Don’t be Cruel

DON'T BE CRUEL
 
 
Don’t Be Cruel  is the second studio album by American singer Bobby Brown.  It was released in the United States on June 20, 1988 by MCA Records.  The album was far more successful than Brown’s debut, peaking at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and spawning five top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles, including Brown’s only number one, “My Prerogative”.  It spent a total of six weeks on top of the Billboard 200 and was the best-selling album of 1989 in the United States.  The album also reached the top five in the United Kingdom and Australia.  Don’t Be Cruel received extremely positive reviews from music critics.  Brown also won his first Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1990 Grammy Awards for “Every Little Step”.  The album has been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over seven million units in the United States.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Bobby BrownDon’t be Cruel – When we went to see Tina Turner not long after her hit solo album, Private Dancer came out, someone was giving away a poster as we were leaving that had Tina on one side and New Edition, the opening act on the other side.  Anyone who hung onto that poster had quite a collectible I imagine, because New Edition became one of the leading teen pop musical groups not long after that, as well as a template for numerous other groups that have come along since that time – black and white, male and female.  Bobby Brown was the lead singer of New Edition, and the remaining members also had success in their later incarnation as Bell Biv DeVoe.  Now infamous as the troubled husband of Whitney HoustonBobby Brown deserves to be known as a fine performer as well, and a leader in the musical scene called new jack swing that his earlier band New Edition had pioneered.  Don’t be Cruel (1988) includes the powerful hit single that I still hear on the radio a lot, “My Prerogative”; Allmusic gives the album a 5 star rating.
 
(December 2015)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021