# Cruel to Be Kind guitar solo > Billy Bremner's guitar solo on Cruel to Be Kind by Nick Lowe (1979) starts at about 1:42. Watch from the solo, with tab and lesson links. Canonical URL: Nick Lowe, 1979. Solo by *Billy Bremner*. Bremner's tidy, twangy break keeps Lowe's biggest hit bouncing along. Cruel to Be Kind is Nick Lowe's biggest hit, a breezy, bittersweet pop song, and Billy Bremner's guitar break keeps it bouncing along. The solo is tidy and twangy, drawing on rockabilly and country influences with a clean, bright tone and neat, economical phrasing. Bremner avoids flash, focusing on melody and rhythm to support the song's easygoing charm. It is a fine example of the pub rock and new wave crossover that Lowe and his collaborators championed. Listen for the crisp, snappy notes and how the solo sits comfortably in the song's groove, adding colour without ever pulling attention from Lowe's warm, wry vocal. Cruel to Be Kind by Nick Lowe is featured in our Power Pop (#23) list. The solo is played by Billy Bremner and the song was released in 1979. ## In our lists - [The 25 Greatest Power Pop Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/power-pop/) — #23 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on Cruel to Be Kind? Billy Bremner played the solo on Nick Lowe's Cruel to Be Kind (1979). --- GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)