{"id":2230,"date":"2021-06-20T22:02:18","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T22:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2021-06-20T22:04:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T22:04:27","slug":"ftv-cheap-trick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2230","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Cheap Trick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To my knowledge, Cheap Trick has performed in the Upper Peninsula several times during their storied career.\u00a0 I have managed to miss them each time.\u00a0 The concerts I can find records for (and there maybe more I am not aware of) were in Marquette and at the casino in Harris.\u00a0 The first show was at Lakeview Arena in support of Foreigner and The Little River Band.\u00a0 \u201cIn support of ” is concert speak for \u201copening act\u201d on a multiple band bill.\u00a0 My retro calendar tells me that this show took place on a Wednesday (September 21, 1977 to be exact) and I can think of a couple of factors that kept me from attending.\u00a0 This would have been early in my third year teaching in Ontonagon.\u00a0 It was also the first year my future wife and I were dating so taking a Wednesday off to travel to Marquette for a concert would have not been an option.\u00a0 A one night, round trip was a possibility, but not my first or second choice.\u00a0 I had spent two of my college years commuting back and forth between band gigs and kitchen work at the Huron Mountain club (circa 1971-1973).\u00a0 After a couple of summers waking up and trying to remember how I got back to the club for work, the memory was still too fresh to want to do it no matter how good the concert was.\u00a0 Arriving home in the wee hours of a Thursday morning to get up dog tired and do a regular school day just did not sound appealing and I was banking personal days for adventures on the dating end of the spectrum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I remember seeing posters for Cheap Tricks second U.P. appearance, but this March 17, 1981 show at NMU\u2019s Hedgecock Fieldhouse was scheduled as my wife approached her due date for our daughter Elizabeth\u2019s birth.\u00a0 Even if I had been chomping at the bit to see the band then, Elizabeth\u2019s arrival a mere 18 days later tells me I would not have been scheduling any out of town trips in that period.\u00a0 As rabid as my concert attendance had been from 1967 through 1977, work and family obligations became part of the decision process when picking what shows could be squeezed in between everything else life threw at us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The band had appeared on <\/span>Don Kirchner\u2019s Rock Concert <\/span><\/i>program less than two months before the first Marquette concert in 1977, so I was aware of who they were.\u00a0 Seeing Rick Nielson\u2019s goofy \u2018Bowery Boys\u2019 cap, bow tie,\u00a0 and weirdly decorated guitars were hard to miss.\u00a0 The chain smoking drummer, Bun E. Carlos, dressed in a short-sleeved white shirt and skinny tie provided the band\u2019s other \u2018weird\u2019 bookend.\u00a0 The two \u2018pretty boy rock stars\u2019 (singer\/guitarist Robin Zander and bass player Tom Petersson) were always grouped together in band photos flanked by their less glamorous band mates.\u00a0 I understood the visuals immediately:\u00a0 in the rock and roll world, one needed to stand out and the \u2018geeks and rock stars\u2019 schtick definitely grabbed one\u2019s attention.\u00a0 They were animated on stage and played great music.\u00a0 I made a conscious note to pick up an album along the way because I really liked Bun E.\u2019s drumming, plus he also favored Ludwig brand drums.\u00a0 Procrastinator that I am, 1978\u2019s <\/span>Heaven Tonight<\/span><\/i> and 1979\u2019s <\/span>Dream Police<\/span><\/i> were my introduction to the band even though they had two previously released albums (1977\u2019s <\/span>Cheap Trick <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>In Color<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 Each of these records included songs that would become staples of their live set yet they were not getting much airplay in this period.\u00a0 Constant touring was the road they took to the top and scanning the archive of Cheap Trick\u2019s concerts shows they played clubs and concert halls all over the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan.