Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick.Arguably no one in the post-punk era gave birth to more earworms than Cheap Trick.
The band from Rockford, Ill. had a distinct knack for penning pop hooks – pop hooks that still taste sugary-sweet on our tongues decades later. They gave birth to the subgenre now referred to as power-pop, a term that can be applied to everyone from Weezer to The Smoking Popes to the Foo Fighters. (One of my most enjoyable concert memories is of seeing the Foos at a special Halloween gig in Chicago, where they dressed up as the Tricksters and kicked off their set with a handful of Cheap hits.)
IF YOU GO
Cheap Trick with opening acts The Verve Pipe and Mid-Life Crisis
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Van Andel Arena
Tickets: $32.50-$62.50, Ticketmaster
Also: A free pre-show street party will take place outside Van Andel Arena on Ottawa Ave. SW, with a performance by local band The Outer Vibe, beverages, food and more.
When Cheap Trick, now consisting of singer/guitarist Robin Zander, bassist Tom Petersson, guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Daxx Nielsen (longtime drummer Bun E. Carlos' health problems mean he no longer plays live) headlines Van Andel Arena on Sunday, it'll be an off-date from their tour opening for Aerosmith. Which means they'll have plenty of time to cram many melodies into our melons, leaving us humming their hooks for the next few weeks.
And in anticipation of our inevitable earworm insanity, here are the eight tunes atop my Cheap Trick playlist:
"I Want You to Want Me"
Pure candy. Tootsie Rolls and lollipops. Summertime sunshine yearning and heartbreak. It’s not articulate, but it’s still wonderful in its simplicity. This sugary thing was one of Cheap Trick’s first-ever singles in 1977, but it didn’t become an omnipresent classic until ‘79’s “Live at Budokan.”
"Surrender"
Sure, this is so infectious, the hook sounds like a deal with the devil. But those ‘80s-sounding keyboards pumping behind Rick Nielsen’s power chords actually preceded the ‘80s by a couple years, and were ripped off by many who followed.
"Dream Police"
They’re driving me insane. They live inside of my head. The choruses Cheap Trick writes, I mean. That they’re lyrics for this catchy ditty is purely coincidental. (Nifty side note: Damon Lange, the Grand Rapids Police Department’s Officer of the Year, is going to the show, and not coincidentally in the least, this is his favorite Cheap Trick tune.)
"She's Tight"
Easily my favorite Trick track. The main keyboard and guitar riffs would rot Elvis Costello’s teeth. The call-and-response, delectable. The pogoing beat, irrepressible. Is this song about what we think it’s about? Is it a metaphor for something? Am I thinking about it too much?
"Auf Wiedersehen"
My second-fave, this is one of their heaviest tunes, dark, gritty, punky, but still catchy as hell. Why they don’t play this live much anymore is beyond me – it’s the type of rousing cut that’d rip the roof off an arena.
"Heaven Tonight"
The Trick gets dark and scary on this haunting dirge about death. The whispering and the descending melodies and the droning moans are creepy and counter to the band’s bouncy character, which is why it works so well. It’s kind of a ripoff of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir,” but so what?
"The Flame"
I know. This is an overproduced megaballad that saturated the world when it hit No. 1 in 1988. But the yearning beneath the sheen feels warm and sincere now.
"Goodnight"
Because it’s the most blatantly obvious set-closer ever written by any band ever. It ends the party, but makes you want to continue it at the same time.