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While living in Rockford, I met Guitarist Rick Neilsons dad and to hear him tell stories of how proud he was of his son was magical. God bless him.

I saw Cheap Trick with Def Leppard and Poison. And it still drives me nuts that the venue was practically EMPTY during Cheap Tricks performance. They were easily the best band there that night.

When I was a teenager, my bedroom was basically a temple to Cheap Trick, with all the posters, a large cardboard cutout of them from the Dream Police album, etc.

I love this song; Robin Zander shines with his vocals here, especially on a live version from the band's 2001 live album "Silver"!

"I Want you to Want me", "Surrender", and "Dream Police title song" were much better hit songs for them.

When this song first came out, I saw them at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida. A friend of mine was the promoter for the concert. I went backstage after the concert and got to meet the band. When they asked me what I thought of the show, I told them I had loved it (especially, Surrender, Dream Police, and a few others), but that I was surprised they didn't play The Flame, especially since it was their single they had just released. Rick Nielsen said, We didn't release it, our label did. He told me they were forced to do that song and they didn't write it. I responded, regardless, it's going to be a huge hit and you're going to have people coming to your shows expecting to hear it. That's when Robin Zander chimed in and basically said, he knows they're going to have to add it to the setlist and soon. He also commented he would have to probably sing the song for the next 50 years so he better learn to like it. How prophetic that statement ended up being/lol. And to be fair, Robin's vocals on the song are very good (especially live), so even if Rick doesn't like the song, Robin must be ok with it.

I've seen Cheap Trick live six times from 1990 forward, and they always put on a fun show, whether they're headlining or opening. Probably my favorite gig I saw was when they co-headlined with Eddie Money in 1995, and were touring under the underrated album Woke Up with a Monster album. Great show.

I met Robin Zander and Tom Peterson at a small club in Huntsville, Alabama. This was right after this song hit #1. Robin was real nice and they had no bodyguards much to everyone's dismay.

That song brought me to cheap trick..especially theircover of dont be cruel. I was 14. God I miss 1988. Thanks band❤

Robin's vocal is great, though. The track is great. Still miles better than Aerosmith's 'Don't Wanna Miss A Thing,' a song so bad and performance so cringey it made Tyler fall off the wagon and become an old woman.

I like the song . I like pretty much all Cheap Trick songs . IWYTWM and Surrender gave me goosebumps the first time I heard them . Not many songs/bands can do that to me . I'm glad Chicago didn't get this song . If you dislike Cheap Trick's version , just try to imagine that in your musical memory .

My dad lives in Rockford Illinois and has ran into a couple of the guys from Cheap Trick a few times and said they're all great. He ran into Alice Cooper once too. I only got to meet MC Hammer in the early 90's 😂 Got stuck in an elevator with him & some of his entourage. I think it was the 2Legit 2Quit era 😂

By the mid 80's Cheap Trick went from being headliners to openers. "The Flame" was a huge hit and put them back as show headliners but only for a couple of years. The greatness of Cheap Trick is that they kept making music and touring. Their persistence paid off.

I was really into Cheap Trick back in the day and Robin Zander was so cute to me and had an amazing voice!

My all-time favorite Cheap Trick song was "Reach Out" from the soundtrack to the animated film Heavy Metal. In subsequent years, the band all but disowned the song because it had been written by the temporary replacement bass player.

He walked the vocals across the state and back. This is perfection.

I used to love their song Mighty Wings from the Top Gun soundtrack.

Sort of like Heart in the 80's. I heard they didn't write the lyrics for those big hits they had. But they went from cool tough chicks in the 70's to sounding vulnerable.

Hmm i thought I want you to want me was their biggest hit...thanks for sharing🎸..Rick Neisen is so so under rated!!

“The Flame” came out when I was 9, it was my first introduction to Cheap Trick.

And KISS hated Beth, or didn't want to release it, or something like that. Music is subjective; let the listeners decide.

Loved Cheap trick in late 70s early 80s never knew Tom left the band I know they've turned their backs on Bun e Carlos for some reason, this channel gets better every day

I Love The Flame. One of my all time favorite ballads.

Robin Zander really knocks The Flame out of the park, across the river and over the mountain.. The raw emotion he put's in the vocals is Un-Fucking-Real it's so good.. As far as up-tempo rock, songs from At the Budokan, Live at Budokan have become the obvious choice for 97% of the world but I always thought The Dream Police took what Cheap Trick could do one step further than the Budokan material.. As far as ballads go The Flame is BADASS and every time it comes on Robin Zander shows me just how shitty of a singer i am.. Lol... Come on guys, don't be lame & cast blame, just love the Flame.. I was a poet & i did know it.. ;- )

I don't blame them. The poppy ballads are cool at first. Then, they get requested over and over and over and over. The band I was in back in the late 80's played Patience by GnR and Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison. They were just filler songs. But, the women in the audience kept requesting them over and over AT THE SAME SHOWS! They couldn't get enough of those songs. We played them maybe 3 times at the END of the night. But, that was it! It became a joke among us "Play Patience again!!!! Pleeeeease!!!"

