History Music / CheapTrick

Cheap Trick created a substantial fanbase in the late '70s with a hard-edged yet melodic pop sound that combines the tunefulness of Music/TheBeatles with the speed and energy of PunkRock, making them probably the most popular PowerPop band. Their biggest hits include "Surrender", "I Want You to Want Me", "Dream Police" and "The Flame." Cheap Trick also performed the theme song "That '70s Song" [[note]] a rearrangement of "In the Street" by Music/BigStar,[[/note]] for ''Series/That70sShow'' from the second season onward and the theme song "Baby Muggles" for ''Series/TheColbertReport''. Songs by the band even appear in two of the cult animated films of the early 1980's, ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' with "Born to Raise Hell" and "Send Love Through" with [[Music/{{Blondie}} Debbie Harry]] and ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' with "Reach Out".

** The band wised up to this starting in TheNineties (presumably the viciously criticized sound of ''The Doctor'' played a part), and all their albums since ''Woke Up with a Monster'' have returned to that kind of direct sound. They even re-recorded ''In Color'' with Music/SteveAlbini in 1998 to make it sound rawer, but said result was never officially released. [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes It did leak online, though.]]

* LongTitle: "The Ballad of T.V. Violence (I'm Not the Only Boy)".

* ExcitedShowTitle: ''We're All Alright!''

* BizarreInstrument: Rick Nielsen's quintuple-neck guitars custom-made by Hamer. That said, all five necks have always been playable.

* DrivenToSuicide: An oddly recurring theme.

* ParentalSexualitySquick: "Surrender" ends with the singer putting on his Music/{{Kiss}} records to drown out the sound of his parents getting it on in the other room.

[[caption-width-right:350:''We're all alright!'' [[note]]Clockwise from top left: Rick Nielsen, Bun E. Carlos, Robin Zander, and Tom Petersson.[[/note]]]]

-->-- before every recent Cheap Trick live show

->''"Mommy's alright, daddy's alright\\
They just seem a little weird\\
Surrender, surrender\\
But don't give yourself away"''
-->-- "'''Surrender'''"

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The band's debut album was divided between "Side One" and "Side A", which was meant to reflect a belief that all of the songs were too good to shunt off to BSide status. This created a problem when the album was released on CD: the original release arranged the tracklist based on how it appeared on the back cover, with Side A coming before Side 1, only for the band to point out that they actually intended that the album be listened to in the opposite order. A 1998 reissue rectified this, placing Side 1 before Side A.

* UpToEleven:
** Double-necked guitars, which usually added a second, 12-string neck to the body of the guitar, were a popular gimmick in the 1970's. Neilsen went and got a three-... No, four-... No, ''FIVE''-necked guitar made for himself.
** ''Heaven Tonight'' was the first album ever to use a 12-string ''bass''.

* NiceHat: Rick Nielsen.

** ''Cheap Trick At Budokan'' is one of the most popular and acclaimed live rock albums of all time, as well as the best-selling album in the band's catalog.

* ChristmasSongs: As you might expect, ''Christmas Christmas'' is an album of these.

* CanonDiscontinuity: The band released the non-album single "Up the Creek" in 1984, which appeared on the soundtrack of the [[Film/UpTheCreek film of the same name]]. But despite the fact that it cracked the top-40 on the ''Billboard;; Mainstream Rock chart, it didn't appear on any Cheap Trick compilations until 2015. Both Carlos and Nielsen have derided the song in interviews.

* CanonDiscontinuity: The band released the non-album single "Up the Creek" in 1984, which appeared on the soundtrack of the [[Film/UpTheCreek film of the same name]]. But despite the fact that it cracked the top-40 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, it didn't appear on any Cheap Trick compilations until 2015. Both Carlos and Nielsen have derided the song in interviews.

* 1978/79 - ''Cheap Trick at Budokan''

* CoverAlbum: ''[[Music/TheBeatles Sgt.]] [[Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand Pepper]] [[Main/LiveAlbum Live]]'', backed by an orchestra.

* IntercourseWithYou: The main theme of ''She's Tight''.

* CoverVersion: Their live version of Music/FatsDomino's "Ain't That a Shame", from ''Budokan'', remains one of their biggest radio songs. ''Heaven Tonight'' has a cover of The Move's "California Man". "Don't Be Cruel", the follow-up single to "The Flame" from ''Lap of Luxury'', is a cover of the Music/ElvisPresley classic, and went all the way to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. They recorded a version of Music/BigStar's "In the Street" as the theme song for ''Series/That70sShow'' as "That '70s Song".

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their first album is a lot darker (well, it's BlackComedy) than the next two or three, which are generally regarded as their most characteristic output. "ELO Kiddies" is crackling with menace; "Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School" is an unbelievably creepy power pop song sung from the POV of a paedophile, complete with recorded playground voices; "He's a Whore" is a brutally unsentimental look at a heartless gigolo, etc. What the hell did teenage Japanese girls see in these songs? (Other than that they seriously rocked.)

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/239px-Cheaptrick.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''We're all alright!'' [[note]] L-R: Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson (top), Robin Zander (bottom), and Bun E. Carlos. [[/note]]]]
->''Ladies and gentlemen...\\

Cheap Trick.''
-->before every recent Cheap Trick live show

->''Mommy's alright, daddy's alright,\\

Surrender, surrender,\\
But don't give yourself away''
-->"Surrender"

Cheap Trick is an American HardRock[=/=]PowerPop band from Rockford, Illinois, that gained popularity in the late 1970s. The band's classic lineup consists of Robin Zander (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick Nielsen (lead guitar, backing vocals), Tom Petersson (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Bun E. Carlos (drums, percussion).

Cheap Trick created a substantial fan base through a hard-edged yet melodic pop sound that combines the tunefulness of Music/TheBeatles with the speed and energy of PunkRock, making them probably the most popular PowerPop band. Their biggest hits include "Surrender", "I Want You to Want Me", "Dream Police" and "The Flame." Cheap Trick also performed the theme song "That '70s Song" [[note]] a rearrangement of "In the Street" by Music/BigStar,[[/note]] for ''Series/That70sShow'' from the second season onward and the theme song "Baby Muggles" for ''Series/TheColbertReport''. Songs by the band even appear in two of the cult animated films of the early 1980's, ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' with "Born to Raise Hell" and "Send Love Through" with [[Music/{{Blondie}} Debbie Harry]] and ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' with "Reach Out".

* BowtiesAreCool: And they're part of Rick Nielsen's charm.