Big Machine Label GroupCheap Trick released its 17th studio album, Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello!, on April Fools’ Day, which also was declared “Cheap Trick Day” in the band’s home state of Illinois. The album also arrived exactly a week before the power-pop legends were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello! is packed with songs that seem to be inspired by material from throughout Cheap Trick’s long career, while also boasting a modern sound. As singer Robin Zander explained to ABC Radio at a recent Klipsch Audio-sponsored event in New York City celebrating the Rock Hall’s latest class of inductees, “This album goes back to a sound that we’ve tried to cultivate over the years.”
Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello! kicks off with an energetic anthem titled “Heart on the Line,” which Zander said “starts off like a freight train and that’s the way we like to make records.”
Among the other standout tracks are the infectious lead single “No Direction Home”; current single “When I Wake Up Tomorrow,” a soaring ’80s-style rock ballad; and a cover of “The In Crowd,” a 1965 hit for Dobie Gray.
About the record’s quirky name, Zander revealed, “It was a song title that [guitarist] Rick [Nielsen] had come up with, but he forgot to write a song around it. So, I told him…I thought that would make a good album title, and it became one. We never thought of another one.”
Summing things up, Robin told ABC Radio that he thinks Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello! will appeal to a wide range of music fans.
“I think if you’re a Cheap Trick fan you’ll like the record,” he maintained, “and if you’re not a Cheap Trick fan I think it’s gonna be a pleasant surprise.”
Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello! debuted at #31 on the Billboard 200, making it Cheap Trick’s highest-charting since 1988’s Lap of Luxury, which reached #16 on the tally. “When I Wake Up Tomorrow,” meanwhile, currently sits at #27 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
Cheap Trick is supporting the album with a variety of tour dates this year. After playing a series of headlining concerts over the next few months, the group will team up with Heart and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts for the expansive Rock Hall Three for All trek, which kicks off July 14 show in Clarkston, Michigan.
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