Cheap Trick takes center stage in 'American Standard'

Classic rock icons Cheap Trick are known for many things — infectious tunes, tongue-in-cheek humor, and Rick Nielsen’s wild guitar antics and original drummer Bun E. Carlos’ anachronistically cool businessman image to play against the dashing looks of frontman Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson.

There have also been many myths and stories that have swirled around them — a majority of their own making — that helped to create their unique image. But what is the real truth? RStony Brook writer Ross Warner seeks after it in his well-researched biography, "American Standard: Cheap Trick From the Bars to the Budokan and Beyond" (Backbeat, $27.95).

Originally planned as a look into the Illinois group’s career-making live album "At Budokan," Warner, who also teaches social studies at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, covers the band’s inception in the early 1970s mainly through 1980, with a final chapter covering the subsequent years since. Carlos, who amassed a huge library of band concert recordings, offered some assistance. The bio balances classic stories of excess and adventure with an in-depth look into how the quartet evolved from a local band into an arena headliner; song by song, and show by show. It proves that even if one chases success, the end result — as evidenced by Cheap Trick’s topsy-turvy ride — is unpredictable.

Cheap Trick came along at a time when people really wanted to believe all the rock and roll mythology. A band like this couldn't happen today, not this way, because everything is questioned and feels like a publicity stunt.

The idea that they weren't four Swedish guys from Rockford would be so easily debunked today. They could never have pulled it off, and it's very appropriate that they literally had a bio that suggested that they were this mysterious foursome that had met under these weird circumstances.

Many Gen Xers were exposed to Cheap Trick through MTV, which arrives after the main part of the story you’re telling here ends.

I did enough research for a second half, which would be called "Too Dumb To Quit: The Fall and Rise of Cheap Trick." They were the perfect MTV band before there was an MTV. Of course, by the time they actually did break, they were frustrated with what they were playing because they'd been playing it for years. They will always be for so many people frozen in time "At Budokan." Bun E. Carlos said to me yesterday, “I appreciate that you kind of debunked a lot of the myths.”

Still, Robin, Tom and Rick will say [about 'Budokan'], “We weren't going to play 'I Want You to Want Me.' We dropped it from the set list. Then at the last second …” They [played it] on [the BBC series] "The Old Grey Whistle Test" a week earlier. They played [it at] the London Roundhouse. But people want to believe that because it is such a probable thing.

The front man usually gets the most attention, but Rick outdid Robin. Robin didn't have a problem with that?

I don't think he does. It's like a Pete and Roger [referring to The Who's Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey] thing — they definitely need each other. I mean, there are [two] Robin Zander solo albums. No one ever confirmed this, but Rick is probably the one that has all the money — I assume, just based on the guitar collection and all the endorsements.

Was there anything surprising that you learned writing this book?

I didn't know a lot about the crazy ‘70s Midwestern bar scene. I likened it to all the ballrooms, [like] the Fillmore in the ‘70s. There were all these bars, wet T-shirt contests, they're playing on this dark stage in the back. Rick has got suspenders on, being goofy. I don't know if he had the hat with the propeller yet.

They probably are really four normal guys from Rockford. Rockford is not a great town. The funny thing was that they would only allude sometimes to being from Chicago. But I know Bun E. Carlos said, “People don't like that we're not claiming Rockford. But it's not much to claim right now.” They just built the Hard Rock Cafe in Rockford with all Rick Nielsen stuff, but they [Cheap Trick] are literally the thing that Rockford is known for.