News broke this week that the Trump administration plans to use technology to ensure that federal workers are back in the office. All of which led to much consideration at Song of the Week headquarters of songs about Big Brother and surveillance. Ultimately, we went with Cheap Trick’s 1979 tale of power pop paranoia, “Dream Police.”
Cheap Trick was formed in 1973 in Rockford, Illinois, by singer Robin Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The band blended hard rock and Beatle-esque pop to become one of the pre-eminent power pop acts. In its early years, Cheap Trick liked to play off the rock star good looks of Zander and Petersson with the unconventional looks of Nielsen and Carlos.
The band released two albums that were critically lauded but didn’t sell well. Before the 1978 release of their third album, Cheap Trick toured in Japan for the first time and were met with a fanatical response from fans there. The resulting live album, Cheap Trick at Budokan, was originally meant for Japan only but was released in the U.S. in 1979 and became a huge hit for the band, spawning a top 10 single with “I Want You to Want Me.”
Cheap Trick released its fourth album, Dream Police, in September 1979 and the title track became a top 40 hit, reaching #26. It was a rousing rocker with a super-catchy chorus about a paranoid man who’s convinced the government is watching him, even in his dreams. The album went to #6 on the Billboard 200 chart.
But that was Cheap Trick’s commercial peak for a while, as it dealt with lineup changes and plunging record sales throughout the ’80s. In 1987, the band started working with outside writers for the first time and scored a #1 hit with the power ballad “The Flame” and a #4 hit with a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel,” both aided by hit videos on MTV.
Things tailed off again in the ’90s, but Cheap Trick has persevered and is still touring and releasing albums. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.