Songfacts®:

• After struggling to find a hit in the '80s, Cheap Trick went to #1 in 1988 with "The Flame," a power ballad that broke convention for the band. For one thing, it was written by outside writers. It was also kind of gooey, with none of the swagger that defines the band.
  
  So when it came time to record their next album, Busted, they looked for a similar song and found it in "Wherever Would I Be." Unfortunately, by the time they released it in 1990, power ballads were out of vogue and the song stalled at #50 in America. Speaking with Songfacts, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos recalled: "The label was like, 'Not only is this going to be #1, it's just a question of, how long is it going to be #1?' And when the label guy told us that, we all just kind of looked at each other and broke up laughing. Busted came out and we went to Australia on tour, and when we were over in Australia, power ballads died. I remember we came back home and they put our power ballad out with our $200,000 video that we'd paid for, and it died the death. And we were just like, 'Thank God that power ballads died. We don't ever have to do one of these again!'"
• "Wherever Would I Be" was written by Diane Warren, who delivered richly emotional songs to the likes of Cher ("If I Could Turn Back Time") and Taylor Dayne ("Love Will Lead You Back"), but also to rock bands looking to expand their audience. Chicago recorded her song "Look Away," which was originally offered to Cheap Trick, and Aerosmith had a monster hit with Warren's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing."
• The music video was directed by Nigel Dick and aimed at the VH1 crowd. It's mostly performance footage, with images in monitors to add some flavor. The videos for Cheap Trick's ballads neutered them, with no trace of the wild antics they're famous for. Bun E. Carlos doesn't even get to smoke a cigarette while he plays.