November 25, 2025 • 32 mins
Join us on Takin A Walk for an unforgettable conversation with Tom Petersson, legendary bassist and founding member of Cheap Trick! In this episode, we dive deep into the iconic rock band’s incredible journey, their latest album, and what keeps them at the forefront of rock and roll after five decades.
Tom opens up about Cheap Trick’s new album, sharing exclusive insights into the creative process, songwriting evolution, and what fans can expect from their latest release. From the recording studio to the stage, discover how one of rock’s most enduring bands continues to push boundaries and create fresh, powerful music.
We explore Tom’s revolutionary 12-string bass sound that helped define Cheap Trick’s signature style, discuss classic hits like “I Want You to Want Me,” “Surrender,” and “Dream Police,” and hear incredible behind-the-scenes stories from their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
In this episode:
• Exclusive details about Cheap Trick’s new album and latest music
• The story behind Tom Petersson’s iconic 12-string bass innovation
• Life on the road: touring stories from decades of rock concerts
• Working with Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, and the Cheap Trick family
• Power pop influences and the Rockford, Illinois rock scene
• Recording classics at Budokan and creating live album history
• What’s next for Cheap Trick: upcoming tours and new music releases
Whether you’re a lifelong Cheap Trick fan or discovering their music for the first time, this episode offers rare insights from one of rock’s most innovative bassists. Don’t miss this deep dive into rock history, new music, and the enduring power of classic rock and roll.
Subscribe to Takin A Walk for more conversations with music legends, iconic musicians, and the stories behind the songs you love.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Taking a Walk. This is pretty much how great music
is put together. Yes, the way we do it. If
we do it, it's gonna be great. How about that?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Buzzsnight and welcome back to the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Appreciate you checking us out now. You know
that feeling when a bassline hits you so hard that
it rattles your chest, the low end rumble that makes
you turn up the volume instead of turning it down.
For fifty years, one guy has been doing that with
(00:30):
twelve strings instead of four. Tom Peterson doesn't just play
bass for Cheap Trick. He basically reinvented with a bass
guitar could sound like in a rock band, from playing
bars in Rockford, Illinois, to selling out Buddhacan, from MTV
to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tom has
seen it all and the band Cheap Trick is this
(00:53):
soundtrack to our life. Here's the thing. Cheap Trick still
making new music, the album call All Washed Up, a
tour certainly to support it, the single The Rift that
Won't Quit. Tom Peterson next on the Taking a Walk Podcast.
(01:14):
Taking a Walk, Tom Peterson, Welcome to Taking a Walk.
It's such an honor to have you on. We're going
to talk about new music, the Rift that won't quit
and all washed up and the tour, and you guys
are busy as always. But before we get into the festivities, Tom,
I ask the opening question of everybody, So I'm not
(01:36):
going to let you escape the opening question. If you
could take a walk with someone? Who would you take
a walk with?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Take a walk with? I?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I don't know, could be anybody under the sun, living
or dead.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Good lord, Can I have a while to think about this? Yeah?
I don't have to answer it right at first.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
In fact, you know what, apologies didn't mean to throw
it off. It's just the opening icebreaker.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
All right, But the ice is broken.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I'll come back. I'll come back to it so anyway.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And I'll be thinking the whole time. I can't think.
It was like who I want to take a walk with?
Who would I want?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, there's no right or wrong answer. But can you
take me back to Rockford, Illinois in the early seventies
and tell me paint a picture for Rockford? I was
in Rockford many years ago. But what do you remember
about that moment when Cheap Trick came together?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, we I left Rockford in nineteen seventy one, so
it wasn't the seventies. It really, you know, we grew
up there. Everybody in the band, and Rick and Bunny
and myself happened to go to the same high school.
We weren't friends at that point. We knew about each
other because we were all in bands, and Robin was
(02:53):
in a different high school in a different part of town,
so we knew about each other, but we didn't really
know each I really just started hanging out with Rick
after I got out of high school, and he and
I started hanging around together when we went to England
together in sixty eight. And before Chief Trick, we had
a couple other bands going and that, you know, nothing
was working out. And finally we got together with Bunny
(03:16):
and with Robin and we thought, okay, now we have
something and we just that was seventy four and we
just kept going, tried to get lucky.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Now you had that twelve string bass early on. What
made you want to push the boundaries of what a
bass player and really redefined what a bass player could
do in a rock band.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well, it was just to make the sound, to make
us sound more really orchestrated, without adding extra people in.
We didn't have a keyboard player, didn't have another guitar player.
Robin plays guitar about half of the songs, you know,
but it's basically a setup like the Who. You know,
it's a four piece with a lead singer, you know,
Zeppelin or whatever, the Who, all that kind of stuff.
(03:59):
It always to me sounded weird when you hear a
band live and there's like it's just then it's just
basing guitarre level Hendricks, you know, like how great was he?
But I was thought, boy, it'd be great if it
was it just to fill up the sound when there's
you know, the guitar player is soloing.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Now, those first few albums they didn't really explode in
the US right away, but Japan, yes, but Japan embraced
cheap trick immediately. What was it like experience in that
level of fame overseas before America really caught the magic
a cheap trick?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, it wasn't immediately. We had our first album came
out and that was not a success in Japan or
anywhere else. The second album, in Color, came out when
we were on tour with Kiss. At that time, they
were doing the Love Gun Tour and they were huge worldwide,
and because of that, they were very huge in jap
(05:00):
Pan as well. So the Japanese press followed them everywhere.
So everywhere we went there was Japanese press, and you know,
they were kind of stuck with us, and oh, here's
these goofballs, what's what's what's this? So that second album
in Color struck a chord with the Japanese and we
had a bunch of hit singles off of that second album,
which we had no success anywhere else none, And so
(05:24):
we went to Japan and did those songs and it
was it was pandemonium. It was really crazy. And they
decided to the record label said, you know, we're going
to film this and we're going to make a TV show,
an hour long show, which they did and it's you know,
it's it's pretty interesting because it's the Budaican Show a
part of it anyway, an hour with commercials, you know,
(05:45):
tooth based commercials and all that stuff. It's pretty funny.
But after that they said, you know, maybe we should
release this as a an album. Do you mind? Like no,
And I remember our manager going, yeah, there are departments
going to do the cover you we don't have to
do anything. It's like, okay, fine, and we were like,
the cover kind of sucks and this isn't that great,
(06:05):
and our manager said, don't worry about it. No one's
ever going to hear about this record. Okay, that's wild.
So much for the master plan, right, Yeah? So we uh.
