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One of Rock's most entertaining attractions, Cheap Trick formed in Rockford,
Illinois USA, in 1975. The core members were guitarist Rick Nielsen and
bassist Tom Petersson, locals who had already played in the touring bands
Fuse and Sick Man Of Europe. However, after just one album, this short-lived
outfits folded and the duo formed a new band, Cheap Trick; the initial
line-up was completed by vocalist Randy 'Xeno' Hogan and drummer Brad
'Bun E. Carlos' Carlson. Hogan departed the group shortly thereafter to
be replaced by singer+rhythm guitarist Robin Zander.
Epic signed the group barely a year after they'd formed and issued their
self-titled debut album in February 1977, it fared better in Japan than
in the United States; the band toured relentlessly, playing over 150 concerts
a year, including support slots with Journey,
Queen, Santana, Kiss and AC/DC.
Later that year, Cheap Trick released its second LP, "In Color",
reaching #73 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart.
1978's "Heaven Tonight" captured both the loud, raucous energy
of their debut and the hook-laden song craft of the sophomore effort,
leading to their first U.S. Top 100 single, "Surrender", which
peaked at #62 while the album hit #48 on the Pop Sales chart.
In 1979 the live LP "At Budokan" marked their commercial breakthrough,
the album stayed on the U.S. Pop chart for over a year, peaking at #4
and eventually selling over 3 million copies; a live version of "I
Want You To Want Me", pulled from the album, became their first top
10 hit and a revival of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" reached
the #35 spot on the Pop Singles chart.
A few months later Cheap Trick released their fourth studio record, "Dream
Police", which followed "At Budokan" into the top 10, selling
over a million copies and launching two top 40 hit singles with the title-track
and "Voices".
Petersson left the group in the summer of 1980 after recording "All
Shook Up", this album performed respectably, peaking at #24 on the
U.S. Top 200 LPs & Tapes chart eventually going gold, yet the main
single released from it, "Stop This Game", failed to crack the
Top 40. For subsequent tours Pete Comita and shortly thereafter Jon Brant,
replaced Petersson.
That same year, the band contributed a new song to the soundtrack of the
movie "Roadie"; released as a single, "Everything Works
If You Let It", reached #44 on the U.S. Pop chart.
The first album recorded with Brant was "One On One", the group's
sixth studio LP that appeared in 1982; although it peaked at #39, the
record was more successful than its predecessor achieving platinum sales
status along the way; it included "If You Want My Love" which
rose to #11 on the Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and produced a couple
of minor hits in "She's Tight" and "Saturday At Midnight".
"Next Position Please", released in 1983, failed to launch a
hit single and spent only 11 weeks on The Billboard Top 200 reaching #61.
Two years later Cheap Trick delivered its ninth album "Standing On
The Edge" which hit #35 on The Billboard 200 list and yielded the
Mainstream Rock top 10 single "Tonight It's You".
1986's "The Doctor" was a complete flop.
Petersson's return for the album "Lap Of Luxury" brought them
back to platinum status, the set debuted at #16 on The Billboard Top 200
chart, upon its spring 1988 release, thanks in part to the smash single
"The Flame" which shot to #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 and hit
the top 3 on The Mainstream Rock Tracks chart; the LP also included their
rendition of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" which rose to
#4 on The Billboard Hot 100 and to #8 on The Mainstream Rock chart plus
two further top 40 hits: "Ghost Town" and "Let Go".
Two years later Cheap Trick delivered their final album to Epic Records,
"Busted"; it reached the #48 slot on The Billboard 200 list
and spawned the Mainstream Rock top 5 hit "Can't Stop Fallin' Into
Love" which also crossed over to #12 on The Billboard Hot 100; the
first single was followed by a couple of mid-sized hits in "Back
'N Blue" and "Wherever Would I Be?".
The group subsequently moved from Epic to Warner Bros. Records; their
term there resulted in one album, "Woke Up With A Monster",
the record spent two weeks on the U.S. Top 200 chart, peaking at #123
and produced a Mainstream Rock top 20 hit with the title-track.
Following the poor performance of this album, Cheap Trick decided to go
back to the basics; they left Warner and over the next few years several
alternative rockers, who were influenced by Cheap Trick, gave the band
opportunities to restore their reputation. The
Smashing Pumpkins had the band open some shows in 1995 and the group
performed on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour.
In April 1997 the group released a new CD titled "Cheap Trick",
like the group's debut album, presumably because the record represents
a new beginning; the disc, which came out on Red Ant/Alliance, reached
the #99 position on The Billboard 200 chart and contained the album-Rock
radio top 40 hit "Say Goodbye".
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 lads put together song by song their first
studio album in six years, "Special One"; it broke into the
top 10 of the U.S. Independent Albums chart and reached #128 on The Billboard
200 Sales list.
In June 2006 Cheap Trick issued their new studio album, "Rockford",
on Unlimited/Big3 Records; it includes the single "Perfect Stranger".
Cheap Trick biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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