What are the classic goals named by an up-and-coming band looking to hit The Big Time?
The Big Time has long equaled a few things: Hitting the top of the charts, getting a gold record, playing a sold-out show at your hometown arena, and your basic adulation from throngs of happy fans.
Add to that list, though, this: a Grammy Museum exhibit. We're not saying you haven't made it if you don't have one, but you really, really want one, though it may take a few decades to get there.
Look to Cheap Trick for inspiration. The doyens of power pop are getting their Grammy Museum due in the new exhibit I Want You to Want Me!, which debuted on Thursday, Sept. 12.
Now you're going to have that song in your head all day, right? It's a keeper for a reason.
The show, which is ensconced in the LA Live institution's fourth floor through June 2014, hits all of the fandom's sweet spots. Like? Well "(n)umerous guitars played by Rick Nielsen" get the literal spotlight, and, yep, the 1952 Fender Telecaster from the famous Budokan shows is among them.
Dream police costumes, lyric sheets, posters, this 'n that from various tours, letters, notes, and snapshots round out the exhibit.
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Today's power-pop aspirants: Don't you want to know how the movement all started some three and a half decades ago, for inspiration? Studying the ways of the greats is step one to The Big Time, after all.
And let us not forget that the band was one of the first to weave a taste of metal and punk into their pop artistry back in the day, something that's regularly done in the current mash-up music scene.
Indeed, you want a number one record and all of the usual trappings, if you desire sound-based superstardom. But, in a few decades, you want your correspondence and photos on the fourth floor of the Grammy Museum, too. Just remember that dream, next time you write a letter home to Mom or take a pic at band practice.
Cheap Trick: I Want You to Want Me! is at the Grammy Museum at LA Live through June 2014.