In fact, when we got to Japan, we did not
even have I Want You to Want Me in the
set list, and the promoter goes, hey, we're still I
(06:26):
Want you to Want Me? Like, oh, we don't even
do it? What he's freaked? So, oh well, we played
it a million times in bars, so yeah, we can
do that easily. That turned out to be our biggest hit.
What do we know? Don't leave it to us is
what we know now.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
As far as I Want You to Want Me, I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
That was even that was even around for our first album.
It didn't even make that record.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
That's incredible. And now when you think about it, playing
it thousands of times, how does it feel, you know,
keeping it fresh every time you play it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
It's not that it's fresh every time. It just as
long as it seems like it's fresh, that's what counts. Yeah, amen,
looks like we're having a good time. That's what counts. Now.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Who were your bass heroes growing up?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well? I started out as a guitar player, rhythm guitar player,
you know, and we were just you know, doing Beatles
songs and the Stones and all that, and you know,
high school events and you know, we were teenagers. So
everybody's doing the same thing. The Stones, the Kinks, the Beatles,
who you know who, that kind of stuff. And I
can't remember what I was. I had lost my train,
(07:37):
Well how do we keep it fresh? But doing what
I just did, we're just kind of daydreaming, you know.
They're like, oh, hey, whoa where am I? You know,
but our whole you know, we're alive. We're a freaking
bar band. And we played thousands of gigs, five four
or five sets of nights, six nights a week, that
kind of thing, driving around and completely destitute, no money,
(08:02):
no nothing, but we kept going. It doesn't seem like
a good idea, but it worked out for us. I
wouldn't advise anyone else to try it. But it's like,
if you've ever seen behind the Music or one of
you know, those type of shows. Did you ever seen
one of the happy ending.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
No definitely not.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah really, so there you are.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Maybe another type of washed up all of us. I'm
gonna hit you with with five fast questions here, okay, these.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Take a walk with Okay, Norma Jean, who would you
let Norman Jean? Norma Jean, she's the art show queen.
She was the art show queen before she became Maryland.
And I only know that because we just played in
Monterey and we were going through this little town and
they go, well, this is the art show capital and
Norma Jean. Okay, so I'll pick Norma perfect.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I love it, Okay. Twelve string base or four string.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Depends on what situation. Live, I only use the twelve string.
In the studio, I use whatever works for the songs,
and it's usually not the twelve string. Because you're in
the studios, you can overdub if you want to want
it to sound like a cello or a grand piano.
While you get one of those things and then batten
up the sound. You don't need to take up all
(09:24):
the space on a record. It's oh, it's completely different live.
All subtlety is gone. It doesn't you know, you know,
we're not out there making the records sound exactly like
the records. We never cared about that, like, oh, we
better not do that song because you can't do it live.
So what what matters is the recorded version. That's what
(09:45):
people are going to hear, So doing it live, that's
just a different thing.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Best city to play, to play live in? And why
best city?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
There is no best city. It's the best venues. Usually
they're your theaters or something like that. Indoors. I mean
the worst venus are outdoor, the big arenas and all
that stuff. That's you know, it's just completely different. The
power you get in a club or a theater is
no comparison.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A piece of gear you can't live without.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Well, a bass guitar perfect, Well, I couldn't live without
that too, a piece of gear.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Is there a bass player you'd like to jam with?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
They're all dead? No wow? Bass player to jam with?
No thanks? Yeah, somebody does not. Yeah, somebody that's not
very good. That would be good, That would be good.
Do I want a jam with John Entwhistler Paul McCartney?
I did you know even if I wanted to, that
would it's not in the cards. Well, I can't do
it with nt whistle But he was one of my
(10:54):
big heroes, even though at that point I was not
playing bass. I was a rhythm guitar player, saying with Paul,
So all that stuff I did as a teenager was
rhythm guitar stuff, so all the Rolling Stone stuff. So
I wasn't really influenced directly by the bass player. I
liked their style so and then there were all sorts
of different ones that you know. Eventually I liked Jack
(11:17):
Cassidy with the Airplane. I thought he was great. I thought,
you know, it's just all different people. Ronnie Wood was
one of my all time favorites with the Jeff Beck group.
Now he doesn't get any credit, well for me, he does,
but doesn't get much credit for that work he did
with Jeff and with Rod's solo stuff. His bass playing
is terrific, and it's it's the kind of thing. It's
(11:40):
the bass playing that's kind of taken from a guitar
player's point of view, which is where I came from.
It's not typical. Oh I sat around listening to this,
and you know, I got to hook up with the
kick drum and I gotta do it. Was none of that,
just what feels right, Just do it. So it's a
combination of a rhythm thing and an orchestra thing and
(12:02):
the base you know, just it's just a it's basically
an orchestrated sound.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Finish this sentence. The new cheap trick music is.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
The new cheap trick music is unbeatable.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yes, if you like riffs, on't quit. It's your lucky day.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, don't too bad. I'm gonna single out another song
here since I live outside of Boston, down the road
Tom from this place called Wooster.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
So oh yeah, that's how you pronounced that.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yes, a long way to Wooster. Tell me about that.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
It's always a long way to Wister. Always. There's no
great way to get that. It's impossible to get there
from here. I'm in San Francisco right now, so I
don't want to know about going to Worcester. That's way too.
That's a long drive.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
From here, always has been.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, especially in the of the sixties. Bondabille pulling a
U haul trailer, that's a long drive.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's a long drive. Yeah, but a terrific rock and
roll city. I mean, you know, they love their rock
and roll. Boston is in general, I say Boston in general,
but Wooster always had that little you know, we're the underdog.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Started like Philadelphia, New York, a.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Little bit like that. Yeah, in fact, as far as
Wooster versus Boston, for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. He writes, I don't
know anything about it. We show up, we do the show,
and then we leave. I never stayed in Wister, but
I'm now I'm gonna have to.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, well, at least maybe.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
To pounce it and spell it.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yes, exactly. Tell me about the process of putting the
new music together. It was recorded in a couple of
different plays, wasn't.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It mainly in Nashville. All the tracks and stuff we do,
we do those live and go from there. And some
of the vocals it's here that we're done in Los Angeles?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And so was there anything in this process that was
a little different for you guys? Or is this is
pretty much the way you guys always put great music together.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
This is pretty much how great music is put together. Yes,
the way we do it. If we do it, it's
gonna be great. How about that?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah? Amen?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, but he agrees with that. That's a different story.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
But I love twelve Gates. It It's outstanding and it's
obviously got influence from a band that's very close to
you guys, namely the Beatles, obviously. But tell me about
that song and you know how that came together because
(14:55):
it sounds awesome like the whole album.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Well, that was just one of those things we put
together song ideas and then play them for each other. So, hey,
I got this, what have we got that? That was
a track that I had come up with, but I
didn't have any vocal idea. I didn't have any vocal
hearts or anything. And Robin immediately just jumped on like,
oh I love that. I've got some great ideas for that.
