Poison (band)

Not to be confused with the Detroit band or the German Black Metal band of the same name.

Poison

Poison is an American glam metal band that achieved huge success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. To date, the band have released eight studio albums, four live albums, and four compilations. Poison has sold over twenty-five million records worldwide and has sold 14.5 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted 10 singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and the Hot 100 number-one single, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". In the 2000s, with the original line up back together, the band found new popularity after a successful greatest hits reunion tour. Band members have released several solo albums and starred in successful reality TV shows. After 25 years, the band is still recording music and performing.

Band history

Early years (1983-1986)

Poison was formed 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 6 March 1984, they started playing big clubs and eventually changed the name of the band from Paris to Poison.

During this period, Poison's manager negotiated a deal under which the West Hollywood club, The Troubador, would pay for shows. At this time, Smith, who was about to become a father and was concerned about the band's future, and left the band to return home to Pennsylvania, which led to an audition session that was won by C.C. DeVille.

Michaels, Dall, Rockett and DeVille signed to independent label Enigma Records in 1986 (see 1986 in music) for approximately $30,000. Their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, was released 2 August 1986. It originally included only one single, "Cry Tough"; however, Look What the Cat Dragged In became a surprise success and subsequently spawned three charting hits: "Talk Dirty to Me", "I Want Action", and "I Won't Forget You", the band then started touring with some of the biggest bands of that time.

In 1987 the band also recorded a cover of the Kiss song "Rock and Roll All Nite" for the soundtrack to Less Than Zero.

Career expansion (1987–1991)

Poison's second album, Open Up and Say...Ahh!, was released 21 May 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, the #1 hit single "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", along with other top-ten hits: "Nothin' but a Good Time", "Fallen Angel", and the Loggins and Messina cover "Your Mama Don't Dance". The album's first cover was controversial, as it depicted a female demonic figure with an 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 of 1989, 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. In 1989, the band released their first video album titled "Sight for Sore Ears" which featured all their music videos from the first two albums.

Poison's third album, Flesh & Blood, was released 21 June 1990. It also was highly successful, peaking at #2 and selling more than 7 million copies. The album's success prompted the impetus for a further world tour and Poison was now the headline. This album also features an alternate cover, as the original featured what appeared to be running ink or possibly blood from a tattoo. (Subsequent versions of this cover removed the "extra" ink.) The record went multi-platinum, spawning three gold singles: "Unskinny Bop", "Ride the Wind", and the ballad "Something To Believe In". Life Goes On was the fourth single and 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 early 1991 in their second video compilation, Flesh, Blood, & Videotape.

One of the band's few appearances in the UK was on 18 August 1990 at Donington's Monsters of Rock festival in the summer of 1990. Whitesnake headlined with Aerosmith, Quireboys and Thunder supporting them. This event was broadcast on BBC Radio 1.

Poison recorded several performances during its 1990/1991 Flesh & Blood tour, which were released in November 1991 as the band's fourth album, Swallow This Live. The double album features live tracks from Poison's first three studio albums and four new studio tracks including the single "So Tell Me Why", which were the last recorded before C.C. DeVille's departure from the band later that year. The band also released their first video concert on VHS from the same tour titled Swallow This Live: Flesh & Blood World Tour.

Changing times (1992–1998)

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 "Talk Dirty To Me" to a grinding halt, DeVille's guitar disconnected and he needed to stop playing for few seconds, in mid-performance. DeVille was fired and replaced by Pennsylvanian guitarist Richie Kotzen.

Poison's fifth album, Native Tongue, was released 8 February 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 singles "Stand", "Until You Suffer Some (Fire And Ice)" and "Body Talk", the album received generally positive reviews, but sales were sluggish compared with the first three albums, selling only 2 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 who completed the world tour with the band. A concert from the Native Tongue world tour was released on VHS/DVD titled "Seven Days Live".

Poison began recording its 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. The album became shelved shortly after this, with no release date anywhere in sight. 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 26 November 1996.

