"The Flame" is a power ballad[3] released in 1988 by the American rock band Cheap Trick as the first single from their tenth album, Lap of Luxury.

[6] For their tenth studio album, Lap of Luxury, Cheap Trick were asked to work with outside songwriters by Epic Records.

[11] The success of the single brought the group out of a years-long commercial slump and back into music industry prominence.

[18] Robin Zander had one of his guitars altered to attempt to better mimic the recorded sound of "The Flame" on live shows by adding a seventh string in the G position.

[19] A previously unreleased live version of "The Flame" was included on the 2000 compilation Authorized Greatest Hits, which featured sixteen tracks handpicked by the band themselves.

[21] Upon its release, Billboard described "The Flame" as an "endearing rock ballad" that "has the potential to put these boys back at the top".

"[22][23] Dave Sholin of the Gavin Report said that the band had "mastered the art" of the "subdued approach to rock", the power ballad.

[25] In a retrospective review of the song, Steve Huey of AllMusic described "The Flame" as a "lush power ballad", which Cheap Trick "made their own with Zander's sobbing vocal dramatics and the haunting tones of Nielsen's mandocello chiming behind the guitar and keyboard backing".

[9] In a review of Lap of Luxury, Ira Robbins of Rolling Stone noted that "emotional singing and an affecting Nielsen solo make 'The Flame' memorable, if not quite equal to the band's best ballads".

Nine years later, the song was remixed and re-released as "The Flame 08" and this version went to number one on the U.S. dance chart, becoming Hamilton's first chart-topper.