Great song from a juggernaut of a band.
“I Want You to Want Me” is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States.
“I Want You to Want Me” was a number-one single in Japan. Its success in Japan, as well as the success of its preceding single “Clock Strikes Ten” paved the way for Cheap Trick’s concerts at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in April 1978 that were recorded for the group’s most popular album, Cheap Trick at Budokan. A live version of “I Want You to Want Me” from the album Cheap Trick at Budokan was released in 1979 and became their biggest selling single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing sales of one million records. In Canada, it reached #2 in on the RPM national singles chart, remaining there for two weeks and was certified Gold for the sale of 5,000 singles in September 1979. It was also the band’s highest charting single in Britain, where it reached #29.
Cheap Trick, back in the day, was about the biggest band to roll through the backwoods Pacific Northwest. We were never large enough to rate anything like Zeppelin or The Who, but I definitely remember friends getting amped to see Cheap Trick.
I was not cool or hip enough to attend, but it’s entirely possible that Other Other Elvis did. The internetweb informs me that I should have seen:
Cheap Trick **supporting KISS**
I’m guessing Renfield saw them a few times.
Alas, I was a fan but never saw them. Never in the right place at the right time.