Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Today, we’ll be examining a band whose career spans nearly 50 years and 20 studio albums as of this upcoming Friday. Their name is a familiar one among suburban American households since the late 1970s: Cheap Trick. Unlike most (if not all) of their peers, Cheap Trick are as fresh and relevant today as they were back then. How did their reign as the oddball hard rock kings of the U.S. come to be? This week’s essay explains exactly how as we look back upon their self titled 1977 debut album.
Cheap Trick’s story is the stuff of Hollyweird. After years of slaving away on the live circuit, playing every bar, basement, and bathroom in the Midwest, a fateful encounter with producer Jack Douglas changed their fortune forever. The year was 1976. While on vacation visiting his in laws in the modest town of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Douglas took an evening stroll to the local bowling alley. It was here that he first heard the sounds of Cheap Trick. According to Rick Nielsen, Douglas called Epic Records from the bowling alley’s payphone mid-set and exclaimed, “If you don’t sign them, I’ll sign them myself.” Such a bold statement only shows how much clout the star producer had gained since being the naïve engineer on John Lennon’s Imagine.
Perhaps it was Cheap Trick’s resemblance to the Lennon penned power pop of the early Beatles that attracted Douglas in the first place. No, that couldn’t be. Because that same power pop was coated in a menacing, metallic sheen reminiscent of Black Sabbath, which was in turn hopped up on glue à la the fresh faced Ramones. Lest we forget the overall quirkiness that was present, but had yet to be named? They called this new quirk “new wave”. Today’s doctors would label it ADHD. Now how on earth could a band be pop, punk, metal/hard rock, and new wave all at the same time? Who the hell knows, but Cheap Trick did so. Their complete disregard of “the rules” should be apparent just from a glance at their debut album cover. On one hand, you had two of the prettiest, feather headed rockstars the Epic PR department could dream of. On the other, you had Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos. One looked like a disturbingly oversized schoolboy (Nielsen). The other looked like he sold used cars for a living (Carlos).
The musical content which lay within Cheap Trick is as oblivious to norms and conventions as its accompanying cover photo. It should also be noted that the lyrical matter explored on this album is significantly darker than that of future Cheap Trick releases. So if you’re going into this essay expecting “Mommy’s alright. Daddy’s alright.”, reader discretion is advised. Among the topics which will be explored today: suicide, exploitation, a serial killer, and a Lolita style sex fantasy. Gees, had I not known any better, I would’ve thought I was analyzing a Blue Öyster Cult album!
The album opens with…wait. How do we even play this album? If we turn to the back cover, we’re given two options: Side A and Side 1. Where’s side B? Turns out this was no coincidence. As tongue in cheek as the band’s music and image, Nielsen stated his was done on purpose because they didn’t have any “B material”. Those clever bastards. If we’re going off the back cover alone, we’re going to start this listen with “Side A” because it is listed first before “Side 1”. Although on future CD reissues, “Side 1” opens the album. Alright, enough with these particularities. On to the record.
Kicking things off is “Hot Love”. This quick 2 and a half minute rocker is a revved up take on the 50s rock n’ roll that Cheap Trick’s members must’ve heard in their early years. It stands in stark contrast to the following track, “Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace”. The sole cover on the album, “Speak Now” was originally written and recorded by forgotten singer/songwriter Terry Reid. There’s an uneasy, mysterious energy to this song that makes us question if this is even the same band who just gave us “Hot Love”. It indeed is. If you think this is dark, well folks, it only gets darker from here.
Next up is one of my favorite Cheap Trick songs of all time, “He’s a Whore”. Everything about this song screams punk rock: the song title, Robin Zander’s throat scratching vocals, Rick Nielsen’s aggressive riffing, and the skull crushing rhythm section of Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos. Upon first listen, one assumes “He’s a Whore” is a tale about sex/prostitution. While it may be such at surface value, upon further investigation, it serves as a larger statement on exploitation. “I’m a whore, I’ll do anything for money.” The key word here is “anything”. There are times where people feel so desperate, they’re quick to sacrifice their self worth just to make a couple bucks. This could be anywhere from the street corner to Wall Street. And you thought Rush were the only philosophers of 70s hard rock.
