{"id":2056,"date":"2009-03-17T10:03:54","date_gmt":"2009-03-17T14:03:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-03-17T11:18:55","modified_gmt":"2009-03-17T11:18:55","slug":"cheap-trick-or-the-raspberries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/cheap-trick-or-the-raspberries\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheap Trick or The Raspberries?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vsjhxh0-gH4?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nIf you can convince me that <strong>Cheap Trick<\/strong> is <strong>way better<\/strong> than power pop predecessors <strong>The Raspberries<\/strong>, more power to you, but let&#8217;s keep this challenge simple: <em>Is there evidence that Cheap Trick should be thought of as <strong>anything more<\/strong> than The Raspberries with a highly evolved schtick?<\/em><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MpWEUQh1IqU?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nCertainly, The Raspberries get their props from power pop fans the world over. However, they don&#8217;t have that extra few levels of critical acclaim that Cheap Trick have been getting since 1990 or so &#8211; not to mention younger bands outside the power pop genre who fawn over them. Do they? Is it just because they didn&#8217;t have the staying power of Cheap Trick? Did they come onto the scene and peak a few years too early &#8211; getting lost in a sea of post-Beatles apathy rather than benefiting from slight associations with the punchy, new sound of New Wave and Punk? Did they simply lack a guitarist and drummer straight out of 1930s comedy shorts?<\/p>\n<p>To my ears, each band has one <strong>great<\/strong> song: &#8220;Surrender&#8221; for Cheap Trick and &#8220;Go All the Way&#8221; for The Raspberries. After that, there are a couple of songs I like well enough and then a bunch of half-baked, slightly interesting, somewhat energetic, mostly melodic crap that gets on my nerves somewhere past the first chorus. <\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gZO3JSOFypE?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nIn the <strong>&#8220;like&#8221;<\/strong> category for Cheap Trick I can think of their covers of &#8220;Ain&#8217;t That a Shame&#8221; and &#8220;California Man,&#8221; the studio version of &#8220;I Want You to Want Me&#8221; (the live version wears on me), what few snatches I can remember of &#8220;Dream Police,&#8221; and &#8220;On Top of the World,&#8221; at least until that song goes on too long. I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m missing one or two others that don&#8217;t make me lunge for the needle.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vTELLAzVtxg?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nIn the <strong>&#8220;like&#8221;<\/strong> category for The Raspberries there&#8217;s &#8220;Tonight,&#8221; the sticky-sweet &#8220;Let&#8217;s Pretend&#8221; and &#8220;Ecstasy,&#8221; and the nearly pathetic guilty pleasure of &#8220;Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)&#8221; and a couple of other songs of that ilk.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DmfKkbJBiBk?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nI&#8217;ll grant you that The Raspberries never had the slightly anarchic, experimental leanings of Cheap Trick, but really, how often was that a helpful characteristic of theirs other than to make you feel a little less guilty about all the processed sugar and smarm they dumped into their power pop mix?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you can convince me that Cheap Trick is way better than power pop predecessors The Raspberries, more power to you, but let&#8217;s keep this challenge simple: Is there evidence that Cheap Trick should be thought of as anything more than The Raspberries with a highly evolved schtick?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[158],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}