Who else wondered how an unknown group had a live album?
Posted by Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 53 comments
My first introduction to the band was via this live album, yet I could not understand how they had a live album before a studio version. (I was a preteen and had no access to Japanese records back then). No idea what The Budokan was.
I never knew that Japan is where they cut their teeth, and was able to come back to USA and get bigger.
Enough-Parking164@reddit
“Unknown”? They were on tour and radio and Tv before this.
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
I was 10 when the album came out, and 11 when my older sister got it. They were around, but did not chart very well until this live album came out.
kingofrod83@reddit
"Big Eyes" such a great song - just had to say that!
Resident_Zebra933@reddit
I grew up in Rockford. As I got older, I was surprised that everyone didn't run into rock stars at the grocery store.
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
Hahaha.
My little 10 y.o. brain thought “you have a breakout album; everyone knows it, then you make a live recording.” And my older sister only had this live album. (My intro)
I missed the part about “everyone knows it” depends on my sphere of knowledge (quite small).
Comfortable-Push-980@reddit
I remember when I started to understand that people who aren't me also have lives.
romuloskagen@reddit
I wore the grooves out of Heaven Tonight before Budokan ever came out.
Ringmode@reddit
I remember being slightly puzzled that Cheap Trick had this massive live album at a time when I only knew "I Want You To Want Me" from radio play. But I was a kid in the mid 70s, so my perspective is skewed.
Related thing that always confused me: the live crowd sounds following "Head over Heels" by Tears for Fears on Songs from the Big Chair. I couldn't figure out how they had a stadium of people cheering for a brand new song that nobody had heard before.
burtguthrup@reddit
That’s actually another song called “Broken” right after the “time flies’ ending of Head Over Heels.
“Big chair” is one of those albums I listened to all the way through, and once I started ripping in CDs for my iPod, I could join CD tracks into a single track when one song blended well with another. So, those always got linked. Like INXS’ Need You Tonight & Mediate.
Ringmode@reddit
Apparently Broken was the B-side of Pale Shelter, so it had probably been performed live during the Hurting tour. But I don't think that snippet of Broken is actually a live recording because it doesn't sound like one. I think the crowd noise was just mixed in.
It's one of those cool mysteries in 80s albums, like why does "Some Girls are Bigger Than Others" fade in, fade back out, and fade in again?
burtguthrup@reddit
I’m not familiar with that ‘some girls’ song. The broken doesn’t sound live to me either. They did the same with Elton’s Benny & The Jets. crowd noise added for effect.
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
Yes, my thoughts too - massive sounding crowd at Budokan, and it sorta just “dropped” in the US with no preamble. They had some hits that others noted, but it was new/puzzling to me.
Knukkyknuks@reddit
My first album 😊
STNYC2019@reddit
Umm they weren’t unknown
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
No, but as a 11 year old in 1979, this album was my first big introduction. And, they were not getting major airplay, or they wouldn’t have had to go to Japan to get known.
Stairs-So-Flimsy@reddit
First concert ever. They used to play for the new recruits every summer for free at the Naval base I grew up on.
Agent7619@reddit
They were certainly well known in the Chicago area before that album (they are from Rockford IL).
basylica@reddit
VERY well known. My schoolmate bought a car off one of the band members, and they would play local festival every summer.
MachTwang@reddit
They were HUGE in Madison Wisconsin as well.
bigSTUdazz@reddit
Unknown? Cheap Trick were HUGE overseas in their early days...cmon maaannn.
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
But as a kid, seeing a “Live” album, and ‘knowing’ that live albums come out once they hit is big was the route. They seemed to bend the rules.
bigSTUdazz@reddit
Eh, that's fair. +1
Funnygumby@reddit
They had 3 studio albums with a couple hits prior to this one. Hardly an unknown group.
nokkusan@reddit
Also, they were very well known in Japan.
TinktheChi@reddit
I saw them live in 1979. They were great.
