Cheap Trick

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Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. As of 2016, the band currently consists of Robin Zander (vocals), Rick Nielsen (guitar), Tom Petersson (bass) and Daxx Nielsen (drums).Their biggest hits include "Surrender", "I Want You to Want Me", "Dream Police" and "The Flame".

They have often been referred to in the Japanese press as the "American Beatles".  In October 2007, the Illinois Senate passed a resolution designating April 1 as Cheap Trick Day in the state.  The band was also ranked No. 25 in VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.  In April 2016, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early years (1961–1974)
In 1961, Rick Nielsen began playing locally in Rockford, Illinois using an ever-increasing collection of rare and valuable guitars. He formed several local bands with names like The Boyz and The Grim Reapers. Brad Carlson, later known as Bun E. Carlos, played in a rival Rockford band, the Pagans. Finally, Nielsen formed Fuse in 1967 with Tom Peterson, later known as Tom Petersson, who had played in yet another local band called The Bo Weevils.

Fuse released a self-titled album for Epic Records in 1970, which was generally ignored. Frustrated by their lack of success, Fuse recruited the two remaining members of Nazz in 1970 and ended up playing around the Midwest for 6–7 months under two monikers, Fuse or Nazz, depending on where they were gigging. With Bun E. Carlos joining on drums, Fuse moved to Philadelphia in 1971. They began calling themselves "Sick Man of Europe" in 1972–1973.  After a European tour in 1973, Nielsen and Petersson returned to Rockford and reunited with Carlos.

Randy "Xeno" Hogan was the original lead singer for Cheap Trick. He left the band shortly after its formation and was replaced by Robin Zander.  The name was inspired by the band's attendance of a Slade concert, where Petersson commented that the band used "every cheap trick in the book" as part of their act.  The band recorded (with Hogan), an official demo, "Hot Tomato", around mid 1974, parts of which would form "I'll Be with You Tonight", which was first called "Tonight, Tonight" (and a slightly different structure), and "Takin' Me Back".

Classic years (1975–1978)
With Robin Zander now on vocals, the band recorded their first official demo in 1975 and played in warehouses, bowling alleys, and various other venues around the midwestern United States. The band was signed to Epic Records in early 1976  by A&R man Tom Werman, at the insistence of producer Jack Douglas who had seen the band perform in Wisconsin. The songs they had written and performed, such as "I Want You To Want Me" which was first performed on April 17, 1975, in Milwaukee, would not be released until a few years later. The later-hit song was played that summer, and frequently throughout the spring and summer of 1976 throughout the aforementioned Midwest locations.

The band released their first album, Cheap Trick, in early 1977, produced by Jack Douglas. While favored by critics, the album was not successful in terms of sales.[4] The album's lone single "Oh Candy" failed to chart as did the album. However, the band began to develop a fan base in Japan and "ELO Kiddies" was a hit single in Europe. Their second album In Color was released later that year and was produced by Tom Werman, who brought out their lighter and more pop-oriented side, producing an album much more polished than their first.

However, the band bemoaned In Color's production and would re-record it many years later. Moreover, the album was largely unsuccessful. The singles "Southern Girls", "I Want You To Want Me", and "So Good To See You", failed to chart. However, "I Want You To Want Me" and "Clock Strikes Ten" were hit singles in Japan, with the latter going to No. 1 on the charts. In Color ultimately was ranked No. 443 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The band's third album, Heaven Tonight, released in May 1978 and again produced by Tom Werman, combined elements of the first two albums. Regarded by many fans and critics as their best album, the lead-off track "Surrender" was Cheap Trick's first single to chart in the United States, peaking at No. 62. It has gone on to become one of the band's signature songs. Heaven Tonight is also noteworthy as the first album recorded with a 12-string electric bass.  Perhaps most importantly, this album made the band megastars in Japan.

Budokan brings success (1978–1981)
None of Cheap Trick's first three albums made it into the Top 40 in the United States.  In Japan, however, all three albums became gold records. When Cheap Trick went to Japan to tour the country for the first time in April 1978, they were received with a frenzy reminiscent of Beatlemania.  During this tour, Cheap Trick recorded two concerts attended by their loyal Japanese fans 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.  Demand for the import album became so great that Epic Records finally released the album in the United States in February 1979.

Cheap Trick at Budokan launched the band into international stardom, and the album went triple platinum in the United States.  The smash track 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 biggest-selling single. 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, but after the unprecedented success of At Budokan, Epic postponed the album's release. Dream Police was released later in 1979 and was their third album in a row produced by Tom Werman.

The title track of the album was a hit single, as was "Voices". 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".

A four track EP entitled Found All The Parts was released in mid 1980 and consisted of previously unreleased material. One side of the record contained live recordings and the other side had studio recordings. The live tracks were a faux live cover of The Beatles' "Day Tripper", and "Can't Hold On", a bluesy track performed at Budokan concerts in 1978. The studio tracks were "Such A Good Girl" and "Take Me I'm Yours", which the record claims were recorded in 1976 and 1977, respectively.

