Cheap Trick

In the late 70s, Illinois rock band Cheap Trick became a stadium-filling success, thanks to three excellent studio albums and the runaway sales of live album In Budokan (1979). That live album was recorded in Japan, where they had a Beatles-like effect on hoardes of screaming teenage girls. The first three albums - Cheap Trick, In Color and Heaven Tonight - were praised by critics but not too successful in the shops. It took the energy of the band's live shows, captured on In Budokan, to shake and wake the American record-buying public into checking the band out. Three million sales and packed out sports stadiums soon followed for the band, whose "I Want You To Want Me" hit No.7 on the Hot 100. Dream Police (1979) was another big-seller, and saw the band move further into the grand melodrama of bands like Queen.

That was probably the band's peak, as successive albums were criticised by reviewers despite selling reasonably well. Standing On The Edge (1985) marked a minor come-back to favour, and they even achieved a No.1 hit single in 1988 with "The Flame". But the band became caught up in disputes with their record label, and spent many years flitting between labels and distributors trying to find a suitable home. In the late 90s they decided to concentrate on touring, as their live shows were always rapturously received. In 2006 they released another album, Rockford, which was enjoyed by fans and critics. The following year the Illinois Senate decreed that April 1st was to be known as Cheap Trick Day in the state.