Synopsis

Cheap Trick perform their high-energy remake of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" on a stylized soundstage. The band plays through the song in a colorful, tightly framed setup, with Robin Zander handling the lead vocal while Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos provide the instrumental drive. Backup singers add a polished pop touch, while the black-and-white checkerboard imagery gives the clip a playful rockabilly flavor. The straightforward performance format keeps the focus on the band's exuberant delivery and the song's 1950s roots.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Don't Be Cruel" was released in 1988 as the second single from Cheap Trick's comeback album, *Lap of Luxury*. The single reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• The song is Cheap Trick's version of the 1956 Elvis Presley hit written by Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley. Their arrangement preserves the original rockabilly character while adding the bigger, polished production associated with the late 1980s.

• The video was released in the United States on July 6, 1988, and was produced by Flattery Yukich Inc.

• One of the featured backup singers was Peggy McIntaggart Seagren, who later appeared as a Playboy centerfold.

• The video was included on *Every Trick in the Book*, Cheap Trick's 1990 home-video compilation collecting many of the band's clips from the 1970s and 1980s.

• Cheap Trick's single competed on the charts with Bobby Brown's unrelated song of the same title. Both versions were prominent pop hits during 1988.