The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Th1rt3en Best: Dave Mustaine Of Megadeth's Favourite Albums
Mark Eglinton , March 16th, 2016 12:19

Continuing our celebration of three decades since 1986 marked a pivotal moment for thrash, the co-founder, singer and guitarist of one of the "Big Four" gives Mark Eglinton a rundown of his most formative records

Cheap_trick_1458123141_resize_460x400

Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick At Budokan
When I was young I always dug listening to live concerts. It was like we were there. I always think that live albums are a good way to represent a body of work anyway because it shows the songs as part of a collection better than, say, a greatest hits record. It wasn't so much that Cheap Trick At Budokan was live, it was more the selection of songs. Rick [Nielsen] was really an amazing showman as a guitar player as far as the tricks that he did were concerned. Plus, the power that he had despite being essentially a three-piece rhythm outfit was amazing. Then you had Tom [Petersson] with his twelve-string bass… Whoever thought someone would play something like that?

I could have done without some of the squealing but having gone to Japan so much; I get it. That's their way of showing you that they loved you. I never really considered Cheap Trick to be a glam rock band. People forget that Rick used to have long hair before he transitioned to having short hair and wearing baseball caps when they supported KISS in 1977. Take a song like 'Hello There'. It has such a killer, punk rock attitude. It reminds me of Mötley Crüe doing a song like 'Live Wire': you don't expect that kind of aggression and when you hear it you think, "Alright, you dudes can let it rip when you want to."