Bret Michaels was involved with Pamela Anderson. An abridged version of an explicit sex tape the couple made appeared on the Internet in 1998.

Bret Michaels and actor friend Charlie Sheen co-founded a production company called Sheen Michaels Entertainment. In 1998, Michaels made his acting debut along side Charlie and Martin Sheen in the movie A Letter from Death Row, which was also written and directed by Michaels. Michaels also released his first solo album that year, which was the soundtrack to the movie.

Original line up back and new-found popularity (1999–2009)

After several years apart, Michaels and DeVille were able to patch up their differences, welcoming C.C. Deville back into Poison in 1999 replacing Blues Saraceno. Bret and Rikki wanted to record an album first, Bobby and C.C. wanted to tour first. In early 1999, Bret caved and voted to go on tour first. 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 metro Detroit drawing a sell-out crowd of 18,000. Tour dates averaged crowds of 12,000. A summer appearance on VH1's Behind the Music appeared to solidify the reunited lineup's new-found popularity. Hardcore fans uncovered copies of Crack a Smile from the numerous bootlegs that were beginning to surface, but it wasn't long before a shortfall in supply became evident. Fans clamored for an official release fearing that not only was the album becoming a collectors piece but was also quite possibly "their best album to date." On 14 March 2000, Crack a Smile...and More! was finally released with extra tracks to combat the bootleg industry. That being Poison's seventh album after the Greatest Hits: 1986-1996 album took its place as the sixth, fans were calling it "The Lost Album". Crack a Smile...and More! was a bright and raunchy series of party anthems such as the single "Shut Up, Make Love" and power ballad "Be the One", containing few traces of the seriousness of Native Tongue. However it did host one outtake from the Open Up And Say...Ahh! session as well as two outtakes from the Crack a Smile session. "One More For The Bone" and "Set You Free", both outtakes, were originally planned for use as B-sides. In addition to the outtakes, live recordings from the 1990 installment of the MTV Unplugged series were included.

Later that year Deville released his solo album Samantha 7 and Poison also released Power to the People, their first album with DeVille in eight years. The record contained five new studio songs: "Power to the People", "Can't Bring Me Down," "The Last Song", "Strange," and "I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine," the latter with DeVille on lead vocals for the first time. The remainder of the album featured live performances from the greatest hits reunion tour in 1999. In 2001 Poison released the webb single Rockstar as a preview of the upcoming new album.

Poison's sixth full studio album, Hollyweird, was released on 21 May 2002. It was Poison's first full album of new material with C.C. DeVille back in the band. The album was heavily criticised by both critics and fans, feeling it had poor production quality and an unimpressive new sound. One popular site said "It's muddy, under-produced, badly mixed and features crappy drum and guitar sounds". Other reviewers were more impressed, such as Allmusic, who declared it "one of their best records, if not their best."

Bobby Dall on The Who cover single “Squeeze Box” stated,

...Actually, that was Rikki’s idea. When we came into rehearsals...to break the ice for the new record...before we started fightin’ and arguin’ about songs, we went through a list of covers and remakes. ...It was the song that stuck and I think it fits perfectly for our band. It has a great melody and a great vocal, but it's also kinda sparse and undefined...it was kinda like an open pallet for us.

"Shooting Star" was also released as a single for the album and was referred to as part 2 to the Fallen Angel single from Open Up And...Say Ahh.

Poison released their second compilation album, Best of Ballads & Blues, in 2003. It contains a new acoustic version with new lyrics of "Something to Believe In" and acoustic version of "Stand." Bret Michaels also released his 2nd solo album Songs Of Life which featured singles "Bittersweet" and "Raine" which was dedicated to his daughter. On 7 January that year, after almost 20 years with Poison, Rikki Rockett released his first solo album Glitter 4 Your Soul which was distributed online. The album was a tribute to 1970s glam rock.