Now I’m only vaguely familiar with the genre known as “dreampop”. I’m aware of its existence, but have never listened to any bands within the genre, at least not knowingly. Yet “dreampop” is the only label that feels right when discussing “Mandocello”. This song should NOT exist within this earthly realm. It’s one of those heavenly hymns that you’d imagine playing in the background of your sweetest dream. A dream so sweet that upon waking up, you can’t help but cry because you want to hear more of the song. Thankfully for you and I, “Mandocello” exists to transport us to that dream dimension anytime of day or night we please.
Side A closes with “The Ballad of TV Violence (I’m Not the Only Boy)”: An anxiety ridden hard rocker loosely based on the real life murder of eight nurses by Richard Speck. The dream that was “Mandocello” quickly turns into a nightmare. The lyrics and music of “TV Violence” get more and more frantic as the song goes on. Before you know it, your stomach is churning, sweat drips down your brow, and you find it hard to breathe. There’s no doubt its sinister atmosphere inspired 80s extreme metal bands who prided themselves on bringing the graphic and perverse to life through song.
We then flip from Side A to Side 1. Nielsen wasn’t joking when he said Cheap Trick had no “B material”. “Elo Kiddies” sounds like just as much of an album opener as “Hot Love”. Of all the tracks on here, this upbeat sugar coated power pop romp is the closest to the Cheap Trick we’d come to know and love on subsequent releases. And just as “Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace” contrasts this lightheartedness on Side A, the bizarre “Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School” does the same on Side 1. Look, my daily listening diet consists of songs pertaining to sex, drugs, violence, gore, and Satan. In other words, all the lovely stuff Tipper Gore warned us about in the 80s. But even I can’t help but wonder what the literal fuck was going through Nielsen’s head when he wrote this one. Let’s take a look at the chorus, shall we?
“I’m thirty, but I feel like sixteen
I might even know your daddy
I’m dirty, but my body is clean
I might even be your daddy”
Yeah. That’s totally normal (sarcasm alert). The verses are even creepier. It’s the musical equivalent of a trashy John Waters movie and leaves a foul taste in the mouth. And yet the melodies are so damn hooky, you can’t help but singalong to the chorus every single time.
“Taxman, Mr. Thief” is Cheap Trick’s homage to The Beatles, even down to the song title and chorus. While the original “Taxman” was penned and sang by George Harrison, this Trick tune bears stronger resemblance to Lennon at his most cynical. With cuts like this, it’s no wonder Cheap Trick earned the nickname “the American Beatles”. Had the Fab Four stuck it out through the 70s, they just may have put out a song like this. Or perhaps a song like “Cry, Cry”. I don’t know why, but I’ve always considered “Cry, Cry” to be the stonewashed cousin of “This Boy”. Are there any other Beatlemaniacs who hear the resemblance, or am I the only one? Let me know in the comments.
Closing it all out is arguably the most disturbing song on an album full of disturbing songs, “Oh, Candy”. You know those songs you go your entire life listening to and perhaps even enjoying, only to find out the dark backstory behind their lyrics? “Oh, Candy” is one of those songs. Musically, it’s a cheerful power pop anthem in the vein of The Dave Clark Five or The Who. Lyrically, it’s the tragic tale of Marshall Mintz: Cheap Trick’s close friend and photographer who committed suicide by hanging. Instead of naming the song after their fallen brother, Cheap Trick chose to nickname him “Candy” after his initials, “M&M”. Don’t underestimate the brains on these Rockford boys.
Despite being universally praised by rock critics, Cheap Trick tanked and I can’t say I’m too surprised. Musical excellence aside, how on earth was Epic going to market such a disturbing album, let alone in the heart of the disco era? The label complained to Douglas and the band that the record was far “too dark”, resulting them to dip into their already written pop repertoire for their next release, “In Color“. But that’s another story for another day.