A biography for Rick Nielsenhasn’t been written yet.
“I like the guys in Cheap Trick. I like playing in it and the music we do.”
“I never wanted to be Keith Richards or Jimmy Page.”
“I got to meet Keith Moon!”
“We may not be proud of every song we've ever done - or been forced to do - but I believe we've done more than meets the eye.”
“I love guitars, and guitars love me, but sometimes they need new homes where they can live to rock another day.”
“If you start having to tell people you're cool, you're not.”
“If you don't have a great chorus, write a good bridge first. I often do that and find I write good bridges.”
“I have four warehouses full of stuff. I have every boarding pass of every flight I've ever been on. I have all the old contracts that we had from all the clubs and concerts we played, every one of them, up from 1980. Guitar picks and amps - it goes on and on.”
“Every person I've ever met always thinks their parents are weird.”
“Playing it safe isn't fun; you have to take a chance.”
“We played with AC/DC. There are actual recordings of us doing 'Johnny B Good' together.”
“I always use my Les Paul. I have a Hamer as well. I use a Tele and an Esquire - once in a while, I will use a Strat, and I never use any pedals... except for in my car.”
“We're known as a touring band, not a singles band.”
“I never went to any high school dances or proms unless I was playing in them.”
“People are like, 'Why are you playing that five-neck guitar?' I want to hurt. I want to play.”
“I got to work with John Lennon. That was pretty cool.”
“I've seen bands come out and begin their concerts with these long, slow, boring songs. Are they kidding, or what?”
“I'd rather be known as a songwriter than a guitarist, although I love to play the guitar.”
“We tried to act trendy. We took one of our songs and tried to make a dance mix. They put it on the turntables, unannounced, in Los Angeles and New York the same weekend, where they had a big dance crowd going wild. It cleared the floor on both coasts.”
“One reason I rarely listen to radio is they don't play our music much.”