For the historic rock band Cheap Trick, their biggest hit in the U.S. started off as a track they didn’t even want to record. Luckily, they eventually got it together and released the song, which would soon become a hit and still a classic decades later.
The song was “The Flame,” written by songwriters Bob Mitchell and Nick Graham. Cheap Trick were encouraged to work with songwriters outside of the band for the group’s 10th album, Lap of Luxury, and while they agreed, they weren’t too enthusiastic about the prospect.
“The Flame” was presented to the band as a result of this plan, and the band disliked it at first. But the recording slowly came together, and it was released as the first official single on the new album in 1988.
The song was a huge success, soaring up the music charts in multiple countries. It became Cheap Trick’s first and only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S., while it also topped music charts in Australia and Canada. It broke into the Top 40 in Italy, New Zealand, and Germany as well.
Band member Rick Nielsen retrospectively revealed his perspective on the production of “The Flame” and why the band was initially so against it. He wrote that he thought was a “terrific song,” before adding, “It’s good. Probably more good than bad on it.”
As for the story about him not liking it at all, Nielsen went on to say that it was really because the record company had already gotten the band to record multiple other songs for the new album.
He said, “We recorded about 10 different things. It’s like, ‘Why didn’t we do this one first?'” Either way, it was clearly worth it, as the song earned Cheap Trick huge success and popularity, helping a few later singles perform almost as well.
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Years later, the song is still a favorite for music fans. Many love the lyrics and story of the song in particular, with lines like, “Whenever you need someone/ To lay your heart and head upon/ Remember, after the fire, after all the rain/ I will be the flame.”
Billboard even included “The Flame” on its staff-created list of the “Best Rock Love Songs” of all time. The publication listed it at No. 40, writing that the song is “a passionate and stirring vow of devotion that became Cheap Trick’s only Hot 100 No. 1, and a staple of wedding receptions.”
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