I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday!
When I think of Cheap Trick, I think of a checkered pattern and the 5-neck guitar of Rick Nielson. I guess I should add power pop to that list that they carried on from bands such as Badfinger, The Raspberries, and Big Star.
I got to see Cheap Trick in 1984 at Opryland in Nashville. Opryland was a theme park that was foolishly closed in the late 90s so Nashville could have yet another mall. The concert was short…it was only an hour but they are one of the best bands I got to see. Cheap Trick has always been one of the hardest-working bands in rock. They seem to always be on tour since the 70s.
The band fits in with just about any type of band. They have shared the bill with John Mellencamp, KISS, Krokus, REO Speedwagon, The Who, Motley Crue, Kool and the Gang, Iron Maiden, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Willie Dixon. How much more variety does anyone need? When you go from the Oak Ridge Boys, Mellencamp, and Iron Maiden…you have ran the gamut.
The lyrics were inspired by women the band met in southern Canada. However, Rick Nielsen didn’t like the sound of “Southern Canadian Girls” in the hook, so he just left it as “Southern Girls.”
Rick Nielsen and Cheap Trick’s bass player Tom Petersson wrote the song.
The song was on the album In Color, you can find a review at John’s site (2 Loud 2 Old Music) …great info. The album was released in 1977 and was produced by Tom Werman. He took their sound and produced a more power pop radio sound than their debut album.
This is the album that paved their way to stardom in Japan and later on Live at Budokan that was their breakthrough in the US. Five out of the 10 tracks on this album ended up on the live album.
Southern Girls
I’ve been north,
I’ve been east to the California beach
There’s only one place I know where to find you
And all you Southern girls got a way with your words
And you show it
You say hump and I’ll jump
You say go and I’ll know
Waste no time getting
So close to you
And you’ll never run way
When you find out why I wanted to find you
Ooh baby need some brand new shoes
Get out on the street
You got nothing to lose
You rock me and your crazy
And everyone says it, yeah yeah
Southern girls, you got nothing to lose
Southern girls, you got nothing to lose
I’ve been up I’ve been down
I’ve been weak I’ve been strong
But I never met someone like you
And you’ll never run away
When you find why I wanted to find you
You say hump and I’ll jump
You say go and I’ll know
Waste no time getting
So close to you
All you Southern girls
Got a way with your words
And you show it
Ooh baby need some brand new shoes
Get out on the street
You got nothing to lose
You rock me and your crazy
And everyone says it, yeah yeah
Southern girls, you got nothing to lose
Southern girls, you got nothing to lose
You think this boy, he loves you
Southern girls
You make it hard oh, so hard
I’ve been north, I’ve been east to the California beach
There’s only one place I know where to find you
And all you Southern girls got a way with your words
And you show it
Ooh baby need some brand new shoes
Get out on the street
You got nothing to lose
You rock me and your crazy
And everyone says it, yeah yeah
Southern girls, you got nothing to lose
Southern girls, you got nothing to lose
Southern girls
Southern girls
Southern girls
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Nice music Max. Japan was ahead of America in realizing how much talent this group had.
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I don’t know this one, Max. Good tune. Reminds me a lot of Blink 182, of course. Green Day too, but not as much.
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Good tune, I like the hard rock – punk combo (not sure the terminology but it feels like a genre blend.) That lead singer is too good-looking to be a man! Dang!
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Robin the ladies man lol. Yea it is punk/pop/rock…
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🙂
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There’s something to be said for Canadian gals! Dave Grohl says he has a bit of a thing for them too, and before his now wife, his last girlfriend that he took on tour with them was Canuck. An OK song, i think I might have heard it once or twice before, always assumed he was talking about the ladies from your parts of the globe though! Any thoughts on why they got so big in Japan while they were still unknown , more or less, here?
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No…on the Japan thing but maybe Japan likes power pop because that album was much more radio friendly than their debut…all catchy songs.
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I love ‘In Color’ and ‘Heaven Tonight’… Two perfect pop-rock albums with barely any filler.
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I totally agree. I liked quite a few of their albums.
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Good tune. I think the only Cheap Trick songs I knew are “I Want You to Want Me” and “Surrender”. Both are on the Budokan live album as well.
Cheap Trick had a knack for combining rock with pop-oriented melodies. Did you know they released a new album last year? I just saw it in Spotify.
I’m currently listening to the first tune. They still seem to pretty much sound the same. Zander remains their lead vocalist. Guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson are still around as well – pretty remarkable after such a long time!
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Yes I’ve heard some of it and I’ve liked what I’ve heard. They don’t change much at all and that is why I like them.
My favorite song by them is Voices…I love that song and If You Want My Love.
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Such a great song and one of their best albums. Thanks for the shout out and link!!
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No problem John…yea their music fits with many genres…I hope to see them again.
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Great song. You cannot go wrong with ’70s Cheap Trick. I also loved the fact that they always did cool from covers back than as well.
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They are just fun…that is the biggest thing also.
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Dude…I can’t believe Taylor Hawkins passed away…just terrible.
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yeah, that was the first news item I saw when I looked at my phone this morning (top trending search on google) … pretty sad. Grohl will be devestated, he was clearly his favorite band mate and maybe best friend outside of his own family.
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Oh yea…his best friend…you hardly saw an interview without them together. This will hit him really hard.
Rumors are flying out from all directions.
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I was just reading about that. I wonder what got him. Damn, what a drummer…right up there with Moon & Bonham.
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I’ve heard two different things….drugs of course and he was complaining of chest pains before. It could have been a John Ritter deal where it was undetected.
With all of the insurance policies they must have to tour…you would think it would get noticed.
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This is interesting:
https://www.planet-today.com/2022/03/foo-fighters-drummer-taylor-hawkins-who.html?m=1
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That site is acting odd…wants me to install something
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Hmmm… That is weird. It didn’t prompt me to but, I use Brave and it blocks stuff.
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At first, I thought the jab got him, with athletes dropping dead all over the planet but, that wasn’t the case.
Naturally, they go with “suspicious circumstances”…🙄
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Feel bad that his kids don’t have a dad now as well as his wife not having a husband. Terrible is right.
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He seemed like a great guy and family guy…yea it sucks man. It’s so shocking.
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My 1st hubby loved Cheap Trick, second only to Styx…had the original vinyl of Dream Police.
I don’t recall this one. It wasn’t part of their set when I saw them in Texas.
I have a particular fondness for “Tonight, It’s You.”
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Yes I like Tonight It’s You also….my favorite is probably Voices and If You Want My Love which sounds like the Beatles in the 90s. In fact they borrowed While My Guitar Gently Weeps for that.
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