Philadelphia Weekly, 6 May 1998 (Ramsay Pennypacker)

Everybody knows Cheap Trick, the great pop metal band whose hits include such joyous blasts as "Surrender" and "I Want You To Want Me", But not many people realise the group spent a good portion of their early days struggling in Philadelphia.And hardly anyone's aware that several Cheap Trick members played on John Lennon's final album, Double Fantasy. It'll also probably come as a surprise that none of them particularly like their biggest hit Live At Budokan.

These are just a few of the anecdotes that fill a new, definitive biography that was co-authored and published by local entrepreneur Ken Sharp. Released through Poptastic!, Reputation Is A Fragile Thing: The Story of Cheap Trick is the ultimate reference work on the Rockford, Illinois quartet.

"It's a total labor of love," Sharp says. "There's never been a book on the group - I always thought they were deserving of one." It's certainly a timely publication. Cheap Trick, who in recent years was largely ignored as a '70s flash in the pan, is currently enjoying something of a renaissance. Time has vindicated the Trickster's vision: Many of today's modern rock groups - Third Eye Blind, Weezer, Green Day - have appropriated their tuneful slam. And alternative icons such as Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan and Scott Weiland have acknowledged Cheap Trick as a major influence. Cheap Trick's four-disc box set, Sex, America, Cheap Trick (Epic/Legacy), made a strong case for their artistic merit when it was released in 1996. Last year's fine eponymous disc on the indie label Red Ant proved that the quarter-century-old band still has much to say. And the group's current shows, which feature the Live At Budokan set list from 1978, have been garnering rave reviews. This week, an expanded reissue of the classic Budokan album is released.

Sharp's book, which was written with British author Mike Hayes, doesn't set out to prove the band's significance. It was produced primarily for the faithful. It covers every song from every album, as well as every tour, chart position and otherwise major event in Cheap trick's 25-year history. The casual fan might feel a little overwhelmed by all the minutiae, but that's not really the intended audience.

"I'm a niche writer," says Sharp, laughing. "I kind of specialise in things that people wish there were books about. I'm a fan first and foremost. I try to be objective but I do try to deliver what the ueber-fan would want. The big reason I do alot of these things is I'm kind of frustrated there's nothing out there."....

Visually, the book is also striking, with 64 pages of photos that include everything from shots of the members' high-school bands to pictures from this year's opening-night concert at Center City's Hard Rock Cafe.

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