Overview
- Brown promoted the album during a one-night anniversary show at Los Angeles’s Saban Theatre on Friday and in interviews tied to that performance.
- He told People that his January 1989 arrest in Columbus, Georgia, drew nationwide attention and helped the record ‘‘go viral,’’ a view reported consistently across outlets as Brown’s retrospective account.
- Don’t Be Cruel reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, produced five Top 10 singles, was the best-selling U.S. album of 1989 and has sold about 12 million copies worldwide.
- Brown credited producers such as Babyface, L.A. Reid and Teddy Riley for shaping the album, named ‘‘My Prerogative’’ his favorite track and said he still performs the songs regularly.
- Now 57, Brown says he prepares shows with focused rehearsal and rest, and he argues that keeping the songs in his set list is what makes the 38-year-old record feel fresh to fans today.