\u00a0 Exposure gained as an opening act for bands like Kiss and Uriah Heep would soon elevate them to headliner status and they were one of the most sought after bands in the latter half of the 1970s and early 1980s.\u00a0 Ironically, the album that made them superstars wasn\u2019t even supposed to be released worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Cheap Trick first landed in Japan in 1978, the greeting they received from fans there was comparable to Beatlemania.\u00a0 The band recorded two shows at the Budokan arena to distribute as a ten track album \u2018thank you\u2019 to their Japanese fan base.\u00a0 With the 12,000 screaming fans all but drowning out the band, the Budokan recordings were a failure.\u00a0 Though the album released bears the title <\/span>Cheap Trick Live at Budokan, <\/span><\/i>the performance on the album was recorded at a smaller hall in Osaka.\u00a0 Strong airplay for a promotional album (<\/span>From Tokyo to You<\/span><\/i>) plus sales of an estimated 30,000 import copies finally convinced Epic Records to release <\/span>Live at Budokan <\/span><\/i>in February of 1979.\u00a0 The album peaked at number four on the <\/span>Billboard Top 200<\/span><\/i> charts while selling some three million copies (it was certified as triple Platinum by the RIAA in 1986).\u00a0 The success of the single release of <\/span>I Want You to Want Me<\/span><\/i> (reaching number seven on the <\/span>Billboard Hot 100<\/span><\/i>) and a cover of Fats Domino\u2019s <\/span>Ain\u2019t That A Shame<\/span><\/i> (number 35 on the <\/span>BH 100<\/span><\/i>) also helped spur the sales of their previous albums.\u00a0 Cheap Trick was riding a wave of popularity into the 1980s and while they continued releasing well crafted albums during that time, their sales did not reach <\/span>Budokan<\/span><\/i> levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As with any band, there are ups and downs.\u00a0 Fads come and go;\u00a0 styles and genres are embraced and then chucked aside;\u00a0 today\u2019s big album seller becomes tomorrow\u2019s \u201cwhere are they now?\u201d storyline.\u00a0 Through it all, Cheap Trick continued to record, tour, and (most importantly) remain together.\u00a0 Many bands crumple when they are no longer the \u2018it\u2019 band, but not Cheap Trick.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t all been smooth sailing.\u00a0 We last visited with drummer Carlos (FTV:\u00a0 Bun E. Carlos 3-30-16) a good six years after he was replaced as their touring drummer.\u00a0 Early album notes identified him to be Bunezuela E. Carlos from Venezuela and whose parents had helped build the Panama Canal before he abandoned them to play rock music in America.\u00a0 In truth, Bun E. hailed from Rockford, Illinois (real name:\u00a0 Brad Carlson) and he was a founding member of Cheap Trick back in 1973.\u00a0 Soon after filming a segment of <\/span>Austin City Limits<\/span><\/i> in early 2010, a falling out between Carlos and Zander precipitated an announcement that Bun E. would no longer be touring with Cheap Trick.\u00a0 Carlos would still be a member of the band but Nielsen\u2019s son Daxx would take over the drum throne.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Things between the band members were still cordial until 2012 when Bun E. was cut out of business decisions and the band stopped making payments to him.\u00a0 Carlos filed a $600,000 lawsuit against the band which was finally resolved when Zander released a statement in February of 2015 saying, \u201cBun E. is a member of the band but he is not touring.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had our differences but we\u2019re all settled up now and hopefully we can forget about that era.\u201d\u00a0 The agreement resolved issues concerning monetary payments, business participation, and voting rights, but not the personal relationships.\u00a0 Carlos told <\/span>Rolling Stone, <\/span><\/i>\u201cAny friendship we had went away when I had to file a federal lawsuit…Going after these guys wasn\u2019t pleasant.\u00a0 The friendship sort of frittered away there.\u201d\u00a0 In spite of it all, Bun E. was with the band on April 4, 2016 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.\u00a0 As Nielsen said (about playing with Carlos for the event), \u201cThey are inducting the people who made the records way back when and that\u2019s good.\u00a0 He deserves it.\u201d\u00a0 Bun E. remains active with various musical projects including a group called the First Airborne Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Division who perform at USO sponsored concerts for the US armed forces.