The only time I have a problem is when I have to get in a vehicle after we play and sit there in a cramped position for a couple of hours to drive to the next place. Then I get super stiff.

Have a good work ethic. You've got to practice, practice, practice. I'm not telling you what to practice - that's up to you.

If you can make it in Rockford, you can make it anywhere.

I did what I believed in. It got me in trouble, but it also got me a job.

I knew the guys in the Allman Brothers way back in the day, before they were famous.

I've owned about 2,000 guitars through the years because I've traded a lot and given away and sold some stuff.

Nobody wants to hear long speeches.

We always record with the whole band. That's key to capturing the feel, especially trying to get a good basic track.

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.

My parents were both opera singers, and they also were both heavily into religious and church music.

I think I've probably had one of my guitars on display at every Hard Rock Cafe in the world.

The Sex Pistols had it all - they had the snarl, they had the I-don't-give-a-crap attitude - plus, they could play.

The Ramones were American, and I knew about them, and I thought they were interesting. But they were like a pop band to me.

I was never going to be very cute. I always looked for the best people to play with and, 'cause, to make myself look better.

If you're going to be ridiculous, be over-the-top ridiculous.

Every person I've ever met always thinks their parents are weird.

I'd rather be musical than technical.

I can't stand it when groups come back for an encore, and they play some slow thing. Oh, brother! It's like, 'Had I known that, I would've left.'

Our band is rock n' roll. We were never just a studio band trying to make everything perfect. It was never supposed to be perfect. It was supposed to be cool.

We played with AC/DC. There are actual recordings of us doing 'Johnny B Good' together.

I have too many options when it comes to guitars.

I've taken all the mirrors out of my house because when I'm playing onstage, I feel like I'm still in high school. I feel like that kid that wanted to play in his first band, and then I look in a mirror, and it's like, 'Uh-oh!' It ain't pretty.

People are like, 'Why are you playing that five-neck guitar?' I want to hurt. I want to play.

Some people collect this or that. I'm a musician; I collect guitars.

It's an honor that people give a crap about us. We're in a rock band; we're not supposed to be treated with any respect.

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.

We're a band's band. We have real songs, real players, real problems. Real ups, real downs.

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.

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.

There's no way we could make up what we are. The group is just what everyone is. Each of us has a different audience.

No one knows this, but when I would play the clubs back in '65, '66, they used to call me 'Screaming Chicken,' 'cause I would go out and scream, fall on the ground, beat myself, smash stuff, jump through the ceiling, roll on the floor, and act like I was having epileptic fits.

To me, a day off is sitting at a piano or with a guitar and writing.

I think every one of our songs could be a Top 10 record.

I don't like the term 'rock star.'

We're known as a touring band, not a singles band.

I'd rather be known as a songwriter than a guitarist, although I love to play the guitar.

One reason I rarely listen to radio is they don't play our music much.

I don't always feel like a million dollars, but I try not to let anybody know.

People say, 'Oh, Rick, he's crazy.' Well, I'm crazy, and I'm not crazy... When I went to my high school reunion, I was the only one there doing what he said he was going to do. How crazy is that?

Playing in Japan for thousands of people was like playing on the moon.

I was always the wise guy class clown throughout my childhood.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - those guys were great.

I always thought of myself as more of a rhythm player than a big soloist.

Whenever we tell the truth, nobody believes us. We lie, and people take it as etched-in-stone fact.

I feel like such an idiot... you know, that our band didn't break up just so we can re-form and become more and more popular.

I started out as a drummer, and when I was 9, my drum teacher had an album out. He was the rudiment king! He signed it for me, 'Rudimentally yours, Frank Arsenault.' How cool is that?

I didn't want to be one of the Beach Boys or one of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band. I mean, we appreciated that music. But I didn't want to grow a beard to look like Roy Wood just because I liked him.

I love to be the loudest thing in the room.

We're Cheap Trick, and the majority of people know about three songs, and the real huge fans know about eight. There are 292 songs people have never heard.

My parents were opera singers. I didn't want to play opera because I wasn't good enough. I didn't want to play their music; I wanted to play the music that I wanted to play, and I'm so lucky that today I get to play that music, even though I don't like every song I write.