Rick Nielsen was the mastermind toward the formation of a Cheap Trick Rock Band. In 1961, he began to play in Rockford, Illinois where he used a quite unusual collection of rare guitars. During this time he formed several local bands such as the boyz and grim reapers. Brad Carlson who was later called Bun E Carlos was playing at the time in a rival Rockford band called the pagans.

The Beginning of Rock Band

Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson formed Fuse in 1967. Previously, Petersson played in a Rockford Illinois band called themselves The Bo Weevils.

The 1970

In 1970, they released their self-titled album for epic records which was terribly ignored. Their disappointment led them to look for the remaining band members of Nazz. They started playing around the Midwest for six to seven months using either fuse or Nazz brand. With Bun E. Carlos joined the band and played drums, they later moved to Philadelphia in 1971 in 1972 and 1973, the fuse began calling themselves Sick Man of Europe.

The band adopted the current name ‘cheap trick’ in August 1973. The name was founded as a result of Petersson’s comment at a Slade concert stating that the band used every Cheap Trick in the book as part of their act

Randy Hogan

Randy ‘Xeno’ Hogan was the original vocalist for the band but he left the band shortly after its transformation. He was replaced by Robin Zander. Before Hogan left, they recorded a demo “Hot Tomato” in mid-1974.

Between 1975-1978

During this period, the band recorded a demo in 1975 where they played in bowling alleys, warehouses and other venues in the Midwestern United States. A & R Tom Werman signed the band to epic records with producer Jack Douglas in 1976.

Cheap Trick released their first album ‘Cheap Trick’ in 1977 under producer Jack Douglas. However, the album was not successful. Cheap Trick contained singles ‘Oh Candy’.

ELO Kiddies was a hit single and the band developed popularity in Japan.

The second album ‘In Color’ was released the same year, produced by Tom Werman. He produced a more polished album and brought out a more pop-oriented side of the band but the album was highly unsuccessful.

In May 1978, the band released another album ‘heaven tonight’ with Tom Werman as the producer. ‘Surrender’ single in the album was the first ever to hit in the United States ranking to number 62. The song has gone on to become one of the band’s signature songs.