Poison is an
American hard rock band that achieved great success and popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They have become icons of the
glam metal genre with their striking image, lyrical themes, and widespread commercial success. To date, the band has sold more than 25 million records worldwide, including 14.5 million in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the
Top 40 of the
Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and one #1. After 25 years, the band is still recording music and performing.
Early Years (1983-1986)
Poison began their journey in 1983 under the name Paris and consisted of lead vocalist
Bret Michaels, guitarist
Matt Smith, bassist
Bobby Dall, and drummer
Rikki Rockett. Moving to
Los Angeles on
March 6,
1984, they started playing big clubs and several other clubs. The name Poison was picked by the band after seeing Spinal Tap.
During this period, Poison's manager negotiated a deal under which
West Hollywood club
The Troubador would pay for shows.
Michaels, Dall, Rockett and DeVille signed to independent label
Sexy Boiz Records in 1986 (see
1986 in music) for approximately $US 30,000. Their debut album,
Look What the Cat Dragged In was released on
August 2,
1986. It included one single, followed by three hits, "Talk Dirty to Me", "I Want Action", and "I Won't Forget You".
In 1987 the band also recorded a cover of the
Kiss song "Rock And Roll All Night" for
Less Than Zero's soundtrack. In the same year, a Geffen publicist successfully sued Michaels and Dall for assault after they poured a bucket of boiling water over her breasts at a party. The stunt appeared to have been in retaliation for various negative comments made about Poison by Geffen band
Guns N' Roses.
Career expansion (1987–1991)Poison's second album,
Open Up and Say...Ahh!, was released on May 21, 1988. It peaked at #2 on the American charts and would ultimately go on to sell 8 million copies worldwide. The album included the band's biggest hit, "
Every Rose Has Its Thorn," along with other top 10 hits, "
Nothin' but a Good Time", "
Fallen Angel", and the
Loggins and Messina cover "
Your Mama Don't Dance." The album had created a controversy with its initial cover, a depiction of a female demonic figure with an apparently obscenely long tongue. A censored version of the cover followed, focusing on the figure's eyes. By the time the band toured with
David Lee Roth in 1988 on the Skyscraper Tour, it was apparent that Poison had become a major live act. As the end of 1989 neared, the band had become the fifth-best selling hard rock band of the 1980s, behind
Mötley Crüe,
Def Leppard,
Bon Jovi, and
Guns N' Roses.
Poison's third album,
Flesh & Blood, was released on June 21, 1990. It also was highly successful, peaking at #2. It too features an alternate cover, as the original featured what appeared to be running ink or possibly blood from the tattoo. (Subsequent versions of this cover removed this "extra" ink.) The record went multi-platinum, spawning three gold singles: "
Unskinny Bop," "
Ride the Wind," and the ballad "
Something To Believe In". The last single released was the title cut, "
Flesh & Blood (Sacrifice)". The video was banned from MTV due to its explicit nature, but did surface later in the video compilation, Flesh, Blood & Videotape, in early 1991. The album's success prompted the impetus for a further world tour.
One of the band's few appearances in the UK was on August 18, 1990 at
Donington's Monsters of Rock festival in the summer of 1990.
Whitesnake headlined with
Aerosmith, Poison,
Quireboys and
Thunder supporting them. This event was broadcast on
BBC Radio 1.
Poison recorded a number of performances during its 1990/1991 Flesh & Blood tour which were released in November 1991 as their fourth album,
Swallow This Live. The double album features live tracks from Poison's first three studio albums and four new studio tracks, which were the last recorded before C.C. DeVille's departure from the band later that year.
Changing times (1992–1999)
Despite Poison's success, DeVille's
cocaine and
alcohol addictions had begun to cause strife in the band. Conflict between Michaels and DeVille culminated in a fistfight backstage at the 1991
MTV Video Music Awards, provoked by DeVille's inept live performance. After bringing "Unskinny Bop" to a grinding halt, DeVille launched into "Talk Dirty to Me", forcing the band to switch songs in mid-performance. DeVille was fired and replaced by Pennsylvanian guitarist
Richie Kotzen.
Poison's fifth album,
Native Tongue, was released on February 8, 1993. It was strongly influenced by Kotzen's fresh songwriting contributions and guitar performance. It marked a change for the band as they abandoned their anthemic party tunes to focus on more serious subjects, and was far more
blues-rock oriented than glam metal. Containing the single "
Stand," the album received generally positive reviews, but sales were comparatively sluggish, selling only 1 million copies worldwide. The band toured in support of the album, but tensions mounted between Kotzen and the rest of the band. Kotzen's future in the band was doomed when it was discovered that he had become romantically involved with Rockett's ex-fiancée Deanna Eve. Kotzen was promptly fired, and replaced by
Blues Saraceno.
Poison began recording their sixth album,
Crack a Smile, in early 1994. Recording was brought to an abrupt halt in May 1994, when Michaels was involved in a car accident where he lost control of his
Ferrari. Michaels suffered a broken
nose,
ribs,
jaw, and
fingers and lost four teeth. After his recovery in 1995, the band continued recording the album. However, in the face of 1980s-style hair metal being almost completely gone and with a shift in staff at the label, Capitol Records offered little support for a new Poison record. Recording the album was halted for a second time. Instead, the label opted for a
Greatest Hits compilation, which featured two new tracks with Saraceno on guitar, "Sexual Thing" and "Lay Your Body Down". The record was released on November 26, 1996, and went two times
platinum, despite the lack of an immediate tour to support the album.
Bret Michaels made his movie acting debut in the
Charlie Sheen movie
A Letter From Death Row in 1998, which he also wrote and directed. He also released his first solo album that year, which is the soundtrack to the movie. After seven years apart, Michaels and DeVille were able to patch up their differences later on that year. The Greatest Hits reunion tour finally took place in the summer of 1999. With the original lineup intact, Poison hit the road. The band's supporting tour was a success, with its show at
Pine Knob Amphitheater in
Detroit, drawing a sell-out crowd of 18,000. Tour dates averaged crowds of 12,000. A summertime appearance on VH1's
Behind the Music appeared to solidify the reunited lineup's newfound popularity. The band resumed recording Crack a Smile yet again.