However, while they were older songs, they were recorded with Jack Douglas in early 1980. A total of nine tracks were recorded with Douglas, and remain obscure as they have only been issued on compilations, promotional samplers, and contest giveaways. For years, there was a false rumor that this was an album that had been rejected by Epic Records.

By 1980, when All Shook Up was released, Cheap Trick was headlining arenas. All Shook Up, produced by former Beatles producer George Martin, reached No. 24 on the charts and was certified gold, but the album's high-class background did not save it from descriptions like "Led Zeppelin gone psycho".  Many fans of the band's earlier albums saw All Shook Up as too weird and experimental. One song from the sessions, "Everything Works if You Let It", appeared on the soundtrack of Roadie. This, and "Stop This Game" both missed the top 40, peaking at #44 & #48, respectively. A later reissue of All Shook Up included "Everything Works" as a bonus track.

Nielsen and Carlos participated in sessions for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album Double Fantasy, recording a bass-heavy and experimental version of Lennon's "I'm Losing You", but were never used on the subsequent release, with Lennon favoring a 'lighter' sound. (The Cheap Trick version can be found only on the John Lennon Anthology and on various bootlegs.) Nielsen and Carlos were also involved in recording a heavier and slower version of Yoko Ono's "I'm Moving On", but that has never seen any official release (only on bootlegs).

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJs_L7yq5qE

"I Want You to Want Me" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States.

"I Want You to Want Me" was a number-one single in Japan.  Its success in Japan, as well as the success of its preceding single "Clock Strikes Ten" paved the way for Cheap Trick's concerts at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in April 1978 that were recorded for the group's most popular album, Cheap Trick at Budokan.  A live version of "I Want You to Want Me" from the album Cheap Trick at Budokan was released in 1979 and became their biggest selling single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing sales of one million records. In Canada, it reached #2 in on the RPM national singles chart, remaining there for two weeks  and was certified Gold for the sale of 5,000 singles in September 1979.  It was also the band's highest charting single in Britain, where it reached #29.

Cheap Trick bass player Tom Petersson told Classic Rock magazine:
"My recollection is that [songwriter Rick Nielsen] did that song as a bit of a joke, because at the time when we had done that song there was a lot of pop music on the radio—ABBA, and all sorts of things, disco, [Rick thought] 'I'm just going to do an over-the-top pop song. I just want to do one that's so silly—total pop—and then we'll do a heavy version of it.' He didn't know what was going to happen with it. The idea was to have it like a heavy metal pop song. Cheap Trick doing ABBA—except a very heavy version."

Rick Nielsen explains his perspective behind the song:
"I just pictured myself in a big, overstuffed chair, and my dad turned on the TV; there were like three stations. I wanted to watch Gabby Hayes – he was a cowboy. I always wanted what wasn't there, so I think that's what made me inquisitive throughout my whole life. When you wanted Gabby, Gabby's not there; when you want your dad, your dad is not there. It was the easiest lyric I could think of. And I wish I were that stupid more often. It's like Van Morrison – with some of his old songs it didn't matter what the lyrics meant, it's how they sounded."

Years later, Nielsen and Petersson criticized the lightweight production of "I Want You to Want Me" as it originally appeared on their second album, In Color. Cheap Trick went as far as to mostly re-record that album in 1998. Producer Tom Werman explains:
"'I Want You To Want Me' was a fabulous dancehall type of song, and a perfect pop tune, and it was meant to be a little campy. I put the piano on—a guy named Jai Winding played it. I remember asking the band what they thought of it, and Rick Nielsen kind of shrugged and said, 'You're the producer.'" Further: "It was a burlesque song, like a 30's number. That is what they wrote it as."[citation needed]

Version differences
The live version has a higher tempo than the album version, which contributed to its success. However, the album version features an echo at the verse "Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you cryin' (cryin)". This echo does not appear in the live version. The crowd, however, emulates the echo by chanting "cryin'". The live version consists of two guitar solos, while the studio version has a piano fill as a second instrumental. Between 1976 and 1977, Cheap Trick recorded a version played in the style that they did in concerts in 1975 and 1976. It was played with dramatic vocals, high tempo and two guitar solos. It was released in 1996. The earliest version of the song was played in 1976, almost identical to the "alternate" version (closer to the version they had originally played), except with a slightly different song structure. This version was released in 1998.

The band have also released a festive alternative version of the song, with slightly different lyrics, called "I Want You For Christmas", in 2012.

Critical reception
In the 2007 book Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide, a section on Cheap Trick featured reviews on the top 20 stand-out tracks from the band. One track included was "I Want You to Want Me", where the author John M. Borack wrote "the In Color version lacked anything resembling balls, but that was remedied on the hit version from the groundbreaking Cheap Trick at Budokan disc. A piece of history and a darned cool tune, to boot."

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wyL1NtMVPo

Wow  great song and i see a song upgrade

Great style and great music