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Cheap Trick may no longer be playing the stadiums that the group's monumental talent surely warrants, but they do have one of the most loyal cult followings in all rock & roll. Thus, when Epic Records decided to release a four-disc box set celebrating the quartet's 20th anniversary with the label, someone there was smart enough to let the band put together a collection for the collectors. Which means 32 of the 64 tracks here are previously unreleased, including many live cover tunes (Beatles, Velvet Underground), demo takes, and a few things only a fan would want. Some hits are here (including "Surrender"), but, as a good example, there's no "He's a Whore," which Cheap Trick probably figured their fans should already own.

On August 28, 1999, power pop masters Cheap Trick played a special show for fans at Davis Park in their hometown of Rockford, IL, to salute their 25th anniversary as a band together. The show included several musical celebrities making cameo appearances (as well as relatives of Cheap Trick bandmembers) and the inclusion of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra String Quartet on several tracks, while the 29-song set list dipped deep into the band's catalog – including at least one song from every album of their career thus far. The evening's proceedings have been captured on the 2001 double-disc Silver, the band's second live release in two years.

While their records were entertaining and full of skillful pop, it wasn't until At Budokan that Cheap Trick's vision truly gelled. Many of these songs, like "I Want You to Want Me" and "Big Eyes," were pleasant in their original form, but seemed more like sketches compared to the roaring versions on this album. With their ear-shatteringly loud guitars and sweet melodies, Cheap Trick unwittingly paved the way for much of the hard rock of the next decade, as well as a surprising amount of alternative rock of the 1990s, and it was At Budokan that captured the band in all of its power.