Cheap Trick

Catchy, energetic, hard rock riffs help to bring

All Washed Up by Cheap Trick to life.

 

Jason Landry, contributor
 

Rockford, Illinois most popular rock band Cheap Trick are back with All Washed Up (released Nov. 14, 2025, BMG).

 

The eleven tracks on this album might be their strongest effort in a bit. The title track “All Washed Up” kicks off the album with power and sounds like hard rock overdriven guitars bleeding through a wall of amps and will make every true Cheap Trick fan wanna turn it up to ten!

 

Early singles released to promote this album showed some real promise and as a long-time listener made my ears perk up. One of the heaviest tracks, “The Riff That Won’t Quit” came out swinging with some angry lyrics,

 

I got a riff, that won’t quit, and I got an axe to grind!

 

The song, “Twelve Gates” feels like the anthem of the album, with vocal harmonies that gives it this Sgt. Peppers feel. The track “Dancing With The Band” is definitely going to be great live especially as a show opener that will get the audience involved and pumped. I found the final track on the album “Wham Boom Bang” different from all the others and very reminiscent of something George Harrison might have made in his later years when he started playing a lot of ukulele. This band, especially Rick who is their primary songwriter, was influenced by The Beatles and can be felt in how many of their popular songs are produced.

 

On a side note: Similar to the structure of past Cheap Trick songs, they continue to reveal many of their song titles as the very first words in their songs. Instead of the titles appearing inside a verse in the chorus section of a song which is how many songwriters tend to present them specifically for its catchy and repetitive nature, more than half of the tracks on this album the titles appear as the very first lyrics you hear in the song.

 

Some reviewers have written that All Washed Up is relying on familiar ways, but who cares. If that’s their “cheap trick”, and this is what got this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band to where they are today, why break the mold? The band isn’t “washed up” at all. They have continued to rock and tour and entertain audiences world wide for over 50 years. The three original members who are all in the 70’s don’t show any signs of quitting. Robin Zander’s vocals are still strong and reach both ends of the spectrum effortlessly. Rick Nielsen is still the entertaining riff master that made him a legend. And don’t forget Tom Petersson who peddles those bass lines like a boss. That, along with Daxx Nielsen on drums, the band still create music as loud and as sharp as many of the younger bands do today.

 

 

Track List

01. All Washed Up

02. All Wrong Long Gone

03. The Riff That Won't Quit

04. Bet It All

05. The Best Thing

06. Twelve Gates

07. Bad Blood

08. Dancing With The Band

09. Love Gone

10. A Long Way To Worcester

11. Wham Boom Bang