Ross Warner’s American Standard: Cheap Trick From The Bars to the Budokan and Beyond (Foreword by Mike McCready) came out just recently. It’s been seven years since Glide asked him to compile a Top 10 list, and the timing and subject seem appropriate. So without further introduction, here’s his Top 10 Under the Radar Cheap Trick Deep Cut songs:
10. “Too Much,” from Special One (2003)
I could have also included the album’s “Scent of a Woman” in this spot. I know this isn’t the greatest album, but I have a soft spot for it. I saw the band play it at the Virgin Megastore on July 22, 2003, for an in-store signing. They also did both songs for their “AOL Sessions” that year. The songs (both, actually) start as ballads and build into something completely Cheap Trick.
9. “I Can’t Take It,” from Next Position Please (1983)
Like a lot of Cheap Trick’s post-1980 stuff, this song is better than the production and reception it received at the time. The version to check out is from Bun E. Carlos and Steve Acri’s “Basement Bootleg Series.” These used to be only available in small batches through CDs and are now online.
The Semi-Acoustical volume from the original CDs also contains a great version of “Wrong All Along,” from their 1997 self-titled CD.
8. “Anytime,” Cheap Trick, 1997.
I chose that album’s opening track for this spot. In 1997, Cheap Trick tried to reboot in the studio entirely. Precisely twenty years from their self-titled debut, they put out another one. The art was all in Black and White, just like that first record. Instead of Robin Zander and Tom Petersson on the front and Rick Nielsen on the back, like they did for In Color, Heaven Tonight, and at Budokan, it was reversed. Instead of the band members themselves, the album only showed their instruments. The entire record is fantastic, but in true Cheap Trick fashion, it didn’t turn as they had hoped. Red Ant Records shortly went bankrupt, and the band had to “return” to Budokan in 1998.
7. “Can’t Hold On” Found all the Parts, 1980.
By returning, I mean that Cheap Trick finally saw the second half of their Japanese show released to produce “The Complete Concert.” This song was initially included in the 1980 EP and was the first Japanese material to come out after the album that changed everything. 1993’s Budokan II also featured the track, mixed by Jack Douglas, just like the rest of the original album. The song is a perfect example of Robin Zander’s mastery as frontman. He and the band genuinely have the audience in the palm of their hand. There is also a great version on 2022’s Live At The Whiskey set, from three years earlier, where Rick Nielsen admits the song is about a friend who “killed the shit out of himself,” most likely photographed Marshall Mintz, for whom 1977’s “Oh, Candy” is named.
6. “Cry, Cry” Cheap Trick, 1977.
This was also performed at the Whiskey and you can hear it from it’s first release, 2020’s Out To Get You.
If you weren’t lucky enough to snag a copy of the boxed set from Real Gone, this is the version to hear. When Bun E. Carlos and Rick Nielsen were promoting the “Complete Concert,” Carlos mentioned this as a song he wished the band had played in Japan. It’s easy to see why. It gets all slow, has a little “Heartbreak Hotel” in it, and would have melted the girls’ hearts in Osaka and Budokan (both venues were taped for the famous album, despite popular belief).
5. “Didn’t Know I Had It,” Woke Up With a Monster (1994)
The album, produced by Ted Templeman, was an earlier attempt to rebrand the band. It was the only one not to use the famous typewriter-font Cheap Trick logo and represented a sound too harsh and too much of a departure for many mainstream listeners.
The version I selected comes from Zander and Nielsen’s appearance on Japan’s “AX WAVE” show on April 9, 1994. This was, of course, when Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Nielsen, as usual, is spokesman and talks about it while Zander understandably looks visibly shaken. The lyrics to the song seem suddenly apropos after Cobain’s sudden death. The song can be found at about the seven-minute mark of the surviving video broadcast.
4. “Just Got Back,” All Shook Up, 1981
In theory, it was a match made in heaven. Cheap Trick, who was so obviously influenced (but also accused of copying) The Beatles had their album produced by Sir George Martin. Unfortunately, the band was in the worst possible place to receive the praise they had spent so many years trying to achieve. By the time of the album, Tom Petersson was essentially out of the band and Rick Nielsen played bass on many tracks.
The version to check out is on 2001’s “Silver,” which documented the August 28, 1999 “family reunion” concert in Rockford. Special guests and a subsequent DVD followed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the band. Of course, the 50th is less giddy, with only three of four members currently touring.
3. “Way of The World,” Dream Police, 1979.
This was, of course, the first post-Budokan album that has better material than people thought. The version from the 12/31/79 show at the LA Forum really proves this. It was on Are You Ready, the 2019 Record Store release that featured the original tapes from the nationwide broadcast. It also appears on “The Epic Archive, Vol. 2,” where Bun E. Carlos says in the liner notes that the song really never connected with the audience and wasn’t played much after as a result. Check it out to find out what crowds were missing.
2. “Oh Claire,” Heaven Tonight, 1978
It’s a hidden track from the last album recorded before the band took that fateful flight to Japan. As Bun E. Carlos recalls, it was another inside joke from Cheap Trick to slap a fake crowd track on top of the song and say it was from a tour they hadn’t started. The only lyrics are “Oh, Konnichiwa,” but the riff is as powerful and hook-laden as anything they ever did. They’d been playing since the early bar days and was the basis for “Down Down Down,” which became one of my favorite songs ever, “Downed,” from1977’s In Color. On that Japanese tour, and the 1978 shows that followed, the band would come out to the studio version of “Oh Claire,” which gets its name from Eau Claire, WI. The band returned to the song for the 1998 album shows at Chicago’s Metro in 1998. You can hear it in all its live glory on the Music For Hangovers album.
1. “Fan Club,” Sex, America, Cheap Trick (1996)
The version on the boxed set is a demo from Ardent Studios in 1975. It was also recorded in 1980, when Jack Douglas was putting together songs in Los Angeles for the band to have others sing. It appears on the tracks the late Steve Albini recorded when the band decided to re-record In Color. Those versions can be found on the internet. The first version is still my favorite. The song’s lyrics represent to me everything that had and would happen to Cheap Trick. It talks about what it’s like to be an obsessive in the crowd and what it’s like to be that band on stage. It alludes to “lifestyle deaths” of the 1970s and the frustration of trying to become a successful band. It had a Ziggy Stardust-like feel, which is no shock considering David Bowie’s influence. The band included the names of some of their original fans in the demo and would add to the list over the years, just like the written one they had for their mailings back in Madison, WI. Nothing sums it up like the words “Four kings with an army strong/You knew the words to all our songs.” The best of the best.
Ross would like to acknowledge Tom Beaujour, who was not only kind enough to write a blurb for his book but published his list for Rolling Stone in 2016 when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You can still check it out here.
