Cool. Never did get the Dream Police album though. I bought Cheap Trick’s first three albums in order and it seemed to me that each one was just a little bit weaker than the one before, so I never quite developed the motivation to pick up that one. (or Budokan.)
I just find it really a weird video and entertaining to watch. They are a band I enjoy in the shuffle, but I do not think I sit down to listen to a Cheap Trick album very often.
Here’s a good one from one of their “lost periods”:
I like to imagine Rick Nielsen doing Pete Townshend windmills on the opening chords of this song.
Also, this:
“He’s A Whore” knocks my socks off, from their first album c. 1977 - bad lip-syncing and that tight salmon colored suit not withstanding. Big Black covered it, too:
Oh yeah, love the first album.
Budokan is pretty awesome if you sit and listen to it all the way through. The re-release with the whole thing is worth it IMO. They were pretty on fire, man.
Rick is (in the world at large) pretty underrated as a guitarist.
One of my favs (and a cover) from that album -
“The Dream Police,” Gary Numan (1978)
Bravo! Her eyes went out, dreaming overdose on time.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High - based on the Book by Cameron Crowe which was written about his TRUE EXPERIENCES going undercover as a senior at Ridgemont High.
Damone is given much more ink in the book than air time in the movie - the movie character is an elision of a couple of people in the book - and his story is one of the most memorable. If you can get your hands on a copy (it’s out of print and expensive to get), it’s a brilliant read.
Other than this single, when they were released I’d never paid much attention to them in the early years but they played a show near where I lived as part of their Lap of Luxury tour ('89? '90?). I went to please my then girlfriend and was blown away by their live show - bought the early albums afterwards but they never lived up to the live show.
I saw Cheap Trick once…probably around 1978. They were ok, but the warmup act were The Romantics and they blew the place away. Completely upstaged Cheap Trick.
How could the one-hit wonder upstage Cheap Trick? I mean they only had one notable single–which, I’ll admit, I danced to in clubs during the early-ish eighties. But for the life of me, I can’t even imagine The Romantics having a complete play list for their set. Are you sure they were playing live? Just askin’…
I do know that “Dream Police” is Cheap Trick’s weakest when performing live, but they sound great when performing the rest of their stuff. (This comes from someone who spent way too much time going to concerts between 1981-1988, instead doing something more meaningful with my life.)
Edited to fix title of song.
Brings back wonderful memories of the early days of MTV, when they actually played videos.
You liked it so much you even adapted your avatar to Numan, huh? Also, congratulations on being the protagonist of one of my all time favorite books!
This was a great record. Side two especially. I saw them on this tour, they were great live!
I first heard this song on the radio when I was a little kid, while we were driving somewhere on vacation. I thought it was amazing.
I always loved this song (and as an adult I think Budokan rocks hard), maybe because when I first heard it I was reading 1984, and as an impressionable young grade schooler figuring out how the world works the combination made a definite impression.
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