Cheap Trick Releases 21st Studio Album After Five Decades of Making Music

Cheap Trick dropped All Washed Up, their 21st studio album, on Nov. 14. The Rockford, Illinois, quartet has crafted music for five decades. Rock & Blues Muse wrote, "There aren't many acts ... delivering knockout shows and making new albums with as much gutsy, spirited enthusiasm as Cheap Trick."

The album title nods to their 1980 release, All Shook Up, while also poking fun at 1970s artists stuck in a streaming world. Four washing machines grace the cover, delivering another dose of the dark humor that this group has enjoyed throughout their run.

Singer Robin Zander sounds as strong as he did on the group's 1977 debut. Guitarist Rick Nielsen's son, Daxx, replaced drummer Bun E. Carlos on 2016's Bang, Zoom, Crazy ... Hello.

They've released over 20 albums, and their unexpected Top 5 peak came with the live album Cheap Trick at Budokan. In 1988, they brought in outside songwriters, which resulted in their only No. 1, the power ballad "The Flame."

Nielsen, who turned 76, continues to charge through songs on this new record. The opening title track could have come from an album 45 years ago. So could "All Wrong Long Gone." The lead single, "Twelve Gates," has pop hooks and harmonies that stick. "Dancing with the Band" has choruses that catch your ear, and "A Long Way to Worcester" has a swampy groove with Tom Petersson's bass lines adding Todd Rundgren-styled harmonies.

Producer Julian Raymond has worked with them for the past ten years, shaping songs for maximum effectiveness across the 40-minute set. This marks their first release since 2021.

Their resurgence started with "Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello" in 2016. Two more releases followed in the next four years. The new album has 11 songs total.