So that's just how that fell together. But that's kind
(15:20):
of like all of the songs. You know, somebody's got
an idea and I go, hey, that's what's that? And
usually the person that's idea it is it is not
sure is this any good? You're too close to it.
You're like, hey, somebody else goes, hey, wow, what's that? Like?
Oh I don't know, that was just some weird riff. No, no, no,
that's great, let's okay go with that. Usually the person
(15:42):
that's responsible for the original idea has no idea how
good or bad it is. This is for the rest
of us to decide like, ah, no, no, that's a
bad idea.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You know, the music industry has changed completely since you
guys started out, you know, streaming and social media and everything.
How do you navigate that change? Do you even think
about that change? Or is it just full steam ahead,
cheap trick. We're here man, it's we don't think about it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Anything that we've actually planned never worked out, So just
let the chips fall where they may.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I have a feeling when I think back at the
way everything came together, you know, the success first abroad
and then obviously the success that came with the US.
Didn't it kind of first because of your you know,
Midwest roots. Didn't it first start in the Midwest and
kind of sprout to the respective coasts. Wasn't that your
(16:52):
core first in the US?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
A No, the first place that we were really popular,
because in those days, it just depended on what area
you were. In different parts of the country, they would
all have local radio stations, and the disc jockeys, believe
this or not, would actually choose what songs they played
and just you know. So we became successful for some
(17:18):
reason out of the blue in Buffalo, New York. Okay,
so we're playing for four people in Shaky's pizza parlors
everywhere else excepting Buffalo, and we were selling out this
theater downtown, Like wow, this is wow what happened here?
And then the same thing kind of happened to us
in Los Angeles. Rodney Bingenheimer, he's the mayor of Hollywood.
(17:41):
He took a liking to us and took us under
his wing at that time and just showed us around
and was put us on you know, K Rock and
all this stuff. So we had success in Los Angeles
in the general area that we are from. There was
nothing there. We weren't getting radio play, we weren't get support.
It's like, you know, so now that's all forgotten, Like
(18:04):
oh really, yeah, hey great. We didn't break out of there.
We started there and we became a local bar draw.
So we were successful in that world. But beyond that,
once a record came out, it wasn't like, oh, all
the stations in Chicago and Rockford and Madison and the Walker,
they all started playing us. No none of them did. Thanks,
(18:29):
thanks for nothing. It's just it's the luck of the
damn draw then when you get lucky in Japan. Who knew?
You know, we had no idea. We still don't are.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
There's some bands today, some newer bands that you guys
listened to, that you listened to.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yes, but I can't think of any of the top
of my head. But yeah, I listened to all sorts
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Is there anything on your playlist that we'd be surprised at?
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Probably? You mean like VIAGRAA Boys or something like that.
Of those guys pretty funny, you know. I like stuff
that's got a good time to hum. I don't really.
I don't listen to regular radio as far as songs
(19:15):
like it drives me crazy. I hate everything that's you know,
most things, And I don't want to hear as much
as i'd love led Zeppelin or whatever act it might be.
Do I need to hear Cebory the Heaven all the time? No,
let's play some damn deep tracks. Do I need to
hear all right now? By Free? No? I like you,
mister Big, It's not you whatever it is, it's all
(19:37):
pop radio. It never I don't listen to it. Kind
of the joke is if it's not played on NPR,
I don't hear it. But I get a lot of
ideas from people on Instagram that have like songs in
the background of their posts, and it's like, hey, wow,
what's that. That's a cool one. Oh, that's l seven,
what's that that's cool? You know, it's just all different stuff.
(19:59):
I like to hear things that I have never heard before.
But the hard part with that is I also like
to know who it is. I can look them up,
you know, or something that's so bad that I have
to look it up. Pull over, who is this? I
gotta wait till they say who this is? This is
the biggest bunch of shit I've ever heard. And then
(20:19):
it's then it's the top act in the US suddenly like, Okay,
I'm not going to name any names. If I was
an oasis, I could start naming names. I'm not going to.
You know, it's anybody has any success at all, it's
like more power to them. You know. This is far
be it from me to question anybody. It's just a
(20:39):
damn crap shoot anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
So, but you said earlier about the state of the DJs,
back when you know, cheap trick broke out. The DJs
had an actual you know, say, they could play what
they wanted. They didn't have to go ask anybody, and
it was it was the freedom of that. And they
knew their audience, you know, they were what they were
passionate about. They played, and it was it was way different.
(21:05):
I totally agree with you in that regard.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know, yeah, it was way different. And there were
college reps and college radio and you know, you didn't
just get every radio station you had to. You know,
there were all these underground like pirate radio kind of stations,
not a Little Rock Arkansas of all Pergin things, and
you can only really get it at night because it
was cloudy, so the radio waves, I don't know. So
(21:32):
it was different everywhere. Nobody knew what was going on
anywhere else except in their own neck of the woods.
You know, they didn't know anything of you know, all
people dressing, what are they doing? What I'm listening to?
It was all you had to just go there and
try to find out. In those days, there was no
information basically about anything. You had to really search for it.
(21:54):
Now it's the opposite. There's so much that you can't
keep track of it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
It's overwhelming. Ultimately, first time I ever played you on
the radio, it was actually it was a college radio station.
It was the station that was owned by the University
of Dayton and Dayton, Ohio. It was called WVUD, and
it was like a it was a commercial college station,
but we still played whatever we wanted, and it was.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah, you're putting you know. In those days too, the
stuff that was on the right was more up with
people and Pat Boone or whatever, you know who. You
just this kind of middle of the road man be
pamby stuff. And then we're listening to the Yardbirds and
the Kinks and the Beatles and the Who and the
Stones and all this. That stuff was completely underground. Those
(22:42):
were not hit The Beatles, that's they're a different category.
They're just you can't even compare what happened or what
they did or you know anything about them. They're in
a different world. But everybody else from the Stones on down,
that was all underground. That was stuff you led Zeppelin say,
that was to me. The le Zeppelin is one of
the newer groups, and that just so far back that go.
(23:05):
You know, they weren't until a bit later, but even
that stuff was I wasn't played on the normal radio.