\u00a0 The band includes members of The Doobie Brothers, Kansas, Little River Band, Pablo Cruise, and Toto.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As for the rest of Cheap Trick, they have not let the dust settle on them during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.\u00a0 They released their 20th studio album in April of 2021, but it isn\u2019t the only Cheap Trick album to see the light of day in the last year.\u00a0 Though Record Day in October of 2020 wasn\u2019t \u2018business as usual\u2019 thanks to COVID, Cheap Trick dusted off 22 tracks recorded live over four nights at the Whiskey a Go-Go in 1977 for a special RD release.\u00a0 It was a great \u2018filler album\u2019 because the record released in April 2021 (<\/span>In Another World<\/span><\/i>) was actually begun before the pandemic turned everything upside down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The night before <\/span>In Another World<\/span><\/i> was officially released, Cheap Trick appeared on <\/span>A Late Show with Stephen Colbert.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>They performed from a soundstage elsewhere as has been the pattern used by late night TV for the past year.\u00a0 Though they are associated with Colbert as the \u2018masterminds behind the legendary theme song for <\/span>The Colbert Report\u2019<\/span><\/i>, this airing marked their <\/span>Late Show<\/span><\/i> debut.\u00a0 The track they performed (<\/span>Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll<\/span><\/i>) was exactly what one would expect from a band with their bonafides.\u00a0 Daxx Nielsen has grown into the position as the \u2018new\u2019 drummer in the band (even though he has been at it for a decade already).\u00a0 Rick Nielsen and Zander did their thing but it was obvious that bassist Petersson wasn\u2019t in top form.\u00a0 Seated on a stool sporting a long duster, wide brimmed hat and a blue bandana face covering, he wasn\u2019t his usual animated self.\u00a0 When social media erupted with observations of Tom\u2019s appearance, he released a statement telling everyone that he was only weeks removed from heart surgery but recovering.\u00a0 When CT played their first 2021 concert in June, lead singer Robin Zander\u2019s son Robin Taylor Zander filled in for the still recovering Petersson.\u00a0 The show held in Mashantucket, CT was notable because half the band was made up of \u2018sons of Cheap Trick\u2019 so to speak as guitarist Rick Nielson\u2019s son, Daxx, has been their drummer for the past decade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In a recent interview with <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine, <\/span><\/i>Zander and Rick Nielsen expanded on the band\u2019s history, longevity, and how they managed to squeeze out yet another great album in the time of COVID.\u00a0 The opening track of the BMG release <\/span>In Another World<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>The Summer Looks Good On You (Here Comes The Summer)<\/span><\/i> was actually begun back in 2018.\u00a0 With the bulk of the material recorded during the tumult of the last presidential cycle, Zander said some of the songs are \u201ca reflection of how everyone felt.\u00a0 This was before COVID, so we were talking about the United States in general, about politics, and how things were going.\u00a0 I guess we all felt like we were being run by a mob.\u201d\u00a0 Zander continues by pointing out that Cheap Trick has never been one to dwell on pessimism:\u00a0 \u201cThe song, <\/span>Another World, <\/span><\/i>may paint a dark picture, but notice the words in the chorus:\u00a0 \u2018<\/span>We could be happy, in another world we could be free \/ There will be peace for you and me.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Nielsen continued the thought in the <\/span>CRM <\/span><\/i>interview:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s about finding the balance,\u00a0 I think we\u2019re more realistic about things in a rock context.\u00a0 We\u2019re not trying to do a Springsteen and preach to anybody, we\u2019re just showing a slice of our lives.\u00a0 It\u2019s three and a half minutes of stuff we\u2019ve observed, that we feel.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The inclusion of John Lennon\u2019s <\/span>Gimme Some Truth<\/span><\/i> was a natural fit for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 Though written during the turbulent era of Nixon and Vietnam, the band felt the parallels to what was going on fifty years after that era were hard to ignore.