Big THANKS! to Cheap Trick guitarist (and Mac addict) Rick Nielsen for allowing us to include this version of one of our favorite songs of all time. If you've been curious as to what Cheap Trick's been up to, here's the entire timelined history of the band in a (rather large) nutshell.
Cheap Trick
A TIMELINE
Early ’50s
• Four healthy baby boys are born to the families of Nielsen, Petersson, Zander and Carlson in the Midwest given the names Rick, Tom, Robin, and Brad, respectively. Little did the proud parents know what these babies would do with a few good chords, hooks, and riffs later on.
1954
• Rick discovers the high of showbiz as he accidentally walks onstage during his father's performance of “The Barber of Seville.” The audience loves him and he finds his calling as an entertainer.
Mid-’50s
• Robin sings “Baby Talk” before he learns to make sentences.
1955
• Rick trades the ukulele for drums, an easy swap since his father owned the Rockford, Illinois staple, Ralph Nielsen Music House.
1963
• Rick throws rocks at Bun E.’s sister and the two boys become friends.
1964
• Beatlemania sweeps the nation. Four young men in Rockford are not immune to this musical phenomenon.
• Robin drops the saxophone and picks up the guitar.
• Bun E.’s mother intends to purchase a snare drum for her son from Nielsen Music House and to his surprise, brings home a whole kit!
1965
• Tom Petersson plays guitar in the Boll Weevils.
1967
• Bun E.’s high school band, The Paegans, release a single of a Van Morrison cover b/w a Beatles cover.
• Rick goes to see Jeff Beck perform with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood in a venue so empty, he gets to meet his idol.
• Rick’s latest outfit, the Grim Reapers, are scheduled to play with Otis Redding. Redding’s plane crashes and Rick has his first brush with rock and roll history.
• Rick dissolves and reforms the Grim Reapers with Tom Petersson. They release a single of “Hound Dog” b/w “Cruisin' for Burgers” on Smack Records.
• Robin forms his first band, The Destinations.
1968
• Rick and Tom take a trip to England in pursuit of live shows and British recordings. They return with international minds and one of three bulky, tape playing keyboards found in America.
• The Grim Reapers open for Brit rocker Terry Reid, whose “Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece” is later recorded for the first Cheap Trick record. That night Epic Records offers the young group a deal.
• Frank Zappa offers a deal for Bizarre Records, only a little too late.
• Epic Records insist that the Grim Reapers change their name. They become Fuse.
1970
• Robin and Bun E. jam together for nine months in a band called Phrenz.
• Fuse breaks up.
• Rick returns to London and befriends Todd Rundgren, who divulges the phone numbers of Thom Mooney and Robert Stewkey Antoni of Nazz.
• Robin performs at the Wisconsin Dells — a resort community a few hours from Rockford — for this and many summers to come.
1971
• Rick and Tom light the Fuse one more time with Mooney and Stewkey in the lineup.
• Fuse dissolves again and Tom relocates to Germany.
• Rick switches to bass and forms a band with Bun E., Stewkey and Meyers.
1972
• Tom returns from Germany and relocates to Philadelphia with Rick, Bun E., and Stewkey — forming Sick Man of Europe. This precursor to Cheap Trick includes later favorites such as “Mandocello” plus early versions of “So Good To See You” in its musical musings.
1973
• Sick Man of Europe plays around the Midwest, opening for bands such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra — until Stewkey is fired and Tom, stricken with wanderlust once again, departs.
• Rick and Bun E. dub themselves Cheap Trick — and they all pine for the vocal stylings of Robin, who is still under contract in the Wisconsin Dells, to complete the line up.
• Tom returns to the band.
1974
• Robin joins the band and reads lyrics from a stand from the first few shows. Tom continues to sing a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Waitiní for the Man,” which later appears on the box set Sex America Cheap Trick.
1975
• Christopher Crowe, a friend of the band, designs the instantly recognizable, inky typewritten logo. This, applied to T-shirts, forged a thriving merchandise business for the band, enabling them to purchase socks, underwear, cigarettes, vehicles and a PA.
• Rick procures his two step, edge of stage staircase.
• The group is now ready for a record deal and cuts demos in Memphis financed by Black Oak Arkansas manager, Butch Stone.
• Stone suggests that Rick try to look like Jimi Hendrix. Rick carves out his own style instead.
1976
• Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas sees the band perform at a bowling alley in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Impressed, he agrees to produce an album, leading to a long-term contract with the familiar Epic Records.