Those weren't hits.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Tell me about your Ed Sullivan moment watching the Beatles
on Ed Sullivan Describe that moment.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
For me, Well, it was the second time I'd seen them,
because I saw them first a few months earlier on
Jack the Jack Parr Show, eased to about Jagpire. Now
that would have been sixty three, and he goes, I
went to England and there's this group and they're throwing
jelly babies and it's like, this is nuts, and they've
(23:41):
got hair like girls in a sense pandemonium, like, what
the hell is this? Wow? This is wow? That was
really these guys look are cool, all right? What's that?
So then you know, that was that, And then then
they showed up in America. It's all of it, and
you know, everything changed. It's hard to even and describe it.
It's the whole society changed. Just everything, the whole culture
(24:07):
was turned on its head at that moment. And there
we are, all these kids, baby boomers, you know, with
the World War two parents, you know, there, there we are.
You know, they didn't like any of this kind of stuff.
They were not fans of the Beetles and the Stones
and the Who not even close. So it was this
(24:28):
battle against kind of the establishment. But it wasn't even
fact like why we're not competing with these We just
like this stuff. But it was not popular. You didn't
see those groups winning Grammys or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It was viewed as a subversive right.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yes, and then eventually it didn't help when Charles Manson
came around. But all of a sudden you were not
only you know, offensive to people, you were also murderers.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Thanks, So cheap Trick is going to be out with
some non time, NonStop tour schedule.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Might as well be NonStop, Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Pretty pretty close. You're going to be out a long
time and a lot of places seeing people. Tell me,
tell me what playing live to this day still means
to you and the band.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Well, it's different because now we've done it so long
and we have a lot of the hardcore fans and
at pretty much any show that we do, no matter
where it is, we will actually know people in the
audience and it seems like a bit of a family reunion.
It's great, like, oh, look at there's so and so
out there. Then we're in Tokyo. What the hell? You know?
(25:39):
It becomes like a big family in a way. Even
though you don't know necessarily the people's names, we do
know a lot of them. But now it's to the
point where we've got people bringing their kids and they're
you know, the young people are are singing along with
deep cuts. Now that's weird. It's one thing to sing
along with. I want you to want your obvious songs
that people probably heard, but once they start going along
(26:03):
with tracks that you know that no normal person listened to,
so I don't know, you know, it's it's like a
it's like a big family. We don't want to go
out there and sound like shit, but you know, it
is what it is. So if we do eh, like
Rick says, our mistakes are better than anyone else's. There's
(26:28):
something my dad know what he says. I can't listen
to him. That's all right.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Is there one song that surprises you that has emerged
as a deep track that you see people responding to?
You know that you're like, Holy mackerel, that one they love?
I mean, is there one that?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Is there?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
One that comes to mind?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Well? The thing is our biggest hit single was the Flank,
which we didn't write. That was a power ballad, and
it really wasn't. It wasn't something we were doing, even though,
you know. And our second biggest hit was I Want
You to Want Me, which is ours. But none of
the other songs were hits, not big hits like that,
(27:09):
so people think, oh, dream Please it was a hit Surrendered. No,
those were deep tracks. So almost all of our twenty
one records except where I Want You to Want Me,
they're all deep cuts. I don't care what it is.
Dream Police, that was not a hit. California Man, that
was not a hit. I Want You to Want Me? Yes,
(27:31):
the Flame? Yes? What else was a hit? Don't be cruel.
We were the only act to cover an Elvis saw
to get into the top five besides himself, and I
thought that can't be true, and it is, I think.
But that was a minor hit. Ain't that a shame?
(27:52):
Was kind of a hit for us too, But in general,
they're all deep tracks. It's kind of like the un
Occasion Breakdown or whatever bled Zeppelin songs, you know, those
were not hits. I don't think Stair Where It Happened
was a hit either, right, I don't think it was.
We've certainly all heard it enough. You know, it's Smoke
on the water. Is that a hit? I don't know, maybe,
(28:14):
but we've heard it enough. You know, Oh that was
a big ye dreamfully that was a big hit. No
it was not a big hit. No it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So the band was was obviously inducted as it should
have been some time ago in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. As we're recording this, the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies just occurred. As a band
that's in the rock Hall? Is there a band that
annoys you to know end that should be in that
isn't in.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I'm not surprised that a lot of the acts that
I like are not here. You know, I don't even
know what the parameters are, how you're getting or what.
You know. There wasn't the Hall of Fame when we started,
so it wasn't something we're like, oh, inspired you to
the Hall of Fame. No, you know, there wasn't one
to start with. And it's always like, well, who's judging this?
It's not like stats and baseball or footballers, you know,
(29:07):
it's why should we be in there instead of somebody else?
I have no idea. But it's the kind of thing
where we didn't think about it and didn't really we
weren't thinking about it. It's like, whoa, we got what Oh,
we're on the list, you know, we voted on like wow,
how do we get on the list? And then boom
we got in. It was it didn't really hit us
until we actually got there and we're at the venue
(29:30):
and it was like, wow, look at all these people,
you know, what are how do we fit in here?
Like Jesus, Jerrmy Lewis, Bat's Domino, you know, the Stones, Like,
but but the hell, We'll take it.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
It's wonderful. Tom Peterson, congrats on the new music all stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
See, that's what that makes me happy. That's that's why
we do it. It's for you and for it's like
friends and family. If you can't play it for your
friends and family, like yeah, I know this is shit,
but people are gonna it like uh yeah, okay, yeah,
I always like that. Oh they're they're getting bad press,
but they're laughing all the way to the bank. The
(30:08):
people that I know that got bad press were not
laughing all they were going to the bank. Yes, but
having your friends and family, like your stuff is way
more important than them hating it, and you're embarrassed, like
er Gee's yeah, well that's sold ten million copies. Yeah,
but it's a brother that's bad. We don't look at
(30:29):
it that way. We don't know what the hell people
want to hear. We just know what we might want
to hear and what we Hey, that was where bad
come from? How'd you come up with that? That's a
good one, you know. It's exciting being in the studio
and coming up with this stuff out of whole cloth.
Now you've got AI. They can do everything right. But
to me, most music already was AI. It all sounds
(30:50):
like elevator music to me anyway, So what's the damn difference?