During the summer of 2004, Poison was invited to serve as the opening band on Kiss's “Rock the Nation” tour. Poison were largely inactive in 2005 which is when Bret Michael's released his third solo album, the country-rock-influenced Freedom Of Sound, which included the single "All I Ever Needed" featuring Jessica Andrews, which appeared on Billboard's "Hot Country Songs" chart, with its best position being number 45. It also included the singles "Right Now, Right Here" and "Open Road" which Bret performed live on Nashville Star, a country reality television program which featured Michaels as one of the judges.

"Nothing But a Good Time" is featured in the 2003 film Grind. The song comes about when Joey Kern's character put in a Poison CD, which made everyone in the van start to sing the song and air guitar the solo. "Nothing But a Good Time" also appears in the 2005 film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and in the film The Rocker (2009).

Poison live at Holmdel, New Jersey in 2006. Left to right: C.C. DeVille, Rikki Rockett, Bret Michaels and Bobby Dall.

After a year off, Poison returned to the music scene. They celebrated their 20th anniversary with a "20 Years Of Rock" tour in the summer of 2006, with fellow rockers Cinderella and Endeverafter opening. The tour swiftly became one of the most successful tours of 2006 in the U.S., averaging about 10,000 people per night. To complement it, the band had released an anniversary compilation album The Best Of Poison: 20 Years Of Rock, in April that year. The album also features a new single, a cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band", produced by Don Was. The compilation debuted at #17 with a first week sales total of 39,721, which marked Poison's return to the top 20 charts for the first time since 1993..

On 1 August 2006, Capitol Records released remastered versions of the first three Poison albums: Look What the Cat Dragged In, Open Up and Say...Ahh! and Flesh and Blood, in honor of Poison's 20th anniversary. All three include bonus tracks. Look What the Cat Dragged In features the extra track "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", Open Up and Say...Ahh! (which uses the previously banned album cover instead of the censored one) has the extra track "Livin' For The Minute" and an interview with the band, and Flesh and Blood features two extra tracks: an alternate version of "Something to Believe In" and an instrumental cover of the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen".

DeVille appeared on VH1's reality television show The Surreal Life in March that year, the same day he got out of rehab. "Your Mama Don't Dance" was played in the movie "RV" in 2006.

During the show in Atlanta on August 25 that year, Bret Michaels and Bobby Dall had to be separated by members of the road crew and the rest of the band after the two came to blows right before the encore, with Michaels throwing his mic at Dall, and Dall retaliating by slamming his bass into Michaels, injuring his knee. Michaels apologised later and stated, "You may have just seen the last concert by Poison in its current formation". The altercation happened before the band's set ended with "Talk Dirty To Me". After some tense moments and Michaels' apology to the crowd including his explanation that "like brothers, sometimes you have to air things out", the band did finish the set. Dall left the stage immediately. There have been many physical conflicts within the band over the years, but this is the first onstage since the fistfight between Michaels and Deville at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1991, but that took place after the performance, not during. The band took time out while Michaels continued with his solo tour.

On 3 January 2007, Poison announced on their official MySpace page that they would like their fans to help pick favourite classic rock songs for the new studio album that they are to record. The fans replied with suggestions like Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird", Sweet's "The Ballroom Blitz", and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long", along with what might be an obvious choice - Alice Cooper's "Poison". On 28 January, Rikki Rockett explained,

"The Album will be ready for a summer Poison tour. That is the plan, anyway. p.s. The songs we are doing are NOT what you expect"

On 14 February 2007, it was announced by VH1 that Bret Michaels is going to have his own reality show called Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, where women will have to compete for his love and prove they can keep up with his rock star life. Rock of Love premiered on 15 July 2007.

During 2007, Poison went on a summer tour with Ratt. They released their covers album, now named Poison'd!, on 5 June 2007 through Capitol Records. The album entered the Billboard 200 chart at #32 and charted at #12 on the Top Rock Albums, selling 21,000 copies in its first week.White Lion was removed from the tour due to legal issues, and Vains of Jenna took their place. The August 2nd sold-out show in at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre St. Louis, Missouri was taped for a live concert DVD and for a HDNet Concert special called: POISON: LIVE, RAW & UNCUT that aired on 26 October 2007 as part of Heavy Metal Halloween. The band also appeared that night on the channel's Sound Off with Matt Pinfield.