1977
• April. The first record, Cheap Trick, delivers sheer electricity and unforgettable tunes under seemingly sordid tales about suicide (“Oh Candy”), mass murderers (“The Ballad of TV Violence”), a gigolo (“He’s a Whore”), a pedophile (“Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School”), and IRS rebellion (“Taxman, Mr. Thief”).
• Despite rave reviews and incessant touring, the record does not chart as planned. • Tom Werman, an Epic staff producer, is assigned the follow-up record.
• Six songs left over from the first record such as “I Want You to Want Me” make the second offering, In Color.
• For this second record and the rest to come, Tom Petersson turns in his Gibson Thunderbird bass for his own creation, an oversized 12-string bass.
• Robin learns the album’s closer, “So Good to See You” from Stewkey over the phone as the Sick Man of Europe song predated his membership in the band.
1978
• By this time, Cheap Trick has played to more than 1 million people with 179 concerts in 1977 — touring with AC/DC, Kiss, Rush, Queen, The Kinks and Ted Nugent.
• The band cuts its next album, Heaven Tonight, in four weeks with Werman before rushing off for a European tour. This album features a previous reject, the anthemic opener “Surrender” — a song known to every teenager who didn’t buy the record for its use in the coming-of-age flicks, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Over The Edge.” Also found on the album are a cover of Roy Wood’s Move classic, “California Man” and the dramatic “Heaven Tonight.”
• Cheap Trick visits Japan, where In Color has already gone gold.
• A live record is released for the Japanese and picked up by radio (with a seven song promo From Tokyo to You) in the USA creating an unprecedented import frenzy for the full length.
• At Budokan is released stateside.
• The band records its fifth album, Dream Police. Tom handles lead vocals on “I Know What I Want.”
• “Voices” charts as a Top 40 single.
1979
• At Budokan sells 3 1/2 million units in America. The band is on a roll.
• Unaware of its international fame, the band nearly drops all its gear as the drowning screams of the Japanese audiences freaked them out.
1980
• Found All the Parts is released as a 10-inch EP of live leftovers and a couple of unreleased songs, “Such a Good Girl” and “Take Me I’m Yours.”
• Cheap Trick records its next album, All Shook Up with George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick.
• Cheap Trick writes and records “Everything Works If You Let It” for the movie “Roadie.”
• Jack Douglas invites Bun E. and Rick to play on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Double Fantasy” demos. Their takes on “I’m Losing You” and “I’m Moving On” are not used for the release but can be found on the “Lost Lennon Tapes.”
• Tom Petersson exits the band to pursue his own interests. Pete Comita, a Midwest guitarist who is hired for the Japanese tour that takes place the day after Tom leaves, is then replaced during pre-production for the next album.
• Cheap Trick record three songs for a Canadian feature entitled “Drats.”
• Rick and Bun E. back John Lennon on a version of “I’m Losing You.” It would sit on the shelf until its release in the 1998 Lennon box set.
1982
• Still without a permanent bassist, Rick plays most of the bass parts on One on One — produced by Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, Foreigner) and engineered by Ian Taylor (who would later help out on the 1997 Red Ant debut), and find bassist Jon Brant in time for the album cover shoot and to lend a hand on two tracks.
• One on One turns out the memorable ballad “If You Want My Love” and “She’s Tight” — featuring a memorable riff which some believe Poison ripped off on “Talk Dirty to Me.”
1983
• Todd Rundgren produces Next Position Please in Bearsville, NY. The record company insists on a cover of the Motors’ “Dancing the Night Away” as the single, instead of Rundgren’s choice — “I Can’t Take It” — and adding a leftover from One on One — “You Say Jump,” which Bun E. describes as “I Want You to Want Me, Jr.”
1984
• Tom Petersson releases an EP, Tom Petersson and Another Language, and gigs around New York with the other former bassist, Pete Comita as Sick Man of Europe.
1985
• The band begins recording its next album, Standing on the Edge with Jack Douglas. • “Tonight It’s You” is deemed the most memorable song on the record when Douglas steps out due to royalty battles with Yoko Ono. Tony Platt, a metal maven, is rated by the band for having engineered a Patto album.
1986
• Nearing the height of ‘80s metal, Tony Platt is brought back for The Doctor. Roy Wood (of Move and ELO fame) comes in to share vocals on “Money is the Route of All Fun” — which did not make the final cut, though Robin thought it was the best one recorded.
• With Rick tinkering about in England, Bun E. and Jon Brant learns a bunch of “Big Chill” type songs and gigs around as The Bun E. Carlos Experience.