There's no accounting for caste. Who cares if it's you know,
if you like it, there you are, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Oh man, you can't help I love it. I love
cheap trick. I'm so thrilled to be able to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
That is really not honest, That means that, that means everything, honestly, Oh.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I'm so I'm so thrilled. And next time you're in
Worcesta or in Boston, we'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
We're always in box, for God's sake. And I've got
good friends. So every time I get it's like here
in Boston again. I always my friend Jamie Rubin, and Reeves, Gabriel,
he they're they're from. So every time I'm there, I'm
sending him a picture of the Expressway or whatever, like, hey,
I'm back in Boston, you know. And Reeves he's doing well.
He's a good friend. And he lived in Nashville. It's
(31:42):
where I met him, and he he got that gig
with the cure. Like, oh my god, what a great
gig and what a great player, you know. Anyway, Yeah,
enough about red right.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, thanks man for being on the podcast. Thanks for
being not Taking a Walk. Tom Peterson, see you around, Man,
see you. Thanks bye, I'm off doing NBA.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk. This is pretty much how great music
is put together. Yes, the way we do it. If
we do it, it's gonna be great. How about that?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Buzzsnight and welcome back to the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Appreciate you checking us out now. You know
that feeling when a bassline hits you so hard that
it rattles your chest, the low end rumble that makes
you turn up the volume instead of turning it down.
For fifty years, one guy has been doing that with
(00:30):
twelve strings instead of four. Tom Peterson doesn't just play
bass for Cheap Trick. He basically reinvented with a bass
guitar could sound like in a rock band, from playing
bars in Rockford, Illinois, to selling out Buddhacan, from MTV
to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tom has
seen it all and the band Cheap Trick is this
(00:53):
soundtrack to our life. Here's the thing. Cheap Trick still
making new music, the album call All Washed Up, a
tour certainly to support it, the single The Rift that
Won't Quit. Tom Peterson next on the Taking a Walk Podcast.
(01:14):
Taking a Walk, Tom Peterson, Welcome to Taking a Walk.
It's such an honor to have you on. We're going
to talk about new music, the Rift that won't quit
and all washed up and the tour, and you guys
are busy as always. But before we get into the festivities, Tom,
I ask the opening question of everybody, So I'm not
(01:36):
going to let you escape the opening question. If you
could take a walk with someone? Who would you take
a walk with?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Take a walk with? I?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I don't know, could be anybody under the sun, living
or dead.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Good lord, Can I have a while to think about this? Yeah?
I don't have to answer it right at first.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
In fact, you know what, apologies didn't mean to throw
it off. It's just the opening icebreaker.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
All right, But the ice is broken.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I'll come back. I'll come back to it so anyway.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And I'll be thinking the whole time. I can't think.
It was like who I want to take a walk with?
Who would I want?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, there's no right or wrong answer. But can you
take me back to Rockford, Illinois in the early seventies
and tell me paint a picture for Rockford? I was
in Rockford many years ago. But what do you remember
about that moment when Cheap Trick came together?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, we I left Rockford in nineteen seventy one, so
it wasn't the seventies. It really, you know, we grew
up there. Everybody in the band, and Rick and Bunny
and myself happened to go to the same high school.
We weren't friends at that point. We knew about each
other because we were all in bands, and Robin was
(02:53):
in a different high school in a different part of town,
so we knew about each other, but we didn't really
know each I really just started hanging out with Rick
after I got out of high school, and he and
I started hanging around together when we went to England
together in sixty eight. And before Chief Trick, we had
a couple other bands going and that, you know, nothing
was working out. And finally we got together with Bunny
(03:16):
and with Robin and we thought, okay, now we have
something and we just that was seventy four and we
just kept going, tried to get lucky.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Now you had that twelve string bass early on. What
made you want to push the boundaries of what a
bass player and really redefined what a bass player could
do in a rock band.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well, it was just to make the sound, to make
us sound more really orchestrated, without adding extra people in.
We didn't have a keyboard player, didn't have another guitar player.
Robin plays guitar about half of the songs, you know,
but it's basically a setup like the Who. You know,
it's a four piece with a lead singer, you know,
Zeppelin or whatever, the Who, all that kind of stuff.
(03:59):
It always to me sounded weird when you hear a
band live and there's like it's just then it's just
basing guitarre level Hendricks, you know, like how great was he?
But I was thought, boy, it'd be great if it
was it just to fill up the sound when there's
you know, the guitar player is soloing.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Now, those first few albums they didn't really explode in
the US right away, but Japan, yes, but Japan embraced
cheap trick immediately. What was it like experience in that
level of fame overseas before America really caught the magic
a cheap trick?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, it wasn't immediately. We had our first album came
out and that was not a success in Japan or
anywhere else. The second album, in Color, came out when
we were on tour with Kiss. At that time, they
were doing the Love Gun Tour and they were huge worldwide,
and because of that, they were very huge in jap
(05:00):
Pan as well. So the Japanese press followed them everywhere.
So everywhere we went there was Japanese press, and you know,
they were kind of stuck with us, and oh, here's
these goofballs, what's what's what's this? So that second album
in Color struck a chord with the Japanese and we
had a bunch of hit singles off of that second album,
which we had no success anywhere else none, And so
(05:24):
we went to Japan and did those songs and it
was it was pandemonium. It was really crazy. And they
decided to the record label said, you know, we're going
to film this and we're going to make a TV show,
an hour long show, which they did and it's you know,
it's it's pretty interesting because it's the Budaican Show a
part of it anyway, an hour with commercials, you know,
(05:45):
tooth based commercials and all that stuff. It's pretty funny.
But after that they said, you know, maybe we should
release this as a an album. Do you mind? Like no,
And I remember our manager going, yeah, there are departments
going to do the cover you we don't have to
do anything. It's like, okay, fine, and we were like,
the cover kind of sucks and this isn't that great,
(06:05):
and our manager said, don't worry about it. No one's
ever going to hear about this record. Okay, that's wild.
So much for the master plan, right, Yeah? So we uh.
In fact, when we got to Japan, we did not
even have I Want You to Want Me in the
set list, and the promoter goes, hey, we're still I
(06:26):
Want you to Want Me? Like, oh, we don't even
do it? What he's freaked? So, oh well, we played
it a million times in bars, so yeah, we can
do that easily. That turned out to be our biggest hit.
What do we know? Don't leave it to us is
what we know now.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
As far as I Want You to Want Me, I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
That was even that was even around for our first album.
