Essential Cheap Trick Songs

So with Cheap Trick, like most casual classic rock listeners, I'm sure are only familiar with "Dream Police", "Surrender", and "I Want You To Want Me." I suppose there's "The Flame", too. During one music discussion with my aunt following a holiday dinner, such is  the case when we get together, Cheap Trick was mentioned. I believe this may have been 2009. Regardless of when, I drove down to Co-Op and picked up their Greatest Hits. However I was disappointed with what I'd heard since it seemed like a lot of pop songs, covers, and live versions. I still wasn't sold. It wasn't until I started regularly hanging with my friends Brent and Dustin years later that I gave the band another shot. We already had several bands in common, so if those guys dig Cheap Trick, maybe they were worth listening to.

10. "Big Eyes" (In Color)
That kick drum hooked me from the start- thump, thump thump! I honestly wasn't sure I would like In Color and I let "I Want You To Want Me" give the album a false impression, so I tried to avoid it and started with Dream Police and Heaven Tonight instead. Once I finally circled back around, I'm glad I did.

9. "You're All Talk" (In Color)
Why this song isn't on any "greatest hits" collection is beyond me. It's not on the Greatest Hits deemed by the label, nor the band-authorized Greatest Hits, and it didn't even make the two-disc Essentials collection; ain't that a shame.

8. "Clock Strikes Ten" (In Color)
I like how it starts off with a clock chiming before turning into a frenzied rock song. I could see this one being an energetic concert opener... the chimes sound off, curtain drops, then guitars blaze. At least that's how I envision a Cheap Trick concert.


7. "Way Of The World" (Dream Police)
With this song, I can totally see why my music lover friends are gung ho about Cheap Trick. Not only are a few of my close friends into this band, so is a rock musician that I recently met- Richie Scarlet. With Richie and the other members of Ace Frehley's band piled into my car on a hot summer day, I hurried to get them to their hotel but also tried to pay attention to a story that Richie was sharing with his band mates. He was saying how he was in Champaign in the late 70's and was told he needed to come out to a club and check out Illinois' hottest band. I thought maybe he meant REO Speedwagon because he mentioned Champaign, but he meant Cheap Trick. I wish I could remember the whole story, since I think Richie was saying he was in college then, but I was trying to focus on driving and was also a little embarrassed that my car was so damn hot.

6. "On Top Of The World" (Heaven Tonight)
Honestly, I think I've played this one repeatedly the most times out of all of the songs making this list. I'm not sure what it is. I think its the balance between the guitar licks and the soaring vocals from Robin Zander. I also feel like this song should be instantly cued up when some big momentous event happens in your life- "you're on top of the world and you can't get any higher!" It's the theme song for achievements.

5. "Auf Wiedersehen" (Heaven Tonight)
This is the song I'd pinpoint as the moment that tipped the scales into the territory of being a fan of Cheap Trick. Although I feel like more of a fan of this trio of albums than their whole body of work, that's besides the point. This song showed off another side to the band that I was unaware of by basing my opinion on that Greatest Hits collection. I assumed they were just some pop rock band that managed to score it big with a ballad in the 1980's. Well, that is true, they had a hit like "The Flame"  except that totally unrepresented their actual body of work.

4. "Heaven Tonight" (Heaven Tonight)
Much like "Auf Wiedersehen", this is a sarcastic suicide song, but also made me fall in love with this album. I like the hushed vocals and the symphonic dirge of this song. Much like wanting "On Top Of The World" to be played at the high points in life, I want this song played at my funeral.

3. "Surrender" (Heaven Tonight)
Before borrowing this CD from Brent last year, this song always made me think of Fast Times At Ridgemont High because that one guy sang it. Now it has a new meaning because not only does it mention KISS, but it has tongue-in-cheek lyrics in the vein of Alice Cooper.  And then I saw Rick Nielsen perform "School's Out" with Alice Cooper last fall in Moline; not that there's any correlation between those events. Just sayin.


2. "Gonna Raise Hell" (Dream Police)
This song is just 9 minutes of cool. I guess my tendency to like long songs comes from my fondness for Dream Theater. Some may think it carries on too long but I've heard much longer, believe me. I want to, actually NEED, to hear this live.

 

 
1. "Dream Police" (Dream Police) 
Before listening to this album and loving it, to me this song was a dumb joke I've made on one or two occasions. The sequels to A Nightmare On Elm Street were given subtitles like "Dream Warriors" and "Dream Child", but why not "Dream Police"? Lame, I know. The song is far cooler than my dumb joke. After becoming engrossed in Cheap Trick, I feel like they're more of a musicians' band, perhaps maybe my new benchmark for determining if someone has great taste in music and knows what's what.