Synopsis
Cinderella stages "Shelter Me" as a satirical television telethon called "Pledge for Rock 'n' Roll." Little Richard hosts the glossy broadcast while the band performs before a fake city skyline. The clip lampoons moral panic and censorship through exaggerated television imagery, including anxious viewers and attempts to suppress suggestive art. Pamela Anderson, Shelley Duvall, Dweezil Zappa, and Harry Shearer appear among the colorful celebrity cameos, adding to the show's deliberately chaotic spectacle.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video targets the censorship debate surrounding the Parents Music Resource Center and its campaign for warning labels on music recordings. The song itself also references Tipper Gore and the controversy over allegedly dangerous messages in rock music.
- "Shelter Me" was the lead single from Cinderella's 1990 album "Heartbreak Station." It reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Album Rock Tracks chart.
- The fictional broadcast's title, "Pledge for Rock 'n' Roll," turns the language of religious fundraising and public-service campaigns into a joke about defending rock music.
- Little Richard's presence gives the clip a direct link to rock's early history, while the appearances by Pamela Anderson, Shelley Duvall, Dweezil Zappa, and Harry Shearer heighten its celebrity-packed television parody.
- The clip was later included in The New York Times' selection of 15 essential hair-metal videos.