This shot is from 1980, I believe. Rick has the "Roadie" pin on his sweater he was wearing during this time. Bill O' Leary's photos from the Dream Police show at MSG on 5/12/80 feature both Rick and Tom in the same outfits. I couldn't bear to include one of Tom in my book due to the cravat or whatever the hell he has on. I do have two of Bill's shots, which you can purchase on his site, in the book. Bill has a book of his own, you should check out. Lynn Goldsmith, who dated Bruce Springsteen for while, shot everyone worth shooting. She took the photo of Bun E. Carlos in the KISS boots for Creem as well as the photo of Lariane Newman in the same outfit.
The questions most people still have is whether Tom Petersson left Cheap Trick at the height of their commercial fame or whether he was kicked out. The truth, like so many things about the band is both. By 1980 Tom was definitely not happy. His wife, a German model named Dagmar, definitely exacerbated Tom's tension within the band. Was she the "Yoko" of Cheap Trick? That's an oversimplification, as it was for the Beatles themselves. However, I know she definitely wanted Tom to be a star. There were more than a few times in 1980 where it was touch and go whether he'd make it to the stage and Dagmar was the messenger of the possible bad news.
Not an easy one to look at, I admit. Tom Petersson's bass was integral to what made Cheap Trick unique and timeless. Ira Robbins wrote early on in Trouser Press that it might have been THE thing that distinguished their sound. I wrote in my book about how Susan Masino, who worked for Ken Adamany in 1979, saw how unhappy Tom looked at times. When he was asked by Premier Guitar in 2016, what advice he'd give his younger self, he said "My advice would be, “Don’t drink!” That’s the biggest one. If you can’t moderate, you’ve got a problem. People usually make their worst decisions under the influence of something like that." You can read the article in the link as it is still live.
I don't know if he's suggesting that boozing played a role in his leaving the band. I do know he was drinking a lot and as Susan recounts, he had to be forced onto the stage for the July 4, 1979 show. However, you'd never know it from the short video that he was that drunk.
Another myth about Cheap Trick was that the four guys were never best friends. Rick and Tom were best friends. They went to England in 1968 together and I can't imagine how torn up Rick was when Tom left the tour in 1980.
This photo is from the first show with Pete Comita. It's so Cheap Trick to have one bassist sub in for another with no announcement at all. Rick used to say for years after that Tom left the band due to illness--the band got sick of him. Of course, he's looking for the rim shot for his one-liner. But there is also a lot of truth to the joke, which is very on brand for Rick. The band did get sick of him. No one would ever admit to as much on the record, but I assume they had to all agree to replace Tom with Comita. That must have been unimaginably tough, especially for Rick. The articles from the time suggest that Tom would return to the road, and the band. That was definitely not in the cards.
What's even crazier to digest is that this is the exact moment when Bun and Rick flew to NY to play with John Lennon. This was a dream come true for both those guys and it happened during the first big shake up in band history. I am sure they didn't know (or want to) that there would be other such periods.
If you are interested, there are some great audio interviews by Steve Harris on YouTube. Steve conducted the interviews for Yoichi Shibuya of Rockin' On magazine. Ongaku Senka and Music Life are often cited in the Cheap Trick story and they should be. But Rockin' On was also there in the beginning. The band met with Yoichi on that first trip to Japan in 1978 and kept in touch with him over the years. The magazine lasted longer than the other ones as well. Steve, who interviewed pretty much everybody, interviewed Rick in 1988 when Cheap Trick came back to Japan for the first time since 1980. You can tell by listening that he's let his guard down more than usual. He's also pretty pissed at how long it took for the band to recover. This was after "The Flame," and Rick is definitely resentful. He talks shit about Bruce Springsteen and says his voice sucks. This was after Bruce released Tunnel of Love. As a Bruce fan, I don't think Rick is really focusing on the Boss as much as those who were popular while Cheap Trick was not. He mentions Bon Jovi and U2 stealing a song idea. Steve also posted a multi-part interview from 1990 with Rick, Robin, and Tom. Steve jokes with Rick and then Tom about buying the "Tom Petersson and Another Language" album and wanting a refund. Steve had mentioned when I asked him about the interview that Tom's departure was the only topic that was off-limits. I did use Tom's response to the question about Dagmar in my book. "She's a woman and she's German. She liked to spend."
Lastly, the story about Tom's return to the band is also a bit of the myth. Tom played with the rest of the band at the Rock River Cafe on March 17, 1987. He didn't just spill a drink on one of their laps at Julian Lennon's birthday in NYC and find his way back into Cheap Trick. When I spoke to Ira Robbins, he suggested that the story was a little too neat and tidy to be true. That was the most common thing I noticed researching the book. In life, however, aren't most stories easier to understand than the truth behind them? I believe it was in Robin's interview with Steve Harris in 1994 that he mentions having a drink with Tom before he played with the rest of the group again. Bun E. Carlos has also talked about the idea that they would call themselves Zander, Nielsen, Carlos, and Petersson (or something like that) so they wouldn't need to concern themselves with all the expectations and subsequent contracts they would if they were once again Cheap Trick. Bun called it the "lawsuit band."
I believe this photo is by Arthur DiMario III. It's from the Providence 1980 show, which circulates in complete soundboard (and partial video) quality. As Rob Lawson wrote in his book Still Competition (2017) it truly is worthy of a release. It seems that Bun E. Carlos and Steve Arci are slowing getting recognized by the "Cheap Trick" brand so some more archival releases may be forthcoming. Anyway, Tom, a well-known baseball fan, is wearing a Willie Stargell jersey. "Pops," #8 for the Buccos was the captain of the then-world Champs--the "We Are Family" Pirates. ThereTe
There's that awful ensemble again. Tom does mention during the show that Pittsburgh, who also had a Super Bowl champ with the Steelers, had it better than Chicago who only knew losing teams.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll post some more in a few weeks. Feel free to post comments or hit me up on social media if there is anything you are interested in. I am trying to post stuff that I found but didn't or can't use in my book. Maybe I didn't get the rights, it was too expensive, or I just didn't have the room.