshadow the large changes in the music and pop culture scene in the early 1980s, as typified by the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where the character played by Sean Penn wore Vans sneakers with a similar checkerboard pattern. After the release of All Shook Up in 1980, bassist Tom Petersson left the group to produce other artists and record with his then-wife, Dagmar.

(1980-1987) Post-Petersson years

All Shook Up (#24, 1980), produced by George Martin, went gold in late 1980 but was considered a disappointment, producing no Top 40 singles. The band contributed “Everything Works If You Let It” (#44, 1980) to the Roadie soundtrack that year, and Nielsen and Carlos played on [John Lennon]] and Yoko Ono’s recording sessions for Double Fantasy. (They appear on The Lost Lennon Tapes and “I’m Losing You.”)
1981 was a transitional period for the band. Behind the scenes the band was in a tug of war with Epic Records. They had recorded two songs for the soundtrack to the Heavy Metal movie, and it was reported that the Elektra Records (home of the Cars and the label that had issued the Heavy Metal soundtrack) were eager to lure the band away from CBS [2].
For subsequent tours Pete Comita, and shortly thereafter Jon Brant, replaced Petersson. The first album recorded with Brant was One on One, the group's seventh album, which appeared in 1982. It was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, famous for his work with Queen, The Cars and Foreigner among others. The following year the band released Next Position Please with Todd Rundgren as the producer. In 1985 they were reunited with Jack Douglas, who had produced their groundbreaking 1977 debut Cheap Trick, releasing Standing on the Edge. In 1986 the Doctor was released. It was the final album featuring Jon Brant. They also performed Mighty Wings in the movie Top Gun. In 1981, the band appearanced on Saturday Night Live, episode 6.7

(1988-1997) Record label problems

Bassist Tom Petersson rejoined the group in 1987 and helped record 1988's Lap of Luxury, the album from which the band's first-ever No. 1 single, "The Flame," came. He has remained with the band ever since.
Over the course of the 1990s the band experienced several new lows when Sony Music, the successor to the band's CBS Records contract, put Cheap Trick's name on several budget compilations including Voices, I Want You To Want Me, Don't Be Cruel, and several others without their prior knowledge, consent, or agreement. Robin Zander's self titled record produced by Jimmy Iovine was released in 1993 and quickly cut out.
The group had left CBS for Warner Brothers, but following the poor performance of the 1994 Warners album release Woke Up with a Monster, Cheap Trick decided it was time to go back to the basics, concentrating on using the strength of their live reputation and releasing new recordings to independent labels, rather than to major companies. Over the next few years several bands who had been influenced by Cheap Trick gave them opportunities to open for them. [citation needed]
In 1998, Cheap Trick signed with indie label/distributor Red Ant/Alliance, and released Cheap Trick. Seven weeks after the release, Red Ant/Alliance declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, causing a furious music retail community to yank the record from stores and nearly bankrupting the band in the process.

(1998-2003) Rebuilding

1998 saw the band rebuilding by trying to restore normal relations with Sony and the music retail community, and establishing their own record company, Cheap Trick Unlimited. They toured behind the re-mastered re-releases of Budokan: the Complete Concert, and their first three records. One of the multi-night stands from this tour resulted in Music For Hangovers, a vibrant live effort. Amid much criticism, Cheap Trick Unlimited sold the CD exclusively on Amazon.com for 8 weeks prior to releasing it in stores. To support the record they headlined, co-billed with Guided By Voices, and opened for Pearl Jam. In early 2000, Cheap Trick entered into a license with Musicmaker.com to directly download and create custom CDs for over 50 songs. After spending a good part of 2001 writing songs and about six weeks of pre-production, Cheap Trick went into Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY in March 2002 where the band put together their first studio album in six years, Special One. Zander said, "This time each of us had songs and bits and pieces of songs – like a verse here, a chorus there, or a melody with no lyric. After putting it all together for this album, we'd lost track of who wrote what and just decided to put all of the writers on each song equally." Petersson added, "What I think is great about this record is that it sounds like an entire piece of music rather than a bunch of assorted, unrelated songs."

