History Music / CheapTrick

Cheap Trick continues to tour with the original lineup, and their most recent release, 2009's ''The Latest'', has gained critical acclaim. The band is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff most popular in Japan]], where they have remained popular superstars since their first album - what's more, they only climbed to similarly large popularity in the USA with the 1978 live album ''At Budokan'', initially a Japan-only release. They have been often referred to in the Japanese press as the "American [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]".

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" for ''{{That 70s Show}}'' from the second season onward and the theme song "Baby Muggles" for ''TheColbertReport''. Songs by the band even appear in two of the cult animated films of the early 1980s, ''RockAndRule'' with "Born to Raise Hell" and "Send Love Through" with [[Music/{{Blondie}} Debbie Harry]] and ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' with "Reach Out."

* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUK0mrVVxg8 That's 70's Song]]''- A cover of Alex Chilton's "In the Street"

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums (something which even the band members criticised for ''In Color''). For example, compare the album and live versions of "Surrender" - the live one nearly drowns out the synth, cranks up the guitars, and still has audible audience cheering. The ''In Color'' version of "I Want You To Want Me" was released as a single and never charted in the USA, but the ''Budokan'' version of "I Want You To Want Me" was released as a single, peaked at #7 and became one of their best-selling singles.

* EpicRocking: Live versions of "Gonna Raise Hell" and "Heaven Tonight" could get pretty long.

** "Heaven Tonight"

** Their 1977 self-titled debut gets similar praise. It was produced by Jack Douglas in a noticeably rawer fashion than Werman's work on the following albums.
** The band 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.]]

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums (something which even the band members criticised for ''In Color''). For example, compare the album and live versions of "Surrender" - the live one nearly drowns out the synth, cranks up the guitars, and still has audible audience cheering. Unsurprisingly, the latter was the hit.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums. For example, compare the album and live versions of "Surrender" - the live one nearly drowns out the synth, cranks up the guitars, and still has audible audience cheering. Unsurprisingly, the latter was the hit.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums. For example, compare the album and live versions of "Surrender" - the live one nearly drowns out the synth and cranks up the guitars. Unsurprisingly, the latter was the hit.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums. For example, compare the two versions of "Surrender".

* AdultsAreUseless - Not really. Your momma's alright, your daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird...
* BlackSheepHit - "The Flame", a ballad which was their only #1 hit in the US.

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

* [[NiceGuy Nice Guys]] - They had a good reputation among other bands who toured with them, and were respectful towards their supporting acts. When The Angels/Angel City's equipment was stolen, Cheap Trick provided them with gear to finish their tour. By contrast, Music/TheKinks the same year found Angel City's act too difficult to follow and dropped them from the bill.
* NiceHat - Rick Nielsen

* ThePowerOfRock - RockAndRule
* RealSongThemeTune - That's 70's Show. The theme song, "That 70's Song", is a loose cover of "In the Street" by Music/BigStar.
* RockBand - "Hello There" is ''Rock Band 2'''s intro song. Also, three of their hits were released for ''Rock Band 3'' as DLC (all of them from the ''At Budokan'' live album): "Surrender", "I Want You to Want Me" and "Dream Police".
* SelfTitledAlbum - Twice!

* SmokingIsCool - Averted. While Bun E. Carlos was famous for his ever-present cigarette while he performed, he quit smoking in the 90s.
* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth - One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums. For example, compare the two versions of "Surrender".

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Japanese love the band far more than anywhere else in the world.

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" for ''{{That 70s Show}}'' from the second season onward and the theme song "Baby Muggles" for ''TheColbertReport''. Songs by the band even appear in two of the cult animated films of the early 1980s, ''RockAndRule'' with "Born to Raise Hell" and "Send Love Through" with [[Music/{{Blondie}} Debbie Harry]] and ''Film/HeavyMetal'' with "Reach Out."

Cheap Trick continues to tour with the original lineup, and their most recent release, ''Rockford'', has gained critical acclaim. The band is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff most popular in Japan]], where they have remained popular superstars since their first album - what's more, they only climbed to similarly large popularity in the USA with the 1978 live album ''At Budokan'', initially a Japan-only release. They have been often referred to in the Japanese press as the "American [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]".

Cheap Trick created a substantial fan base through a hard-edged yet melodic pop sound that combines the tunefulness of 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" for ''{{That 70s Show}}'' from the second season onward and the theme song "Baby Muggles" for ''TheColbertReport''. Songs by the band even appear in two of the cult animated films of the early 1980s, ''RockAndRule'' with "Born to Raise Hell" and "Send Love Through" with [[Music/{{Blondie}} Debbie Harry]] and ''Film/HeavyMetal'' with "Reach Out."

Cheap Trick continues to tour with the original lineup, and their most recent release, ''Rockford'', has gained critical acclaim. The band is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff most popular in Japan]], where they have remained popular superstars since their first album - what's more, they only climbed to similarly large popularity in the USA with the 1978 live album ''At Budokan'', initially a Japan-only release. They have been often referred to in the Japanese press as the "American {{Beatles}}".

** At concerts the band would toss {{KISS}} albums into the audience during that part of the song.

* ShoutOut - "When I woke up / Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch / [[OpenMindedParent Rolling numbers, rock and rolling]] / got my {{KISS}} records out."

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth - One of the most common praises of ''At Budokan'' is that it presents the respective songs in a comparatively "raw", energetic fashion in comparison with Tom Werman's "overproduction" on that period's albums (compare for example the two versions of "Surrender").

* [[NiceGuy Nice Guys]] - They had a good reputation among other bands who toured with them, and were respectful towards their supporting acts. When The Angels/Angel City's equipment was stolen, Cheap Trick provided them with gear to finish their tour. By contrast, TheKinks the same year found Angel City's act too difficult to follow and dropped them from the bill.

* CoverVersion: "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 ElvisPresley classic, and went all the way to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Bands citing Cheap Trick as an influence include {{Nirvana}}, {{Weezer}} and several dozen PowerPop bands. Kurt Cobain once said about {{Nirvana}}: "We sound just like Cheap Trick, only the guitars are louder."

Cheap Trick continues to tour with the original lineup, and their most recent release, Rockford, has gained critical acclaim. The band is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff most popular in Japan]], where they have remained popular superstars since their first album - what's more, they only climbed to similarly large popularity in the USA with the 1978 live album ''At Budokan'', initially a Japan-only release. They have been often referred to in the Japanese press as the "American Beatles".

Cheap Trick created a substantial fan base through a hard-edged yet melodic pop sound that combines the tunefulness of 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" for ''{{That 70s Show}}'' from the second season onward and the theme song "Baby Muggles" for TheColbertReport. Songs by the band even appear in two of the cult animated films of the early 1980s, ''RockAndRule'' with "Born to Raise Hell" and "Send Love Through" with Debbie Harry and ''[[Film/HeavyMetal Heavy Metal]]'' with "Reach Out."

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/239px-Cheaptrick.jpg]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/239px-Cheaptrick.jpg

* RockBand - "Hello There" is ''Rock Band 2'''s intro song.