Cheap Trick Heaven Tonight

Cheap Trick attempted to ride the new wave on 1982’s One on One, but wound up with a wipe-out, so they recovered by hiring Todd Rundgren, one of the few ‘70s album-rockers who proved that he knew how to negotiate the treacherous waters of the early ‘80s, for 1983’s Next Position Please. Rundgren wielded a heavy hand during his production, pushing Cheap Trick toward making a record that could easily be mistaken for a Utopia record – so much so, the Todd composition, “Heaven’s Falling,” slips onto the second side without calling attention to itself. The bright surfaces with the guitars and keyboards melding so tightly with the vocal harmonies they’re inseparable, produce a sound that is uncannily reminiscent of Oops!

Cheap Trick is an American band that enjoys international fame particularly because of their spectacular live concerts. The history of Cheap Trick is as uncommon as the band itself. Rick Nielsen, an American, and Tom Petersson, who was born in Sweden and grew up in the USA, decided in the beginning of the '70s to form a band in Europe…

At Budokan unexpectedly made Cheap Trick stars, largely because "I Want You to Want Me" had a tougher sound than its original studio incarnation. Perversely – and most things Cheap Trick have done are somehow perverse – the band decided not to continue with the direct, stripped-down sound of At Budokan, which would have been a return to their debut…

Special One is Cheap Trick's first studio album in six years – the longest stretch between albums in the band's history. Since rock essentially entered a deep-freeze state in 1997, not much has changed since the second LP entitled Cheap Trick and Special One, and the band sounds no older or younger with the passing years…

The Doctor is the ninth studio album by Cheap Trick, released in 1986. Since the beginning of the 1980s, Cheap Trick saw increasing pressure from their label, Epic Records, to produce material that was more commercial. In 1985, the band successfully gained a commercial comeback with the Top 40 album Standing on the Edge. For that album, the band had planned on returning to the rough sound of their 1977 debut, but producer Jack Douglas backed out of mixing process due to the legal issues he was having with Yoko Ono. Mixer Tony Platt was called in, and as a result, the album's production featured keyboards and electronic drums more prominently than the band and Douglas had intended.