The American rock quartet has become famous since 1979 in America thanks to the legendary track Cheap Trick at Budokan. The guys became famous all over the world thanks to long plays, without which not a single disco of the 1980s could do.
The line-up has been formed in Rockford since 1974. At first, Rick and Tom performed in school bands, then they united in the Explosion ensemble.
They were soon joined by drummer Ben Carlos and lead guitarist Robin Zander. In 1975, the team toured the Midwest and gained a reputation as a promising project.
The rise and fall of Cheap Trick
The talent of men was noticed by producer Jack Douglas and offered the young men to sign a contract with Epic Records. The quartet began to work hard, and five weeks later released their debut LP Cheap Trick in a commercial hard rock style. The album's sales were small, but the reviews turned out to be positive.
The Cheap Trick group did not stop there, worked on the second release of In Color and at the same time performed as an opening act for the bands: Kiss, Queen and Journey.
The next two albums (Heaven tonight, Dream Police) turned out to be melodic, and the audience accepted them with considerable interest, but there was no bright sensation.
Album Dream Police with beautiful arrangement of songs became the most popular for Cheap Trick.
The group gained worldwide fame after touring Japan. Performances with concerts at the Budokan ensured the success of the world scale. The live album "Life on the Badukan" became "platinum".
Despite the "breakthrough", the young men continued to engage in creativity and presented the public with a "golden" disc. Dissatisfied with the state of affairs, Peterson left the line-up, and bass player John Brant came in his place.
In order to avoid the final fall, the quartet began to experiment with presentation and genres.
The three-chord album One on One and the pop release Next Position Please were not accepted by the public, and the song Standing on the Edge became fatal and led to an increase in popularity.
Some time later, Peterson returned to the band, and together with him the group Cheap Trick was in the original line-up and released a multi-platinum compilation with the single The Flame, which took the top of the Billboard world chart.
High positions gave way to a fall, and a year later the label stopped working with the musicians.
In 1997, the team decided to resume activities and returned to the sound of 20 years ago, but this did not work out due to the bankruptcy of the sponsoring company Red Alliance.
In the late 1990s, the band toured extensively and re-released early material, where the Rockford album earned praise from professional critics and ordinary listeners.
Group activities in the 2000s
The project did not work for 6 years, and in May 2003 the band Cheap Trick released Special One with the single Perfects Trange. Guys are attracted to McDonald's "Your Alarm Clock" promotion.
Images of officials were published on the cover of glossy magazines and city transport stickers. The Illinois State Senate has designated April 1 as Cheap Trick's official day.
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the album, a joint performance with the musicians of The Beatles was planned and material was performed with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
In October 2008, the musicians celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Cheap Trick at Budokan album and played a concert.
In 2010, Carlos underwent surgery and was forced to leave the squad for health reasons, so he was replaced by Dax (Nielsen's son).
In 2011, 20 minutes before the start of the concert, a thunderstorm began, and a strong wind blew the 40-ton stage roof onto the band's truck.
In 2013, Ben sued former friends because they did not allow him to participate in the recording of songs. The trio filed a counterclaim in order to deprive him of the legal rights to create.
As a result, the dispute was settled by the lawyers of the parties and Ben was listed as an actual member of the group, but could no longer take part in it.
By the beginning of 2016, the band released the release Bang, zoom, crazy, hello, which became successful, and the musicians restored the public's interest in the band.
In 2017, drummer Dax released the CD We're All Alright!. In August and September of the same year, the group took part in the creation of the Black Blizzard single.
Brief biography of the group
Rick Nielsen was born December 22, 1948. His parents are opera singers, where Father Ralph Nielsen led the symphony and choir and recorded over 40 solo albums.
When the son was a teenager, the family opened a record store in Rockford. So Rick was introduced to playing instruments. First he mastered drumming, and after 6 years he changed direction and mastered the knowledge of guitar and keyboards.
Tom Peterson (Thomas John Peterson) was born on May 9, 1951. From his youth, Tom was interested in music and by the age of 16 he joined the Grim Reaper group. He played the bass guitar to perfection, which contributed to the history of the group Cheap Trick.
Robin Zander was born on January 23, 1953. Graduated from Harmlen School in Wisconsin. From childhood he is a game
l on the guitar, and at the age of 12 Robin was fluent in it. He took an active part in school groups.
Ben Carlos was born on June 12, 1950. He was the original drummer of the group, but due to the conflict he was forced to leave, and Dax Nielsen came in his place.
