Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is my recollection of how I first heard about Cheap Trick.
Over the course of decades writing about pop music, it's a little weird how little I've written about Cheap Trick. I've always liked them, but I haven't moved to speak on their behalf. Here's what I had to say about Cheap Trick in "The Kids Are Alright!," the extensive history of power pop I wrote for John M. Borack's 2005 book Shake Some Action:
Though hardly a “bubbling under” artist, at least some passing mention should be made of Cheap Trick. The Cheap Trick story is too large and sprawling to be fully contained within the confines of power pop, but certainly here was--and is--a group well capable of both melodic hooks and paint-peeling volume. “Surrender” is an absolutely perfect power pop record, and power pop enthusiasts generally adore Cheap Trick’s first four albums, Cheap Trick (1977), In Color (1977), Heaven Tonight (1978) and Dream Police (1979), plus the breakout live album Cheap Trick At Budokan; some will also speak out on behalf of some of Cheap Trick’s ‘80s work, and I’ll happily chime in for the 1997 Cheap Trick album, a record far better than its current budget-bin ubiquity would indicate. The group’s big-ballad success in the ‘80s with “The Flame” doesn’t obscure the fact that, at one time, Cheap Trick was simply one of the coolest bands on the planet. On a good day, they still are.
"Surrender" remains my favorite Cheap Trick song, and it will merit a chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). That chapter is not written yet, but here's how it opens in its current draft:
Generation gap? Yes. And here's to it.
They were, for a brief, loud, harmonious moment, the one band that everybody liked. Loved.
Sometimes we pride ourselves on how we stand out from the crowd. We proclaim our unique taste, our distinctive likes and dislikes, our willful determination to not be like everybody else....
Yeah, it's a work in progress. As a final tangent for today, here's a specific memory of a local band covering the song to close its set at the 2016 BRIGHT LIGHTS! Syracuse New Wave Rock 'n' Roll Reunion show:
The Richards' set ended with a victory lap through Cheap Trick's "Surrender," as the audience responded with raised fists, raised spirits, and raised, raspy voices: We're all all right! We're all all right! We're all all right! We're all all right! Maura Kennedy suddenly found herself on stage, a de facto member of The Richards, singing along and beaming with the sheer, cathartic giddiness of this rock 'n' roll exorcism. We're all all right, all right!
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| The Richards and company: Mark Doyle, Ronnie Dark, Maura Kennedy, and Paul Armstrong sing Cheap Trick's "Surrender." Photo by Karen Munze |
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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 155 essays about 155 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
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