It didn't even make that record.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
That's incredible. And now when you think about it, playing
it thousands of times, how does it feel, you know,
keeping it fresh every time you play it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
It's not that it's fresh every time. It just as
long as it seems like it's fresh, that's what counts. Yeah, amen,
looks like we're having a good time. That's what counts. Now.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Who were your bass heroes growing up?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well? I started out as a guitar player, rhythm guitar player,
you know, and we were just you know, doing Beatles
songs and the Stones and all that, and you know,
high school events and you know, we were teenagers. So
everybody's doing the same thing. The Stones, the Kinks, the Beatles,
who you know who, that kind of stuff. And I
can't remember what I was. I had lost my train,
(07:37):
Well how do we keep it fresh? But doing what
I just did, we're just kind of daydreaming, you know.
They're like, oh, hey, whoa where am I? You know,
but our whole you know, we're alive. We're a freaking
bar band. And we played thousands of gigs, five four
or five sets of nights, six nights a week, that
kind of thing, driving around and completely destitute, no money,
(08:02):
no nothing, but we kept going. It doesn't seem like
a good idea, but it worked out for us. I
wouldn't advise anyone else to try it. But it's like,
if you've ever seen behind the Music or one of
you know, those type of shows. Did you ever seen
one of the happy ending.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
No definitely not.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah really, so there you are.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Maybe another type of washed up all of us. I'm
gonna hit you with with five fast questions here, okay, these.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Take a walk with Okay, Norma Jean, who would you
let Norman Jean? Norma Jean, she's the art show queen.
She was the art show queen before she became Maryland.
And I only know that because we just played in
Monterey and we were going through this little town and
they go, well, this is the art show capital and
Norma Jean. Okay, so I'll pick Norma perfect.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I love it, Okay. Twelve string base or four string.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Depends on what situation. Live, I only use the twelve string.
In the studio, I use whatever works for the songs,
and it's usually not the twelve string. Because you're in
the studios, you can overdub if you want to want
it to sound like a cello or a grand piano.
While you get one of those things and then batten
up the sound. You don't need to take up all
(09:24):
the space on a record. It's oh, it's completely different live.
All subtlety is gone. It doesn't you know, you know,
we're not out there making the records sound exactly like
the records. We never cared about that, like, oh, we
better not do that song because you can't do it live.
So what what matters is the recorded version. That's what
(09:45):
people are going to hear, So doing it live, that's
just a different thing.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Best city to play, to play live in? And why
best city?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
There is no best city. It's the best venues. Usually
they're your theaters or something like that. Indoors. I mean
the worst venus are outdoor, the big arenas and all
that stuff. That's you know, it's just completely different. The
power you get in a club or a theater is
no comparison.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A piece of gear you can't live without.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Well, a bass guitar perfect, Well, I couldn't live without
that too, a piece of gear.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Is there a bass player you'd like to jam with?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
They're all dead? No wow? Bass player to jam with?
No thanks? Yeah, somebody does not. Yeah, somebody that's not
very good. That would be good, That would be good.
Do I want a jam with John Entwhistler Paul McCartney?
I did you know even if I wanted to, that
would it's not in the cards. Well, I can't do
it with nt whistle But he was one of my
(10:54):
big heroes, even though at that point I was not
playing bass. I was a rhythm guitar player, saying with Paul,
So all that stuff I did as a teenager was
rhythm guitar stuff, so all the Rolling Stone stuff. So
I wasn't really influenced directly by the bass player. I
liked their style so and then there were all sorts
of different ones that you know. Eventually I liked Jack
(11:17):
Cassidy with the Airplane. I thought he was great. I thought,
you know, it's just all different people. Ronnie Wood was
one of my all time favorites with the Jeff Beck group.
Now he doesn't get any credit, well for me, he does,
but doesn't get much credit for that work he did
with Jeff and with Rod's solo stuff. His bass playing
is terrific, and it's it's the kind of thing. It's
(11:40):
the bass playing that's kind of taken from a guitar
player's point of view, which is where I came from.
It's not typical. Oh I sat around listening to this,
and you know, I got to hook up with the
kick drum and I gotta do it. Was none of that,
just what feels right, Just do it. So it's a
combination of a rhythm thing and an orchestra thing and
(12:02):
the base you know, just it's just a it's basically
an orchestrated sound.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Finish this sentence. The new cheap trick music is.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
The new cheap trick music is unbeatable.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yes, if you like riffs, on't quit. It's your lucky day.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, don't too bad. I'm gonna single out another song
here since I live outside of Boston, down the road
Tom from this place called Wooster.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
So oh yeah, that's how you pronounced that.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yes, a long way to Wooster. Tell me about that.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
It's always a long way to Wister. Always. There's no
great way to get that. It's impossible to get there
from here. I'm in San Francisco right now, so I
don't want to know about going to Worcester. That's way too.
That's a long drive.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
From here, always has been.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, especially in the of the sixties. Bondabille pulling a
U haul trailer, that's a long drive.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's a long drive. Yeah, but a terrific rock and
roll city. I mean, you know, they love their rock
and roll. Boston is in general, I say Boston in general,
but Wooster always had that little you know, we're the underdog.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Started like Philadelphia, New York, a.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Little bit like that. Yeah, in fact, as far as
Wooster versus Boston, for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. He writes, I don't
know anything about it. We show up, we do the show,
and then we leave. I never stayed in Wister, but
I'm now I'm gonna have to.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, well, at least maybe.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
To pounce it and spell it.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yes, exactly. Tell me about the process of putting the
new music together. It was recorded in a couple of
different plays, wasn't.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It mainly in Nashville. All the tracks and stuff we do,
we do those live and go from there. And some
of the vocals it's here that we're done in Los Angeles?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And so was there anything in this process that was
a little different for you guys? Or is this is
pretty much the way you guys always put great music together.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
This is pretty much how great music is put together. Yes,
the way we do it. If we do it, it's
gonna be great. How about that?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah? Amen?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, but he agrees with that. That's a different story.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
But I love twelve Gates. It It's outstanding and it's
obviously got influence from a band that's very close to
you guys, namely the Beatles, obviously. But tell me about
that song and you know how that came together because
(14:55):
it sounds awesome like the whole album.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Well, that was just one of those things we put
together song ideas and then play them for each other. So, hey,
I got this, what have we got that? That was
a track that I had come up with, but I
didn't have any vocal idea. I didn't have any vocal
hearts or anything. And Robin immediately just jumped on like,
oh I love that. I've got some great ideas for that.
So that's just how that fell together. But that's kind
(15:20):
of like all of the songs. You know, somebody's got
an idea and I go, hey, that's what's that? And
usually the person that's idea it is it is not
sure is this any good? You're too close to it.
You're like, hey, somebody else goes, hey, wow, what's that? Like?
