“Oh Candy” (1977) – Cheap Trick * Written by Rick Nielsen * LP: Cheap Trick * Produced by Jack Douglas * Label: Epic
Cheap Trick called one of their later ’80s albums Standing on the Edge, but their first album was the one that deserved such a title. In those grooves they combined savory Beatle hooks with lyrics about serial killers, pedophilia, gigolos and suicide. Most of the album’s songwriter credits went to guitarist Rick Nielsen, whose offbeat schoolboy clown persona (possibly inspired by AC/DC or Daddy Cool) turned up the weirdness volume. “Oh Candy” is one of the album’s melodic treats, sounding like a Filmation teenager’s summer drive to the soda shop. But they’re singing about a girl who stuck a needle in her vein, asking, “Why did you do it?” In his 1998 band bio Reputation Is a Fragile Thing, Mike Hayes reveals that Nielsen drew inspiration for the song from the death of a photographer friend named Marshall Mintz (“M&M”) who had hung himself, which doesn’t entirely account for the song’s high sugar content.
Cheap Trick called one of their later ’80s albums Standing on the Edge, but their first album was the one that deserved such a title. In those grooves they combined savory Beatle hooks with lyrics about serial killers, pedophilia, gigolos and suicide. Most of the album’s songwriter credits went to guitarist Rick Nielsen, whose offbeat schoolboy clown persona (possibly inspired by AC/DC or Daddy Cool) turned up the weirdness volume. “Oh Candy” is one of the album’s melodic treats, sounding like a Filmation teenager’s summer drive to the soda shop. But they’re singing about a girl who stuck a needle in her vein, asking, “Why did you do it?” In his 1998 band bio Reputation Is a Fragile Thing, Mike Hayes reveals that Nielsen drew inspiration for the song from the death of a photographer friend named Marshall Mintz (“M&M”) who had hung himself, which doesn’t entirely account for the song’s high sugar content.