Their Biggest Trick

In 1979-1980, Rockford, Illinois-based band Cheap Trick scored a quartet of Top 40 hits on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart stemming from their Live at Budokan and Dream Police albums.  Those hits included one Top 10 single: “I Want You To Want Me,” which peaked at number 7.  In the succeeding years, the band continued to release music, but it wasn’t until 1988 that Cheap Trick would again find their way into the Top 40.  They returned, though, with a bang as, exactly 25 years ago, the first single from their Lap of Luxury album, “The Flame,” peaked at number 1 for the first week of a two-week run at the top and became the biggest hit of the band’s career.

Cheap Trick would follow up “The Flame” with two more top 40 hits from Lap of Luxury:  a remake of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” that peaked at number 4 and the ballad “Ghost Town” that peaked at number 33.  In 1990, the band released the album Busted as a follow-up to Lap of Luxury, and the first single from Busted, “Can’t Stop Fallin’ Into Love,” reached number 12.  That, though, remains the band’s last Top 40 hit.

Cheap Trick continues to make music, and they are currently on tour, with dates in Calgary, Alberta; Brooklyn, New York; and Columbus, Ohio, this week.