I will never forget it ... The first time I heard Cheap Trick's "Surrender" was on the "American Top 40" radio show. It was 1977 and I was trapped in a boarding school in a tiny town in South Carolina. Camden had one movie theater and a library, both of which I would escape to out of boredom. On Saturday mornings I'd listen to "Top 40" not to hear the hits ( John Denver, the Bee Gees, the Silver Convention ) but to hear the records that didn't hit ( they would play new singles under the Top 40 ) . "Surrender" I heard once, but that's all it took.
Chicago bands Smashing Pumpkins, Styx, Chicago...all big and successful, but not true stompin' rock and roll. But if Cheap Trick has become a local institution, it's not because of nostalgia or trendiness but because of solid writing, a combination of the best and most idiosyncratic talent ever, and because of a love for pure goofy religious rock and roll.
Heralded as the best band in America by Rolling Stone based on their first three albums ( Cheap Trick, Heaven Tonight, and In Color ) and that flop single ( "Surrender" ) , they just didn't break here in 1977. But in Japan they were second only to Beatlemania in rabid fan adoration. Live at Budokan was never meant to be released in the U.S., but when the single "I Want You to Want Me"...an irresistible crowd-pleasing sing-a-long, hit the radio, Cheap Trick went through the roof. Budokan and "I Want You..." stayed at No. 1 forever. After the glut of '70s pop product ( Styx and Chicago chief among them ) , Cheap Trick was a refreshing snappy throwback to real rock and roll.
More hits followed ( "Voices," "Dream Police" ) , but after bassist Tom Petersson left and the '80s reared its head, Cheap Trick, though loved locally, wound down. The Todd Rundgren-produced Next Position Please ( 1984 ) was as fine as anything they'd ever recorded. But the radio was about Duran Duran and Boy George, and Cheap Trick turned up in stadiums as the opening act for bands like Ratt. Petersson came back for the comeback, Lap of Luxury ( 1988 ) , but the No. 1 single, "The Flame," was bittersweet. A power ballad with all the knobs pushed way past #10, they didn't want to do it. The only way the CBS executives got them to record it was to twist their arms individually and record it in parts. "The Flame," though a wuss song, proved that bare-knuckled talent could transcend anything, even raging shit.
Foremost is Robin Zander's vocals. A high-ended heavy metal screamer ( technically ) with a little boy edge and no dirty bottom range that effortlessly soars to the heavens. Swaggering and cocky one moment ( "California Man" ) , harmoniously distinct the next ( his off-kilter seductive lilt on "Heaven Tonight" ) , there just isn't another voice on the planet like it. Lead guitarist Rick Nielsen was called by John Lennon the best guitarist ever ( not faint praise ) , and though his pop-eyed goofiness and beanie baseball caps are as recognizable as the gap in Sir Elton's smile or Sir Mick's road kill mashed lips, the man is a formidable musician. "The Flame" works because these two knew how to push it ( you can hear the tears hitting the wall next to the bed at 4 a.m. through Zander's vocals ) and make it stick.
Whether they care to acknowledge it, "The Flame" is brilliant pop...a masterpiece. A schmaltzy ballad so powerful and un-nerving that it makes disposable pop an art form ( the only other record that comes close is Woman in Love by Barbra Streisand ) .
Now after their 25th anniversary ( and goddamit, even without a record label they had the fucking right to celebrate with a week-long stand at the Metro and another live album...Music for Hangovers ) , non-stop tours in Europe, and a comfortable residency as rock troubadours, they plopped down for a one-night sold-out show at the Skyline Stage last month.
That they're all getting into their 50s is beside the point...Cheap Trick just gets better with age. Of course Zander didn't move much, he never did. Not a dancer who poses or articulates with his body, he never had to. First, he's got the best rock and roll hair ever. Second is the voice. I swear he must have fucked the devil big-time because he's still got it and it's still the most unique sound I've ever heard.
Nielsen is still a clown, a wind-up cut-up, the Harpo Marx of rock and roll. Running up a handy platform, flinging guitar picks by the handful at the crowd, sticking his tongue out and wallowing in comedy. Yeah, he's a nut, but his kinetic buzz made the rest of the band a jolly joyride. Petersson wandered around looking lost, but live was the best place to experience drummer Bun E. Carlos. Canyon deep murky backbeats wrapped in humidity...the man sounded like Zeus in mid body slam.
And the show itself ... well now. "Hello There" opened ( but of course ) , and there was "Southern Girls," and a hyper "I Want You to Want Me," and a savage "Ain't that a Shame," and Petersson's vocal on "I Know What I Want," and the catchy hand waving free for all of "If You Want My Love ( You got It ) ." It was fun if not a little predictable but ... then they went for Nirvana.
"She's Tight," a pop metal masterpiece if there ever was one, came smothered in naughty cheekiness. The closing section ( a mechanical chorus of "she's nice/she's tight/she's nice/she's tight..." ) with Zander wailing away in unrestrained heat, was naughty and gleeful...who says being dirty ain't fun. "The Flame" in all its ballistic glory turned up as a special request ( still impressive ) . But "Dream Police" closed the set in a thrilling fashion. Of course there was that maddening wall of sound and the lyrics, but by then Zander had come to life. The hair was everywhere and the sunglasses hadn't come off...but he was down on the floor of the stage singing/shrieking to the first rows. Zander was giving it up, turning it out, rocking with alarming abandon. Thrilling, belligerent, spontaneous electric and alive, everything that makes me love rock and roll.
