Videodrone #4: Dream Police

Videodrone is a weekly feature looking at music videos from the last half century. 

Dream Police (1979)

There was a lot going on in 1979. Disco was big on the charts, with Donna Summer and Earth, Wind and Fire doing well, but the backlash was growing. New wave was gaining momentum, with acts like the Cars, the Police, the B-52s, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson getting radio airplay, and punk acts like the Clash and the Jam were transcending the genre. 

It was also a breakthrough year for Cheap Trick, a power pop act out of Rockford, Illinois, that released its debut album in '77 to little fanfare. Two more excellent but under-the-radar albums came out before the band went to Japan in the spring of 1978 to play a few shows. The reaction was over the top and Cheap Trick recorded the shows for a live album called Cheap Trick at Budokan, which was released in early '79. The album was a monster hit, with "I Want You to Want Me" becoming a top 10 single. 

The band had a visual gimmick, contrasting the handsomeness of singer Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson with the dorky, goofball looks of guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos. 

The band didn't waste the momentum, releasing their fourth studio album, Dream Police, on my 12th birthday (Sept. 21). The title track served as the lead single and video, with its lyrics describing a Big Brother situation where the government polices your dreams. 

The video opens with the four band members in a police lineup, pleading their cases for why they shouldn't be prosecuted.

Zander: "I didn't do it. Five years ago, I had no idea I'd be here. Who are you anyway? What do you take me for? I must be dreaming."

Carlos (after fumbling through his pockets for a piece of paper): "Pardon me. Listen, I'll never eat a double cheeseburger before bed again, really."

Petersson: "I'm telling you, I didn't do it. But if I did do it, it was an accident." (A direct quote of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious' comments to the police after his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found dead in their hotel room in the fall of 1978.)

Nielsen: "In promulgating your esoteric cogitations and articulating your superficial sentimentalities, amicable, philosophical, and psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosities. Are we really the Dream Police?"

The foursome then walks offscreen and dresses in the all-white garb of the Dream Police before the video switches to a band performance, complete with Carlos with a lung dart hanging from his lips as he nonchalantly pounds the skins. The song is a pulsing rocker that's abetted by a string section as a paranoid-sounding Zander sings: "The dream police/They live inside of my head/The dream police/They come to me in my bed/The dream police/They're coming to arrest me/Oh no."

The added ELO-style instrumentation expands the group's sound, elevating the paranoia as the song builds up to a feverish crescendo. "'Cause they're waiting for me/They're looking for me/Every single night/They're driving me insane/Those men inside my brain."

Nielsen takes the mid-song spoken word part: "I try to sleep/They're wide awake/They won't let me alone/They don't get paid to take vacations/Or let me alone/They spy on me/I try to hide/They won't let me alone/They persecute me/They're the judge and jury all in one."

As the band plays an instrumental section before the final chorus, the video shows each member's mug shot alongside them in their Dream Police gear.

This was one of those songs I couldn't get enough of as a 12-year-old rock fan. I bought the 45 and played it constantly. 

Cheap Trick parlayed the success of the Dream Police into headlining arenas and their next album, 1980's All Shook Up, was produced by none other than George Martin. The '80s and '90s proved a bumpy ride for the band, however. The early '80s saw their popularity dwindle (I saw them headline a festival show in Kingston, NH, in July 1984; after second-billed Ratt played their set, a good chunk of the packed audience went home), only to bounce back in 1988 with a #1 hit ("The Flame") and a #4 in their cover of "Don't Be Cruel." 

Zander, Nielsen and Petersson are still recording and touring as Cheap Trick, with Nielsen's son Daxx on drums. Cheap Trick parlayed their visual flair into a memorable image long before MTV became a thing and have continued on (in a less prominent but still rocking) way long after videos were essential for band success.