\u00a0 Nielsen is especially fond of the era because of his own involvement with Lennon:\u00a0 \u201cI worked with John and Yoko on the <\/span>Double Fantasy <\/span><\/i>sessions.\u00a0 I was in the studio, playing, and John looked at Jack Douglas and said:\u00a0 \u2018God, I wish I\u2019d had Rick on <\/span>Cold Turkey<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Clapton choked up.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During their formative years, Cheap Trick were influenced by many bands including Lennon\u2019s Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Animals, and The Stones.\u00a0 Zander likens the Cheap Trick sound to what they heard on vinyl back in the day:\u00a0 \u201cIt was that sort of secondary blues influence that turned me on.\u00a0 It was energetic, louder and more exciting than the kind of blues we had over here.\u00a0 I was really truly influenced by the British Invasion and I loved the guitar playing of The Yardbirds or early Fleetwood Mac.\u00a0 There was some extraordinary stuff.\u00a0 It gave me that feeling of:\u00a0 \u2018<\/span>That\u2019s<\/span><\/i> what I want to do.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Nielsen was obsessed enough with the Anglophile sounds he heard to subscribe to the weekly music trade paper <\/span>Melody Maker.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 The subscription cost to have it delivered to their home base in Rockford, IL wasn\u2019t cheap, either:\u00a0 \u201cI think it was around a hundred and twenty-five dollars for a year to get it air-mailed,\u201d\u00a0 Nielsen recalled to <\/span>CRM.\u00a0 \u201c<\/span><\/i>That was expensive in the sixties, but it meant I got my copy six weeks earlier [than the newstands].\u00a0 I wanted the news as it was happening.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The influences ran deep enough that Nielsen and Petersson made their first visit to London in 1968 to further absorb the music they wanted to emulate.\u00a0 Rick and Tom were playing together in a band called Fuse at that time.\u00a0 Previously they had been in a band called the Grim Reapers who happened to be on the same bill in support of Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays on the night of his fateful plane crash in Wisconsin.\u00a0 According to Nielsen, \u201cI had to go up and announce to the crowd that [Otis and his band] had crashed into Lake Monona and wouldn\u2019t be appearing that night.\u00a0 I told them that the show would not go on, although the band I was in still had to play.\u00a0 That was because our manager was like Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s old manager, Don Arden.\u00a0 We did as we were told.\u201d\u00a0 Zander had been in a band with CT\u2019s original singer, Randy Hogan, and by the time he replaced him in Trick, he had also spent some time absorbing music across the pond.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How does a band overcome the ups and downs of a rock and roll career?\u00a0 Nielsen likes to confront those who think that, at 72, he is too old to play in a band.\u00a0 Nielsen now says, \u201cI didn\u2019t plan for any of this to happen.\u00a0 We\u2019ve just worked hard and we\u2019re too dumb to quit.\u00a0 Music has been our hobby and our love the whole time.\u00a0 We\u2019ve basically never improved and we\u2019ve never progressed,\u00a0 But luckily we started off pretty good.\u201d\u00a0 A man of many talents that he is, Rick Nielsen also created the iconic Cheap Trick logo by sitting down with his rickey manual typewriter to concoct it, misaligned letters and all.\u00a0 Imagine what one would pay a professional graphics company for a Cheap Trick logo these days!\u00a0 Well done, Rick, well done, because the music and image created in the name of Cheap Trick are imprinted with your finger prints.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The boys from Rockford introduced by Steven Colbert . . .\u00a0 from 2021’s ‘In Another World’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To my knowledge, Cheap Trick has performed in the Upper Peninsula several times during their storied career.\u00a0 I have managed to miss them each time.\u00a0 The concerts I can find records for (and there maybe more I am not aware of) were in Marquette and at the casino in Harris.\u00a0 The first show was at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions\/2233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}