Friday, May 6, 2016

"Let Go" by Cheap Trick

It is extremely difficult to select just one track from the prolific Cheap Trick, a melodic rock band that has been cranking out hits since the 70s - and still going strong, with their new album, "Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello", released just this year. 

The band's first charting single was "Surrender", which surprisingly only went to #62 in 1978. Given the familiarity with this now classic song, you'd think it went top 10 back in the day. But the band's first major score was "I Want You To Want Me", which soared to #6 the following year.

Cheap Trick belted out a bunch of great tunes but didn't see the top 10 again until 1988 with their monster ballad, "The Flame". To satisfy label demands, the band brought in additional songwriters for "Lap of Luxury" and "The Flame", along with their cover of "Don't Be Cruel" (which went to #4), were the positive results. On the strength of these singles, the album became their second highest charting release, topping out at #16. 

"Let Go" is the lead-off track and helps set the tone for this outstanding record. Written by Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen and collaborator Todd Cerney, the "Rock Doctor", this song was released as the fourth single (the third was another ballad, "Ghost Town", co-written with Diane Warren, which went to #33). "Let Go" is one of my favorite Cheap Trick anthems, but it didn't chart. The fifth and final single, "Never Had A Lot To Lose", did chart however, reaching #75 in 1989.

As another fun piece of "Lap of Luxury" trivia, Gregg Giuffria (Angel, Giuffria, House of Lords) co-wrote "All We Need Is A Dream".


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