I Want You To Want Me – Cheap Trick | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#7); 1979
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Cheap Trick’s success in America almost didn’t happen. Guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson first failed together in a band called Fuse. They released one album in 1969 that sank without a trace.
Several years later Rick and Tom were playing in Cheap Trick, a name they kept because it was the one they were using – after a string of others – when they weren’t fired from a club gig.
In 1977, Cheap Trick released a self-titled first album, and it, too, rocketed to the bottom…except in Japan, where it went gold. In Color did somewhat better stateside, while over in Japan fan hysteria bordered on Cheap Trickmania.
The band’s live show was captured over there in all its glory on April 28, 1978 at Budokan which finally gave the Illinois group a smash album in its native country. The standout track, I Want You To Want Me, originally appeared in studio form on In Color.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Tom Werman
Lyrics Written by:
- Rick Nielsen
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).