Illinois Entertainer April 2021 | Page 22

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By Tom Lanham photo by Lou Brutus
t a seasoned 72 , Rick Nielsen is the Frank Buck of the rock and roll world . By his own admission — and he ’ s not bragging , just stating the facts — the Cheap Trick axeman and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has bagged and brought home over 2,000 guitars in his lifetime . His trophy room currently houses roughly 500 , several of which were put to good use on the band ’ s rollicking , Apocalyptic-themed new album In Another World , its 20th . And when he ’ s on the hunt , he knows the biggame instruments he ’ s stalking , down to every last sonic detail . “ And actually , about a week ago , I bought another one , the guitar that I ’ ve been chasing for years ,” says the Rockford , Illinois native of the Dwight Coronet model he purchased from Jam / Style Council mainstay Paul Weller over in England . “ They only made 47 of them , and it ’ s the same one that Steve Marriott always used to play .”
But the meticulous Nielsen — ever since he sparked Cheap Trick to life with two stunning records in 1978 , Cheap Trick and In Color , and a rapid-fire 1979 followup , Heaven Tonight — had a very clear picture in his head of what he wanted for his bubblegum-chewy rock and roll outfit , starting with its obvious visual disparity . Vocalist Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson were the handsome , featherhaired heartthrobs . Simultaneously , bespectacled drummer Bun E . Carlos and the baseball-capped , wrestling-booted , perpetually-mugging Nielsen played the awkward wallflower geeks . This campy contrast worked remarkably well , both onstage and in album cover photographs . Musically , the imagery was echoed by its breakthrough 1979 smash , the sing-song , almost Vaudevillian live version of “ I Want You to Want Me ,” culled from the
22 illinoisentertainer . com april 2021

Telling The Truth

Japanese-recorded Cheap Trick at Budokan . Opposites definitely seemed to attract .
And Nielsen ’ s standards are still high after all these years . The Julian Raymondproduced In Another World opens with a stomping “ The Summer Looks Good on You ,” with Zander ’ s charismatic wheezeto-a-snarl singing voice sounding stronger than ever . Granted , the group ’ s powerpop-rooted style gets some tweaking here , as in the horn-peppered “ Stop Waking Me Up ,” an R & B pounder called “ The Party ,” a bluesy “ Final Days ,” featuring Wet Willie ’ s Jimmy Hall on harmonica , and a swaying cover of John Lennon ’ s “ Gimme Some Truth ,” with guitar pyrotechnics courtesy of former Sex Pistol Steve Jones . But mostly , it ’ s just Cheap Trick doing what it does best , as on “ Here ’ s Looking at You ,” a subtly modern update of its huge , arena-pleasing sound . Old-schooler that he is , though , Nielsen is happy to note that World will be available in a special , Target-only picturedisc edition , as well , which is par for the retro course . “ A couple of years ago , we were No . 1 in the world as far as eighttracks — I don ’ t think many people put those out ,” he chortles impishly . “ And it ’ s like , we know it ’ s not gonna sell , but it ’ s just kind of fun . I ’ ve saved all my old eight-tracks , although I ’ m not sure where they are . But I ’ ve never thrown anything out . I have over 5,000 boarding passes , and I haven ’ t unpacked since Budokan — I just buy more luggage !” The following interview finds him in a typically playful — but unusually reflective — frame of mind .
IE : Years ago , I gave you a silver square Kinks “ Misfits ” button backstage , and you wore it everywhere . How big did your promo-pin collection get ? And what do you collect now instead ?
RICK NIELSEN : Well , I started out as a coin collector and a stamp collector because of my grandmother , actually . She collected stamps in blocks of four , the corner four that would have the serial number on it that you would get at the post office . And I collected those until about 1963 . But I collected coins , too , and this was in the day where you had to — I had the first day of issues , but I started getting overseas stuff from different countries , and you had to write letters and send mail , that whole process . It was way before the Internet , and I think my interest became more involved in music , as opposed to stamps . And when I was a kid , I was a boy scout , so I had boy scout stamps , too . And I still have ‘ em — I still have all that stuff .
IE : What was your most prized stamp ? I collected ‘ em , too , and I had some Hitler ones . RN : I ’ ve got a couple of Hitler ones . My mother-in-law lived in Germany back then , and she gave me some stuff . She was writing to her sister , and here ’ s the old Hitler stamp on the front of the envelope . And HER father was like a woodsman , a forester , and he was thrown in — like so many others were back then — into the Nazi party , which you had to join or whatever . And the grandmother , I actually lived with her in Nuremberg in 1971 and 1972 with my wife , and I actually learned how to speak some German . But back to that — I went from stamps to coins and baseball cards , and then I got rid of all my baseball cards . I sold ‘ em to John Whitehead , a guy who worked for us — I didn ’ t want to , but I think I needed a guitar that I wanted to get . But my coin collection ? I still collect because I love standing-Liberty dollars and half dollars , because I just like the artwork on those things so much . And probably my most famous coin that I have is , I have a 16D dime and a 1909 Ezra DB penny .
IE : I remember several years ago , as an only child , you were going through a tough time dealing with the deaths of both parents . I get it now . I ’ m now an orphan , too . RN : Well , I grew up an only child , and in one way , it was good . It ’ s like , I make the joke , “ There was nobody around , so I had to play with myself .” But I ’ ve never been bored to this day . I ’ m sitting here in my dining room , and I can ’ t wait to get done here so I can look through these coins that I haven ’ t looked at in 25 years . But the fact that there ’ s nobody here — my wife ’ s out of town , and the kids are all grown — so the mess that ’ s around here is all mine . But my parents went within nine months of each other . And I think it just shows your own mortality , you know ? I mean , now I have friends whose parents are dying , and I wrote the song “ Words ” — “ Words can never say ” — because there ’ s no good way to talk about a kid or your parents or anybody dying , and if you come up with some speech or write a letter , it ’ s never enough . Until later , nobody gets it . It ’ s like writing a text today — anything can be taken in a different way . Is it sincere ? Is it fake ? And how do I reconcile it ? I ’ m glad my parents gave something great to me . And some of that was leaving me alone , and some of that was believing in me enough not to try to force me to do something that I probably wouldn ’ t do anyhow . continues on page 26