Oh I don't know, that was just some weird riff. No, no, no,
that's great, let's okay go with that. Usually the person
(15:42):
that's responsible for the original idea has no idea how
good or bad it is. This is for the rest
of us to decide like, ah, no, no, that's a
bad idea.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You know, the music industry has changed completely since you
guys started out, you know, streaming and social media and everything.
How do you navigate that change? Do you even think
about that change? Or is it just full steam ahead,
cheap trick. We're here man, it's we don't think about it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Anything that we've actually planned never worked out, So just
let the chips fall where they may.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I have a feeling when I think back at the
way everything came together, you know, the success first abroad
and then obviously the success that came with the US.
Didn't it kind of first because of your you know,
Midwest roots. Didn't it first start in the Midwest and
kind of sprout to the respective coasts. Wasn't that your
(16:52):
core first in the US?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
A No, the first place that we were really popular,
because in those days, it just depended on what area
you were. In different parts of the country, they would
all have local radio stations, and the disc jockeys, believe
this or not, would actually choose what songs they played
and just you know. So we became successful for some
(17:18):
reason out of the blue in Buffalo, New York. Okay,
so we're playing for four people in Shaky's pizza parlors
everywhere else excepting Buffalo, and we were selling out this
theater downtown, Like wow, this is wow what happened here?
And then the same thing kind of happened to us
in Los Angeles. Rodney Bingenheimer, he's the mayor of Hollywood.
(17:41):
He took a liking to us and took us under
his wing at that time and just showed us around
and was put us on you know, K Rock and
all this stuff. So we had success in Los Angeles
in the general area that we are from. There was
nothing there. We weren't getting radio play, we weren't get support.
It's like, you know, so now that's all forgotten, Like
(18:04):
oh really, yeah, hey great. We didn't break out of there.
We started there and we became a local bar draw.
So we were successful in that world. But beyond that,
once a record came out, it wasn't like, oh, all
the stations in Chicago and Rockford and Madison and the Walker,
they all started playing us. No none of them did. Thanks,
(18:29):
thanks for nothing. It's just it's the luck of the
damn draw then when you get lucky in Japan. Who knew?
You know, we had no idea. We still don't are.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
There's some bands today, some newer bands that you guys
listened to, that you listened to.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yes, but I can't think of any of the top
of my head. But yeah, I listened to all sorts
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Is there anything on your playlist that we'd be surprised at?
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Probably? You mean like VIAGRAA Boys or something like that.
Of those guys pretty funny, you know. I like stuff
that's got a good time to hum. I don't really.
I don't listen to regular radio as far as songs
(19:15):
like it drives me crazy. I hate everything that's you know,
most things, And I don't want to hear as much
as i'd love led Zeppelin or whatever act it might be.
Do I need to hear Cebory the Heaven all the time? No,
let's play some damn deep tracks. Do I need to
hear all right now? By Free? No? I like you,
mister Big, It's not you whatever it is, it's all
(19:37):
pop radio. It never I don't listen to it. Kind
of the joke is if it's not played on NPR,
I don't hear it. But I get a lot of
ideas from people on Instagram that have like songs in
the background of their posts, and it's like, hey, wow,
what's that. That's a cool one. Oh, that's l seven,
what's that that's cool? You know, it's just all different stuff.
(19:59):
I like to hear things that I have never heard before.
But the hard part with that is I also like
to know who it is. I can look them up,
you know, or something that's so bad that I have
to look it up. Pull over, who is this? I
gotta wait till they say who this is? This is
the biggest bunch of shit I've ever heard. And then
(20:19):
it's then it's the top act in the US suddenly like, Okay,
I'm not going to name any names. If I was
an oasis, I could start naming names. I'm not going to.
You know, it's anybody has any success at all, it's
like more power to them. You know. This is far
be it from me to question anybody. It's just a
(20:39):
damn crap shoot anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
So, but you said earlier about the state of the DJs,
back when you know, cheap trick broke out. The DJs
had an actual you know, say, they could play what
they wanted. They didn't have to go ask anybody, and
it was it was the freedom of that. And they
knew their audience, you know, they were what they were
passionate about. They played, and it was it was way different.
(21:05):
I totally agree with you in that regard.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know, yeah, it was way different. And there were
college reps and college radio and you know, you didn't
just get every radio station you had to. You know,
there were all these underground like pirate radio kind of stations,
not a Little Rock Arkansas of all Pergin things, and
you can only really get it at night because it
was cloudy, so the radio waves, I don't know. So
(21:32):
it was different everywhere. Nobody knew what was going on
anywhere else except in their own neck of the woods.
You know, they didn't know anything of you know, all
people dressing, what are they doing? What I'm listening to?
It was all you had to just go there and
try to find out. In those days, there was no
information basically about anything. You had to really search for it.
(21:54):
Now it's the opposite. There's so much that you can't
keep track of it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
It's overwhelming. Ultimately, first time I ever played you on
the radio, it was actually it was a college radio station.
It was the station that was owned by the University
of Dayton and Dayton, Ohio. It was called WVUD, and
it was like a it was a commercial college station,
but we still played whatever we wanted, and it was.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah, you're putting you know. In those days too, the
stuff that was on the right was more up with
people and Pat Boone or whatever, you know who. You
just this kind of middle of the road man be
pamby stuff. And then we're listening to the Yardbirds and
the Kinks and the Beatles and the Who and the
Stones and all this. That stuff was completely underground. Those
(22:42):
were not hit The Beatles, that's they're a different category.
They're just you can't even compare what happened or what
they did or you know anything about them. They're in
a different world. But everybody else from the Stones on down,
that was all underground. That was stuff you led Zeppelin say,
that was to me. The le Zeppelin is one of
the newer groups, and that just so far back that go.
(23:05):
You know, they weren't until a bit later, but even
that stuff was I wasn't played on the normal radio.
Those weren't hits.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Tell me about your Ed Sullivan moment watching the Beatles
on Ed Sullivan Describe that moment.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
For me, Well, it was the second time I'd seen them,
because I saw them first a few months earlier on
Jack the Jack Parr Show, eased to about Jagpire. Now
that would have been sixty three, and he goes, I
went to England and there's this group and they're throwing
jelly babies and it's like, this is nuts, and they've
(23:41):
got hair like girls in a sense pandemonium, like, what
the hell is this? Wow? This is wow? That was
really these guys look are cool, all right? What's that?
So then you know, that was that, And then then
they showed up in America. It's all of it, and
you know, everything changed. It's hard to even and describe it.
