Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick bassist Tom Petersson inadvertently came up with the band’s name when, during a Slade concert, he quipped that the band used “every cheap trick in the book.” ∙ In 1978, Japanese fans greeted Cheap Trick like they were The Beatles when the band recorded their breakthrough live album at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan arena. ∙ At Budokan (Live), considered one of the greatest concert albums of all time, contains the band’s first Top 10 hit, “I Want You to Want Me.” ∙ By 1980, Cheap Trick was filling arenas, putting on electrifying shows highlighted by Robin Zander’s powerhouse vocals and Rick Nielsen’s power chords on his five-neck guitar. ∙ Cheap Trick scored its one and only chart-topper with the power ballad “The Flame,” from the band’s 1988 comeback album, Lap of Luxury. ∙ The band’s 1999 cover of Big Star’s “In the Street” was used as the theme song for the hit TV series That ’70s Show. ∙ In 2007, Cheap Trick transformed itself into Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the Hollywood Bowl, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ masterpiece. ∙ These perennial road warriors, who’ve played more than 5000 shows while selling more than 20 million albums, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.