8 Rock Bands Who Didn't Write Their Biggest Hits

Bring up The Flame to Cheap Trick fans and get ready to get your ears moaned off for at least 30 minutes. The schmaltzy power ballad is a divisive one for fans and the band (at least initially) to put it mildly.

In her book Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the People in Music, Volume 12, writer Suzanne Bourgoin says guitarist and main songwriter Rick Nielsen hated the song so much that he reportedly stamped on the cassette after Epic Records executives presented it to the band.

The group eventually gave in and recorded it for their tenth album, Lap of Luxury, in 1990. While the band had to go out and perform the thing on tour, record executives probably slapped each other's backs endlessly as the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The album is generally considered one of the band's weaker releases, but it could also be seen as the catalyst that launched the band's very strong resurgence and renewed creative muscle from the late 90s onwards.

It also introduced the band to a new generation who might have missed their stellar early career that started off with a string of at least four consecutive power pop classics including the classic Cheap Trick at Budokan.