"If You Want My Love" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick, which was released in 1982 as the first single from their sixth studio album One on One. It was written by guitarist Rick Nielsen and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. It reached No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and almost topped the Australian chart, where it peaked at No. 2 for two weeks.
The song was the first single release from the band to feature new bassist Jon Brant. A music video was filmed to promote the single, which received regular airing on MTV. The single's B-side, "Four Letter Word", was featured as the closing track on One on One, and was written by Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander.
A live version of "If You Want My Love" was performed at the band's 25th anniversary concert in Rockford, Illinois during 1999. The performance saw Brant rejoining Cheap Trick on stage to play bass on the track, along with "She's Tight". The concert was later released in 2001 as Silver. Speaking of the song in an interview featured on the Silver DVD, bassist Tom Petersson stated that it was "the best Beatle song we ever recorded". He, however, was referring to Cheap Trick as a band, as he had not been with the group at the time the track was originally recorded.
The song is used in the films Joe Dirt and Super.
Upon release, Billboard felt the song showed the more "romantic side" to the band and commented: "Robin Zander's vocals is anything but timid though, while Rick Nielsen's massed acoustic and electric guitars add widescreen scale." Cash Box wrote: "A dense yet extremely melodic confection, this tune marks somewhat of a return to the more Beatlesque sound which graced the band's earlier LPs."
Critic Robert Christgau described the song as "the most eloquently eclectic Beatle tribute ever recorded". Christopher Connelly of Rolling Stone noted it was "easily Cheap Trick's best slow song since 'Take Me I'm Yours' and a stunning example of what this band can do when it forgets about being commercial in these days when heavy metal rules the world." Connelly also commented on the song's "smashing guitar attack" and noted the similarity of the song's middle eight to that of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated it as Cheap Trick's 9th greatest song, saying that it effectively combines their "eccentric" 1970s style with their more commercial 1980s style.
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of front man Robin Zander, Nielsen and Petersson.
Cheap Trick released their self-titled debut album in 1977 and, later that year, found success in Japan with the release of their second album, In Color. The band would achieve mainstream popularity in the United States in 1979 with their breakthrough album Cheap Trick at Budokan. Cheap Trick reached the Top 10 in the US charts in 1979 with the Budokan live version of "I Want You to Want Me" and topped the charts in 1988 with "The Flame".
Cheap Trick has performed live more than 5,000 times and sold more than 20 million albums. Over the course of its career, the band has experienced several resurgences of popularity and built a dedicated cult following. Cheap Trick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
