One thing that made Cheap Trick such a fan's band was that, in addition to a great studio album every year or so, the band was constantly appearing on a number of notable soundtracks.
Keep in mind that the soundtrack releases we'll be focusing on are the songs recorded specifically for a soundtrack, or appearing there for the first time.
For example, 1979's Over The Edge (Matt Dillon's big-screen debut) doesn't really count because it merely uses songs from the band's debut album, but "Everything Works If You Let it", from the 1980 film Roadie, was recorded for the, uh, Meatloaf film vehicle during the All Shook Up sessions with George Martin.
Needless to say, as a young record buyer at the time, Trick made it fun to be a fan because you never had to wait until the next studio album to get your fix of new Trick.
In fact, just tracking down some of the material in those pre-internet days was quite challenging that by the time you held the coveted wax in your hands, you knew it was coming home with you at any cost. Hence why we paid over $80 for a Canadian VHS copy of "Rock & Rule", which featured three new Cheap Trick songs unavailable anywhere else, "I'm The Man", "Born To Raise Hell". and "Ohm Sweet Ohm".
Today, you'd just log onto Spotify and stream the new tracks to see if you like them, but back then, the only way of knowing whether you liked the tunes was to buy a copy of the soundtrack. Imagine that!
Of course, in the back of our minds, we always thought one of these songs was going to go on to be a huge hit on its own because there was just something a little special about the songs Cheap Trick were recording for various soundtrack projects. One can even go so far as to say that, for a time, Cheap Trick's best work was appearing on soundtracks.
Perhaps the best example of this was "Reach Out", one of two new songs Cheap Trick recorded for Irving Azoff's ambitious Heavy Metal soundtrack. Opening with a surging synth line, this was unlike any Cheap Trick song we'd heard to date and, coming off of the mild disappointment of All Shook Up and the departure of Tom Petersson, it was great to hear the band firing on all cylinders again.
So when the song was chosen as the second single from the soundtrack, after Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal", one just naturally presumed the world would dig the new Trick tune as much as we hardcore Trick fans did. How or why the tune didn't connect with radio programmers remains a mystery for the ages.
Also, how about a proper video for the song, perhaps? This is 1981, after all and a little thing called MTV will become very fucking important to whether Rockford's finest survives the decade (hint: they do, but its close).
The band's other contribution to the 2-LP soundtrack was "I Must Be Dreamin'", a song that is just too weird to have been recorded for anything but an R-rated cartoon. Not their best moment, by any stretch, but it showed a real willingness to break new ground and pull out all the stops for the movie.
Being their first time in the studio with Queen/Cars producer Roy Thomas Baker, this writer naturally wanted more, which we got with the release of One On One, which was also produced by Baker, but, lacked the energy and inspiration of the two soundtrack cuts.
Some attribute this to the absence of new bassist Pete Comita, whose appearance on the band's three songs for "Rock & Rule" and both stellar cuts from "Heavy Metal" speak for themselves. In addition to co-writing "Reach Out", Comita had won the hearts of fans with his rock solid performance with the band during 1981's regionally-televised Chicagofest concert, which showed a re-energized Trick at the top of their game.
Though it was newer bassist Jon Brant's face that appeared on the cover of 1982's One On One, it was guitarist Rick Nielsen who played most of the album's bass parts in the wake of Comita's untimely departure.
The band's next soundtrack appearance came via the teen flick "Spring Break", which required that the band actually sing the words "Spring Break", but they did so admirably, if at their own credibility at the time.
Would this have been something Cheap Trick would have done back in '77?
My hunch is an emphatic NO, but somebody was gonna accept that challenge and it may as well have been my favorite band on the planet.
They could have at least rewarded fans who bought the otherwise completely forgettable soundtrack album (any big Jack Mack & The Heart Attack or Gerard McMahon fans in the house?) by including the other song Cheap Trick recorded with producer Ian Taylor ("Get Ready"), which surfaced as the non-LP b-side of the Italian "Spring Break" single, unbeknownst to most U.S. fans until the interweb came along and helped fill in the blanks.
Little known fact you won't read anywhere else on ye olde interweb: Graham Elvis from the Elvis Brothers, with whom Cheap Trick shared a manager, was initially tapped to write a song called "Spring Break" that Cheap Trick would then record for the soundtrack.
Psyched to have the opportunity tow rite for a band he admired, Graham furiously wrote and recorded his demo and sent it into his manager's office. Nielsen is said to have taken one listen to the demo before his natural competitive streak kicked in and he churned out his own "Spring Break" at the last minute.
The final Rick Nielsen-penned version we heard in the movie was a quasi-metal arena rock monstrosity that saw the band commit audio hari kari to their otherwise still-fairly-stellar reputation.
That the song was released as a single should have horrified the band. What if that song became a huge hit that the band felt obliged to play on endless TV shows and concert stages. Of course, the fact that they didn't pull that nugget out of cold storage for their big 1989 MTV Spring Break concert tells us what little regard they must hold for the song.
Luckily, both the movie and the soundtrack disappeared quickly before any lasting career damage could take place, but that didn't stop the band from trying to inflict further damage upon their own "brand" by taking on the theme song to a movie called "Up The Creek".
Amazingly, clunky title aside, the song "Up The Creek" remains one of this writer's favorite CT soundtrack contributions, featuring what is arguably John Brant's best bass work. By the end of the tune, against one's own better judgment, you just may find yourself singing "I'm up the creek!" at the top of your lungs in stop & go traffic while motorists subtly roll up their windows and lock their doors, but you won't care!
What further soundtrack adventures await the band? Tune in Thursday for the exciting conclusion!
TO BE CONTINUED!