The Best & Worst of 70’s Cheap Trick – Ep468

This week we welcome good friend, podcaster, and author Brian J. Kramp to discuss The Best & Worst of 70’s Cheap Trick! In addition to his hosting duties of the awesome Rock and/or Roll Podcast, Brian’s got an awesome new book coming out this Summer based on the early days of Cheap Trick!

This Band Has No Past tells the story of a bar band from the Midwest—the best and weirdest bar band in the Midwest—and how these four baby boomers, having been lucky enough to avoid the Vietnam draft, doggedly pursued a most unlikely career in rock’n’roll and made it on their own terms. It traces every gnarly limb of the family tree of bands that culminated in Cheap Trick, then details how this unlikely foursome paid their dues—with interest—night after night, slogging it out everywhere from high schools to bars to bowling alleys to fans’ back yards, before signing to Epic Records and releasing two brilliant albums six months apart.

Cheap Trick

Drawing on more than eighty original interviews, This Band Has No Past is packed full of new insights and information that fans of the band will devour. How was the Cheap Trick logo created? How did the checkerboard pattern come to be associated with the band? When did Rick Nielsen start wearing a ballcap 24/7? Who caught their mom and dad rolling on the couch? Read on and find out. The book is set for release June 21, 2022 and we can’t wait to get it!

In this episode, the guys each share their favorite and least favorite songs from Cheap Trick’s 70’s output. This episode covers the self-titled debut, In Color, Heaven Tonight, and Dream Police as well as the landmark Cheap Trick at Budokan release. There are some definite differences in taste among the guys in this episode and it makes for an interesting discussion.

What are your Best & Worst of 70’s Cheap Trick picks? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to pre-order your copy of This Band Has No Past by Brian J. Kramp at https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1911036874/creativepubco-20

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