The song is a landmark stellar vocal performance by Zander, incredible.

Saw them play a show about a year ago as co-headliners with Joan Jett. Each played for an hour. Kinda sucked when about 10% of the show was wasted on them playing "The Flame". But since they had played "Top of the World" as the second song, I just couldn't be mad at them.

I understand their position on the song. As a fan I like it. Although I think Tonight it's you is a better song and should have been their #1 . I never cared for the flame live never sounded good. I've heard they did that on purpose? However the last 3 or 4 times I've seen them they performed it perfectly. I would like to hear them cover Fox on the run by Sweet. I think they would do an awesome job on that.

I would bet that not many listeners are aware Cheap Trick did the theme song heard at the beginning of the TV sitcom That 70's Show.

The Flame is VH1 power ballad garbage & it's a shame that Cheap Trick didn't enjoy a Grunge re-appreciation because you can hear alot of Nirvana in Trick songs like "Gonna Raise Hell" & "Born To Raise Hell". And Zander was a rare mainstream Rock singer who throat-screamed when that was primarily a Punk & Metal thing.

Most rock bands do a ballad. The song shows off Zander's excellent vocals but for me the song featured Tom Petersson back where he belonged.

They can hate it all they want but that is a great song and was the song that got me into them. What a great band I discovered because of the Flame.

Hated this song when it came out (I was 13 or 14?). But had a vague idea that Cheap Trick had been around and used to be better, but I couldn't exactly check out their old stuff on KZfaq or Spotify in the late 80's. Had no idea how great they actually were. "Hello There" is a straight-up banger. If there's a better power pop adrenaline rush party-starter out there, I haven't heard it.

I still wish Cheap Trick would officially release the Steve Albini re-recording of “In Color.” It’s been over 20 years.... I also wish they’d do an entire album of GG Allin cover songs...

How about a video on Talk Show?

Because of my age and geography (Europe), "The Flame" was the first Cheap Trick song I ever heard on the radio. I loved it and it got me in to the rest of their music. I'm not sure it's so bad for a band if a song acts as a 'gateway' for new fans. I wonder if they are over it now as they performed it live when I saw them support Aerosmith about 8 years ago.

Given that Chicago was with Warner Bros. by 1988, that quote of Carlos' makes no sense.

Brian Connelly and Robin Zander. Amazing pop/rock vocalists. Among the best.

If you're going to do a video on why they didn't like a song, why not tell the truth. It had nothing to do with grunge. Grunge wasn't even on the horizon when Lap of Luxury released. I grew up in the 80's, the grunge era began to really spike around late 90 to 91 not 87 88. Hair bands were the thing in the late 80's not Nirvana, not Pearl Jam, none of those bands were a thing til the very early 90's so stating the reason they hated it was due to grunge bands, seriously, get a clue. Not to mention I got to open for Cheap Trick at a club show in Vegas in 94 and they did 't seem to mind the song then. Possibly bad reporting you've found. I know Billy Sheehan has come forward on his social media pages recently bashing articles where they state he's said this and that and he's never even been interviewed by these people. Media is evil.

Glad they still play this song live....gives me a chance to buy another beer or go to the bathroom.

The song featured Robin & was easily his best vocal performance. He could totally sing it live too.

I love The Flame. That's the song that got me into Cheap Trick 🤷

the power ballad killed what was left of corporate rock in the late 80's. most hard rock band were pressured by their labels.... and here comes grunge....

Though not my favorite song by Cheap Trick, The Flame was the first song we danced to at our wedding.

Regarding corporate rock power ballads, "The Flame" is far from the worst ones I have ever heard, but it certainly lacked the fire and spirit that made the band's early original material so good.

I always thought that the late Roy Orbison could have done justice to The Flame.

The flame is a great song as far as love songs go.

Dream Police ftw.

They performed it well, and still do it live (at least at the show I saw 2 years ago), but this explains a lot. I never thought it fit the band, really. What sucks is, they didn't do "She's Tight" or "Dream Police" at that show. I'll let that slide though because they featured their bass player in a segment, and I never knew how good he was or that he played a 12-string white falcon.

It’s a great song in all fairness. Great vocal and performance by great band.

I used to like this song not gonna lie when I was in like middle school. I’m 26 now

Peter Cetera vs Chicago, The Death of Bon Scott and ACDC's Back in Black, Woodstock 99, Sammy Hagar vs Eddie and Alex Van Halen

had to google the song, I always just assumed Surrender was their biggest song. I barely remember this one. It's pretty cheesy for sure, but I still kinda like it.

