Fuse was an American rock band, formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1967, when Rick Nielsen proposed the merging of two local bands: 'The Grim Reapers' headed up by him with Joe Sundberg and 'Toast and Jam' consisting of Chip Greenman, Craig Myers and Tom Peterson later known as Tom Petersson. The line-up was: Rick Nielsen on keyboards and guitar, Joe Sundberg on vocals, Tom Peterson on bass, Craig Myers on lead guitar and Chip Greenman on drums. Band manager Ken Adamany tried to get the interest of record labels. A single was recorded for Smack Records, including the tunes "Hound Dog" and "Crusin for Burgers". In 1969, the band played in Chicago and was signed by Epic Records. Epic executives rushed the band into Columbia Studios in the fall and, in a matter of a few weeks, the album Fuse was recorded, which was released early 1970 (re-released in 2001). It remains their only album, though a bootleg disc, Retrospective Foresight, was released some time later.
Frustrated by their lack of success, Fuse recruited the two remaining members of Nazz (Thom Mooney and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni) in 1970 in place of Sundberg and Greenman, and ended up playing around the Midwest for six or seven months under two monikers, Fuse or Nazz, depending on where they were gigging. With Brad Carlson later known as Bun E. Carlos replacing Mooney on drums, Fuse moved to Philadelphia in 1971 and began calling themselves 'Sick Man of Europe'. After a European tour in 1973, Nielsen, Petersson and Carlos formed Cheap Trick with Randy Hogan.[1][2]
Nielsen has nothing good to say about the Fuse album:
| “ | Tom Petersson and I were in a Midwest band called Fuse. The guys we were with were all rinky dinks; they’re probably pumping gas now. Tom and I had the stick-to-it-iveness and positive thinking to know what we wanted to do, so we split the band and went off to hang out in England... That Fuse stuff stinks. We don’t stand by it. | ” |
By Petersson’s account:
| “ | The band was much better than the album indicates. When it came out we were disgusted. The producer was an idiot. | ” |