It's the whole society changed. Just everything, the whole culture
(24:07):
was turned on its head at that moment. And there
we are, all these kids, baby boomers, you know, with
the World War two parents, you know, there, there we are.
You know, they didn't like any of this kind of stuff.
They were not fans of the Beetles and the Stones
and the Who not even close. So it was this
(24:28):
battle against kind of the establishment. But it wasn't even
fact like why we're not competing with these We just
like this stuff. But it was not popular. You didn't
see those groups winning Grammys or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It was viewed as a subversive right.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yes, and then eventually it didn't help when Charles Manson
came around. But all of a sudden you were not
only you know, offensive to people, you were also murderers.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Thanks, So cheap Trick is going to be out with
some non time, NonStop tour schedule.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Might as well be NonStop, Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Pretty pretty close. You're going to be out a long
time and a lot of places seeing people. Tell me,
tell me what playing live to this day still means
to you and the band.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Well, it's different because now we've done it so long
and we have a lot of the hardcore fans and
at pretty much any show that we do, no matter
where it is, we will actually know people in the
audience and it seems like a bit of a family reunion.
It's great, like, oh, look at there's so and so
out there. Then we're in Tokyo. What the hell? You know?
(25:39):
It becomes like a big family in a way. Even
though you don't know necessarily the people's names, we do
know a lot of them. But now it's to the
point where we've got people bringing their kids and they're
you know, the young people are are singing along with
deep cuts. Now that's weird. It's one thing to sing
along with. I want you to want your obvious songs
that people probably heard, but once they start going along
(26:03):
with tracks that you know that no normal person listened to,
so I don't know, you know, it's it's like a
it's like a big family. We don't want to go
out there and sound like shit, but you know, it
is what it is. So if we do eh, like
Rick says, our mistakes are better than anyone else's. There's
(26:28):
something my dad know what he says. I can't listen
to him. That's all right.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Is there one song that surprises you that has emerged
as a deep track that you see people responding to?
You know that you're like, Holy mackerel, that one they love?
I mean, is there one that?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Is there?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
One that comes to mind?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Well? The thing is our biggest hit single was the Flank,
which we didn't write. That was a power ballad, and
it really wasn't. It wasn't something we were doing, even though,
you know. And our second biggest hit was I Want
You to Want Me, which is ours. But none of
the other songs were hits, not big hits like that,
(27:09):
so people think, oh, dream Please it was a hit Surrendered. No,
those were deep tracks. So almost all of our twenty
one records except where I Want You to Want Me,
they're all deep cuts. I don't care what it is.
Dream Police, that was not a hit. California Man, that
was not a hit. I Want You to Want Me? Yes,
(27:31):
the Flame? Yes? What else was a hit? Don't be cruel.
We were the only act to cover an Elvis saw
to get into the top five besides himself, and I
thought that can't be true, and it is, I think.
But that was a minor hit. Ain't that a shame?
(27:52):
Was kind of a hit for us too, But in general,
they're all deep tracks. It's kind of like the un
Occasion Breakdown or whatever bled Zeppelin songs, you know, those
were not hits. I don't think Stair Where It Happened
was a hit either, right, I don't think it was.
We've certainly all heard it enough. You know, it's Smoke
on the water. Is that a hit? I don't know, maybe,
(28:14):
but we've heard it enough. You know, Oh that was
a big ye dreamfully that was a big hit. No
it was not a big hit. No it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So the band was was obviously inducted as it should
have been some time ago in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. As we're recording this, the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies just occurred. As a band
that's in the rock Hall? Is there a band that
annoys you to know end that should be in that
isn't in.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I'm not surprised that a lot of the acts that
I like are not here. You know, I don't even
know what the parameters are, how you're getting or what.
You know. There wasn't the Hall of Fame when we started,
so it wasn't something we're like, oh, inspired you to
the Hall of Fame. No, you know, there wasn't one
to start with. And it's always like, well, who's judging this?
It's not like stats and baseball or footballers, you know,
(29:07):
it's why should we be in there instead of somebody else?
I have no idea. But it's the kind of thing
where we didn't think about it and didn't really we
weren't thinking about it. It's like, whoa, we got what Oh,
we're on the list, you know, we voted on like wow,
how do we get on the list? And then boom
we got in. It was it didn't really hit us
until we actually got there and we're at the venue
(29:30):
and it was like, wow, look at all these people,
you know, what are how do we fit in here?
Like Jesus, Jerrmy Lewis, Bat's Domino, you know, the Stones, Like,
but but the hell, We'll take it.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
It's wonderful. Tom Peterson, congrats on the new music all stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
See, that's what that makes me happy. That's that's why
we do it. It's for you and for it's like
friends and family. If you can't play it for your
friends and family, like yeah, I know this is shit,
but people are gonna it like uh yeah, okay, yeah,
I always like that. Oh they're they're getting bad press,
but they're laughing all the way to the bank. The
(30:08):
people that I know that got bad press were not
laughing all they were going to the bank. Yes, but
having your friends and family, like your stuff is way
more important than them hating it, and you're embarrassed, like
er Gee's yeah, well that's sold ten million copies. Yeah,
but it's a brother that's bad. We don't look at
(30:29):
it that way. We don't know what the hell people
want to hear. We just know what we might want
to hear and what we Hey, that was where bad
come from? How'd you come up with that? That's a
good one, you know. It's exciting being in the studio
and coming up with this stuff out of whole cloth.
Now you've got AI. They can do everything right. But
to me, most music already was AI. It all sounds
(30:50):
like elevator music to me anyway, So what's the damn difference?
There's no accounting for caste. Who cares if it's you know,
if you like it, there you are, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Oh man, you can't help I love it. I love
cheap trick. I'm so thrilled to be able to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
That is really not honest, That means that, that means everything, honestly, Oh.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I'm so I'm so thrilled. And next time you're in
Worcesta or in Boston, we'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
We're always in box, for God's sake. And I've got
good friends. So every time I get it's like here
in Boston again. I always my friend Jamie Rubin, and Reeves, Gabriel,
he they're they're from. So every time I'm there, I'm
sending him a picture of the Expressway or whatever, like, hey,
I'm back in Boston, you know. And Reeves he's doing well.
He's a good friend. And he lived in Nashville. It's
(31:42):
where I met him, and he he got that gig
with the cure. Like, oh my god, what a great
gig and what a great player, you know. Anyway, Yeah,
enough about red right.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, thanks man for being on the podcast. Thanks for
being not Taking a Walk. Tom Peterson, see you around, Man,
see you. Thanks bye, I'm off doing NBA.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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