I like this song. 😀👍

Just heard it now for the first time. On one hand, nice singing. On the other, though, while I was listening, I kept thinking: this has that Desmond Child reek all over it (NOT a compliment!) Really schlocky.

I love The Flame and can relate to the song

Cheap Trick: The only band to get into the top 5 with an Elvis song... true...

Ironic that the band hates this song considering their fans love it so much.

lol Their early stuff is cool.

That song appears on many 80s greatest hits albums. I reckon it's a hard song to sing so hats off to Zander.

I like this song. Its not like their other stuff but it's still great

Great song. A true classic.

I'm a Cheap Trick fan and had no idea this was one of their songs. This came out when I was a teenager. By this time in the 80s cheesy power ballads were so played out and uncool that I literally paid no attention to it.

Rick always wants to be the songwriter...love cheap trick

I love them with all their songs but ghost town...thats my most fav

Surely if you want my love you’ve got it was a bigger hit for them…

Ang ganda kaya nung kanta. Kung ayaw niyo eh di tangina wag niyo pakinggan.

I thought "Dream Police" was one of the best songs ever. By any band.

It was “Cheap Trick at Bodokan,” not “Cheap Trick At The Budokan.” Grunge became big in 1991, not 1988. Other than those details, good job on this feature. “The Flame” is my least favorite Cheap Trick hit, too.

You can tell it killed Rick's muse as a writer. Every album before this - almost all of the songs written by Rick on his own - and every album after this, all co-written. The record company telling them that they weren't good enough really killed the creativity.

It's an awesome beautiful song

I love this song!

I never knew this was CheapTrick it's not my kind of song but I liked the band.

2:12 is that a 7-string???

I Love the Flame. Its very 80's but tremendous

Do a face reveal

I absolutely LOVE The Flame.

Cheap Trick were "forced" by Epic Records to come up with a hit single. "The Flame"' is not very representative of their sound.

Um this was a hit in 1988. Grunge didn't hit until 1991.

Plus there was a song called keeper of the flame Not the rip off of their song Since cheep trick knows my band never ripped off their song

Loved the late 1970’s Cheap Trick, back when I was in high school. Live at Budokan and Dream Police were 2 of my most played albums. Then saw them live in the summer of 1980 at a “Day on the Green” at the Oakland Coliseum. THEY SUCKED! Their performance was so uninspired and lackluster it was almost unwatchable and unlistenable. I always considered that (at least for me) the beginning of their downfall.

That’s what makes me love Cheap Trick even more, is that their only number one hit is also the worst song in their whole discography, and the band actually hates it for a good reason, because it sounded nothing like them and wasn’t even written by them!

Thanks for another entertaining video

Robin Zander is the greatest American rock voice ever

Just like any other band , they have good and bad songs ,

Medyo naaartehan lang ako. Daming banda diyan handang pumatay magkaroon lang ng hit song. Tapos kayong nagkaroon ng hit single mayayamot kayo? Blessing din yan. Napakaingrato lang pakinggan. Arte niyo magbabanda kayo tapos pag nagmainstream success ayaw niyo? Labo niyo, Cheap Trick.

Undoubtedly their best song performance-wise even if they didn’t write it.

Oh man - this song totally sucks! I don't blame them for hating on it at all.

Up the Creek was the best Cheap Trick song!! Go watch the movie!!

I doubt they hated the flame. Last boggest hot. Made them lots of money.

I’ve never heard this song! My cheap trick phase was just the live album. I do have a renewed love for them after illegally downloading that album and listening to it again. Also, I follow SSDecontrol on Instagram and the guitarist there gushes over the band as early influences. What ever happened to Bun E Carlos?

Tom Peterson leaving Cheap Trick fucked up the Chemistry.. Cheap Trick tried getting a carbon copy of Bassist Peterson. It was never the same.

That whole album stunk. Not one single track on it was any good. It just smacked of desperate relevancy. Cheap Trick sadly did not age well throughout the 1980's. The trends changed so drastically for them that they were caught off guard.

saw Cheap Trick in 96... they did all of their hits except The Flame. That was the song I was there to see/hear. They sucked.

It's sad, to me, that so many American music listeners grew up with this song, and "Ghost Town," as the *only ones* that they knew from Cheap Trick. I remember my sister liking this song, while I hated it and *loved* Cheap Trick's late '70s and early-to-mid '80s music! Similarly, she loved 1980s Chicago (their 16th, 17th, and 18th albums), and seemed to have no idea of their earlier works, while I *loved* those great jazz-rock albums!

I hated it too.

I forgot all about Ghost Town. Cheap Trick can only blame themselves for that POS 😂😂😂

I doubt they still hated after it went to #1 and made them wealthy.

Sorry boys , your song is in my top 10 .