Writer: Rick Nielsen
Producer: Tom Werman
Recorded: Fall 1976 and January 1977 in New York City
Released: Fall 1977
| Players: | Robin Zander — vocals, guitar Rick Nielsen — guitar, vocals Tom Petersson — bass, vocals Bun E. Carlos — drums |
| Album: | In Color (Epic, 1977) |
Cheap Trick formed in 1973 in Rockford, Illinois.
Guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, and drummer Bun E. Carlos had previously worked together in a band called Fuse, which released an album in 1970.
“I Want You To Want Me” was among the tracks considered for Cheap Trick's 1977 debut album, but it was put aside and resurrected for their second album, In Color. The original recording of the song is included in the box set Sex America Cheap Trick.
In contrast to the original, the In Color version of the song was fleshed out with honky-tonk piano and other slick production touches.
Petersson has called “I Want You To Want Me” “a parody of a hit single. It sounds like a single, but it was meant in a different way.”
The song didn't hit, however, until a live version from At Budokan was released in 1979.
That rendition was the group's first Top 10 hit, peaking at Number Seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It also hit Number 29 in the U.K.
The In Color album reached Number 73 on the Billboard 200 and eventually went gold.
At Budokan, on the other hand, was a smash hit, and it's sold well over three million copies.