(2004-2007) Independence

Cheap Trick's own label, Cheap Trick Unlimited, was started in 1997, controlling a substantial inventory of master recordings, including Cheap Trick 97 (Red Ant), Woke Up with a Monster (Warner Bros. 1994), Silver (a double live CD/DVD), Music for Hangovers (live CD/DVD), various singles including the theme from Fox's That 70's Show, "That 70's Song" and "Cold Turkey", Bun E. in a Box (a drum sample CD), plus various videos and live footage. Nielsen commented: "Running our own label has been a lot of fun. One day Bun E. gets to be President and one day I get to play President." Zander added: "It's been a little tedious and a little overwhelming at times but we've got more control over our chaos." In May 2003, Cheap Trick brought their record label to Big3 Entertainment. Under the deal, Cheap Trick Unlimited/Big3 Records released Special One. Said Bun E.: "We brought our label to Big3 because we got tired of being record moguls and riding around in limos and making the big bucks. We thought we'd give Big3 a chance."
Through the mid 90's and on, many compositions from Cheap Trick began appearing in commercials, video games, movie soundtracks, and on T.V. episodes, For example in 1999, a live version of their song Surrender from the Live At Budokan album was used in the soundtrack to the movie Detroit Rock City. Cheap Trick wrote and performed the theme song for Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, featuring former Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert. Rick Nielsen recently played guitar with Peter Frampton and members of indie band The Decemberists for a jam session at the end of Stephen Colbert's humorous "Shred-Off" at the end of Colbert's show, the Colbert Report. Cheap Trick also performed "That '70s Song", the theme song to the Fox Network television series That '70s Show. The song is a remake of the Big Star song "In The Street", but with references to Cheap Trick's own "Surrender" included. In the 2003 film Daddy Day Care, performing the song "Surrender", with Jeff Garlin in guest vocals. On March 7th, 2006, "Surrender" became the theme song to the ABC show, Sons and Daughters.
On June 6, 2006, Cheap Trick released the album Rockford on Cheap Trick Unlimited/Big3 Records. The first single from the album was "Perfect Stranger" (produced by Linda Perry and co-written by Cheap Trick and Perry). The band promoted the album through appearances on the Sirius and XM satellite radio networks and a North American tour. Also in 2006, "Surrender" was featured as a playable track in the hit video game Guitar Hero II.
In 2007, officials of Rockford, Illinois honored Cheap Trick by reproducing the Rockford album cover art on that year's "city sticker" (vehicle registration). On June 19, 2007, Senators Syverson and Burzynski of Illinois offered Senate Resolution No. 255 designating April 1 of every year as Cheap Trick Day in the State of Illinois. The Senate of the 95th General Assembly resolved the resolution. The resolution can be found in Senate Journal No. 57 of the State of Illinois-95th General Assembly. [3]
On Aug 10th & Aug 11th 2007 Cheap Trick honored the 40th Anniversary of the Beatles classic "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by playing the album in its entirety with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (conducted by Edwin Outwater) along with guest vocalists Joan Osborne, Aimee Mann among others.[4] An amazing feat considering the Beatles themselves never played the album live, considering it too challenging. Of particular note was that the Beatles' original engineer, Geoff Emerick, who had engineered all the sound effects on "Sgt. Pepper's", engineered the same sounds live for these two concerts, providing concert-goers with an authentic sound replica of the original album.

Instruments

The band is known for its use of unusual guitars and basses. Robin Zander plays a Hamer 12-string guitar in addition to a Gibson Firebird, Chandler "Telecaster" and Rickenbacker 450[5]. Rick Nielsen is an avid collector who, despite rationalizing his guitar collection, still has over 250 collector's pieces in his possession. He has collaborated with Hamer Guitars, on trademark 'themed' guitars, some based on Cheap Trick albums (such as "Rockford" and "The Doctor") and even songs (such as "Gonna Raise Hell)." Hamer also made unique five-necked guitars and electric mandocellos for Nielsen[6].
Bassist Tom Petersson is generally credited for having the initial idea for a 12-string bass. Petersson used a Gibson Thunderbird in the "He's a Whore" era. Petersson had used a Hagstrom 8-string bass, and then asked Jol Dantzig at Hamer Guitars to make him a 12 string bass. The company initially made him a 10-string bass. Following the successful trial use of that bass, the prototype 12-string bass (The Hamer 'Quad') was produced. Petersson later used 12-string basses made by Kids (a Japanese guitar maker), Chandler[7], and signature models from Waterstone[8], as well as an impressive array of 4, 5 and 8 stringed basses from other makers [9]. Bun E.Carlos has played with numerous commercial drum accessories, including Lutwig, Slingerland, Radio King, Zildjian, Gladstone and Gretchen drums and Capella drum sticks. [10]

Band members

Current members

• Robin Zander - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar (1974-present)
• Rick Nielsen - lead & rhythm guitars, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass, mandocello, backing vocals (1974-present)
• Tom Petersson - bass, 12-string bass, 8-string guitar, 12-string guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "I Know What I Want", "Waitin' for the Man" (1974-1980, 1987-2004, 2004-2007, 2007-present)
• Bun E. Carlos - drums, cymbals, percussion, backing vocals (1974-present)

with

• Tod Howarth - keyboards, backing vocals (touring)

Former members

• Jon Brant - bass, backing vocals (1981-1987, 1999, 2004, 2007)
• Pete Comita - bass, backing vocals (1980-1981)
• Randy "Xeno" Hogan - lead vocals (1974)