Anyawnomous@reddit
With Kiss? They opened and stole the show I saw. Probably the best Opening Act I’d experienced.
TinktheChi@reddit
Actually no. I don't even remember who the opening act was, so I'm going to assume it was not a big name band. I have seen Kiss however and they're the best live show I've ever seen. They're great.
Ok_Stand7885@reddit
You weren’t a 70s rock band unless you played Budokan.
RossMachlochness@reddit
Primus and Jane’s Addiction both pulled this off. Cheap Trick, not so much
opschief0299@reddit
I remember one time Dee Snider called them "America's house band"
feder_online@reddit
Unknown...to you...
In Color was a pretty solid album. Budokan had "Surrender" which was from Heaven Tonight
TheRealDoritoHunter@reddit
In Color is a fantastic album. Whenever I can’t decide what I want to listen to, this goes on. Never disappoints.
CJMcCubbin@reddit
Never a fan. That want you to want me can fuck right off
GodIsLoveAndLife@reddit
This band NEVER disappoints. Fantastic musicians.
M0untainHead@reddit
I member watching them on Don Kirshners Midnight Rock Concert in 76 or 77 before Budokan. They were pretty big at that time. In all fairness though I lived in St. Louis at the time and they were on the regular circuit of concerts. I saw them 3 or 4 times from 78 to 85.
blade944@reddit
Yeah, their road to success was indeed different. Released 3 albums in America. Had a couple of minor hits and were ready to pack it in when they went to Japan and found out they were massive over there. Recorded a live album for the Japanese market only featuring the now famous live version of I want You To Want Me. A live version which was radically different from the album version from a few years prior. Then the live album was brought to America as an import. An import for an American band. The single blew up in America and they finally released the live album in the US.
MichiganGeezer@reddit
The Professor of Rock just covered it a day or two ago.
They were nobody here, but pretty popular in Japan.
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
Ah crap, serendipity. I thought about posting my rambling thought last week. I watch his stuff, but have not looked at recent episodes.
MichiganGeezer@reddit
I just mentioned it because I like telling people about his channel. He does great interviews with rock stars.
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
His interviews are deeper than some fluff pieces and he asks as a fan.
Plus, he seems to always have a Smiths shirt on, so that’s good in my book.
MaximumJones@reddit
They were far from "unknown".
You do realize that many bands got famous in other countries before becoming giants in 'Murica', right?
Valuable-Analyst-464@reddit (OP)
In my part of the country, there was not much airplay earlier in their career. They were an American band that got famous overseas; happens yes, but in late 70s, early 80s - it did not registers with me. (I was 12 in 1980).
Maybe I was sheltered, but it seemed like a big live album preceding other albums.
The_Observatory_@reddit
I think that’s exactly what they were saying in that last sentence. That they didn’t know this back then, but they already know it now.
itstraytray@reddit
There's an old phrase that goes "big in Japan". Heck, even a band named themselves that. Loads of bands who don't do so well in the US/UK are GANGBUSTERS in Japan for whatever reason.
RoastSucklingPotato@reddit
Alphaville had a hit song called “Big in Japan”.
dingatremel@reddit
Actually, there’s a whole story about this in the book “They Just Seem a Little Weird”
Unfortunately, the details are lost to the ill effects of cheap weed and middle age.
jsakic99@reddit
I just read that book last month. Lots of interesting anecdotes in there.
e_slide-68@reddit
They deserved the success that came with that album.
So many corporate rock bands filled the airwaves. Cheap Trick didn't need the validation of the radio accountants.
No_Ask3786@reddit
They were the original “big in Japan” band
CorrectPhilosophy245@reddit
Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
BigMoFuggah@reddit
They weren't unknown in Japan, that's for sure
airckarc@reddit
No doubt. They didn’t “cut their teeth” in Japan, they rocked the whole country. Fans went insane.
EdwardBliss@reddit
Love this album. Great band!