He is the man with the baseball cap and the multi-necked guitars: Rick Nielsen founded Cheap Trick in 1973 in Rockford, Illinois. The following year he had his regular formation with Robin Zander, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos. From the beginning the band fascinated with their energetic concerts. Even the makers of the "WDR Rockpalast" couldn't get past the group any more and invited them to one of their legendary rock nights in the Grugahalle in Essen in 1983.
But while their success in Europe was more like a flash in the pan, they remained one of the leading rock acts in the USA even after their classical phase in the late seventies and early eighties. 1988 it came to the big chart comeback with the number one ballad "The Flame" and the rock'n'roll cover "Don't Be Cruel", which Elvis had already refined. So it's not surprising that Cheap Trick were included in the "Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame" in April along with Deep Purple, Chicago, N.W.A and Steve Miller.
eclipsed: What does the admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mean to you?
Robin Zander: You're a little bit proud when you get nominated and manage to move into the "Hall of Fame" at the first try. The reasons for the recording or non-recording are not necessarily completely transparent, but I don't want to comment on it any further.
eclipsed: In the "Hall of Fame" the bands are often on stage with former members during their tribute..
Zander: (laughs) ...because of me Ritchie [Blackmore, with whom the Purple musicians didn't want to play at the ceremony; note] could have joined us and Bun E. Carlos at Deep Purple. But I know where you're going with this. Of course it is perfectly ok that Bun E. was honoured as the original drummer.
eclipsed: Since 2010 Bun doesn't tour with you anymore, but is still an official member of the band. What the fuck are you doing?
Zander: We just had our different ideas on how to proceed with Cheap Trick. If it was up to him, we'd just be doing "Sgt. Pepper" in Las Vegas. But the rest of us thought that Cheap Trick is a touring rock band that has enough material of its own to perform with. After all, we came to the "Hall" because of our songs and not because we can make the Beatles songs fire up our asses. And also not because of the really impressive contributions of Bun and Rick to John Lennon's album "Double Fantasy".