1987
• Tom spills a pitcher of beer on Rick at a New York nightspot and ends up cutting a demo with the band.
1988
• Richie Zito enters to produce Lap of Luxury, which spawned “The Flame,” a ballad written by two Englishmen. Ironically, the track goes to number one in the U.S. and flops in the U.K. The band is touring the U.K., performing the song as it hits the top slot in the U.S.
• Steve Albini’s Big Black covers, “He’s A Whore” which some argue is one of the greatest Cheap Trick covers of all time.
1990
• Zito is recruited by the label once again to follow the platinum success of Lap of Luxury with Busted. The Rod Stewart sounding, “Can’t Stop Fallin’ Into Love” reaches the upper echelons of the charts, but fails to follow the footsteps of Lap of Luxury.
1991
• This year ends Cheap Trick’s stay at Epic.
• The label cranks out a Greatest Hits record salted with one new track, a cover of “Magical Mystery Tour.”
1993
• Robin Zander makes a solo record, penning songs with Dave Stewart, Mike Campbell and even Rick Nielsen. He also covers songs by Harry Nilsson and Neil Young with musical contributions coming from Dr. John, Maria McKee, Mick Fleetwood and Tom Petersson.
• Epic releases Budokan 2 featuring 12 more songs from 1978 and 1979 Japanese tours.
• Bun E., famous for the cigarette dangling from his lips as he plays, quits cold turkey. Many friends and fans are jealous of his accomplishment.
1994
• The band finds a new label, Warner Brothers. Ted Templeman (Montrose, Van Halen, Captain Beefheart) is enlisted to produce Woke Up With a Monster.
1995
• With shakeups at the label, Cheap Trick were one of the many bands to fall through the corporate tracks.
• Cheap Trick covers “Cold Turkey” for the John Lennon tribute, “Working Class Hero.” They also make a hard-hitting powerful video in support of this track, featuring the lead actor from the acclaimed art-house movie, “Kids.”
• They re-record “Come On, Come On” from In Color and change it to “Come On Christmas” for a Rockford charity CD.
1996
• Still without a label, Cheap Trick record a stunning 3-song demo which gets passed around with a mini bidding war ensuing.
• Red Ant Entertainment, a new independent label, offers Cheap Trick a deal and their own imprint, Cheap Trick Records. The band take them up on it and record an album with Ian Taylor (One on One) and keep true to their original spirit.
1997
• In February, Sub Pop releases a limited edition Cheap Trick single produced by Steve Albini. This sold-out, vinyl-only recording features a cover of The Move’s “Brontosaurus” and an original “Baby Talk.”
• In April, their self-titled album is released by Red Ant. The band deems this the first record of the second half of its career.
• Cheap Trick tour Japan, Australia, Canada and the U.S. performing more than 200 shows in support of their newest release.
1998
• Cheap Trick parts company with Red Ant.
• Robin records “Automatic Soup” with the band Shudder to Think. This album also features guest appearances by other artists such as Billy Corgan..
• Rick appears in Michael Moore’s latest movie, “The Big One.”
• Cheap Trick hits the road with a variety of different shows during the year: special Budokan shows to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the At Budokan album and “three-night-stand” shows in select cities where the band will perform their first three albums (Cheap Trick, In Color and Heaven Tonight) on consecutive evenings.
• The band also manages to squeeze in some special guest appearances opening for the likes of Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam in a few cities (both bands would later open for Cheap Trick, as would Wayne Kramer and Letters To Cleo.) Aerosmith does an encore cameo in Minneapolis and Everclear’s Art Alexakis sits in on a couple West Coast dates. Cool local up-and-coming bands are also given a shot at opening Cheap Trick gigs.
1999
• Having had it with the vagaries of major labels and even major-distributed intermediate labels, Cheap Trick launch their own 100% indie Cheap Trick Unlimited label and prepare to issue Music For Hangovers, recorded live during a hallowed four-night stand at Chicago’s Metro venue, a run which the Sun-Times calls “damn near perfect.”
• The band gives Amazon.com an exclusive 60-day window in which to sell the album, following which it becomes available at four-wall record stores via Proper Sales.
• A private show in New York kicks off the Amazon.com release date on April 20, and a private L.A. show inaugurates the “wide” release date on June 15.
• The band records “That 70s Song” for the hit Fox-TV program “That 70s Show.”
2000
• The band concentrates primarily on writing and recording new tunes throughout the year for a future new release.
• The year is young, and you can bet it will not be dull!