The band played at the Rock2Wgtn rock festival in Wellington, New Zealand, on the weekend of 22–23 March 2008. The festival also included fellow legendary rockers Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Whitesnake, and Finnish hard rock act Lordi.

Poison live at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2008

Poison played at the Sweden rock festival 2008. Sebastian Bach is slated to be the opening act on this Summer's 2008 Poison tour, also featuring Dokken.

On 28 March that year Rikki Rockett was arrested on suspicion of rape in Los Angeles after getting off a flight from New Zealand. According to police reports, a woman in Neshoba County, MS, filed a report stating that on 23 September 2007, Rockett sexually assaulted her in his room at the Silver Star Hotel & Casino located on a Choctaw Indian reservation. Rocket was exonerated of all charges on 22 May as it was discovered that he was not in Mississippi during the time of the alleged rape, and that a man by the name of John Minskoff used Rockett's name when he met the woman before raping her.

Bret Michaels also starred in Rock of Love with Bret Michaels (season 2). Both seasons were successful and led to a solo compilation album which featured a few new singles heard on the series, including the theme song Go That Far, Fallen and Start Again. The album was titled Rock My World and was released in June 2008. The album charted at #40 on The Billboard 200, #4 on the Top Independent Albums, #4 on the Top Hard Rock Albums and #16 on the Top Rock Albums chart..

Poison live in concert DVD titled "Live, Raw & Uncut" was released on Tuesday, 15 July 2008, was filmed in St. Louis, Missouri during the Poison'd tour in 2007. This DVD/CD set will be initially exclusive to Best Buy stores and will include behind-the-scenes footage as a bonus feature as well as a live audio CD with selections from the concert. It sold around 2,400 copies in its first week of release to debut at position No. 8 on Billboard's Top Music Videos chart..

Also in 2008 a live CD version of the Poison DVD "Seven Days Live" was released.

In 2009, Bret Michaels starred in the third installment of Rock of Love called "Rock of Love Bus", and a Poison box set was released, consisting of 3 Cd's of music from 1986 - 2000. On 14 January 2009, Bret Michaels unveiled plans to team up with fellow rockers Def Leppard for a summer 2009 tour - ending a bitter feud between the two groups, plus Cheap Trick.

On 7 June 2009, Poison made a special appearance at the 63rd Tony Awards, performing "Nothin' But a Good Time" with the cast of Rock of Ages, which features "Nothin' But a Good Time" as a song in the show. As Bret Michaels was exiting the stage, he was struck in the head by a descending set piece and knocked to the ground. He suffered a fractured nose and a split lip requiring three stitches.

On 23 June 2009, Poison kicked off their 42-city Summer 2009 tour in Camden, NJ with Def Leppard and Cheap Trick.

Recent events: Rocking On (2010–present)

In 2010, Bret Michaels started his solo tour "Roses & Thorns" to promote the upcoming release of his autobiography.

On 12 April 2010, Bret Michaels was rushed to the hospital after suffering intense stomach pains, and an emergency appendectomy was performed. On 22 April 2010, Michaels was again rushed to the hospital, this time with an "excruciating" headache. Doctors discovered that he had suffered a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage. He was in critical condition, and while some reports suggested that his condition had stabilized, others later stated that this was premature. On 28 April, Michael's representatives reported that he was conscious and speaking, albeit slowly, for the first time since he was hospitalized.

In a news conference on 5 May 2010, Dr. Joseph Zabramski said Michaels has been released from the hospital and that "He's just one of those lucky people" and that "he'll make a complete recovery".

Since being released from the hospital Michaels has stated that he is contemplating marriage with the mother of his two children with whom he has recently reconciled. In an interview with People magazine, he stated:

As painful as this experience has been, I was given a second chance, right? I don't want to sit around every night worrying this is going to happen again. What I want to do is make a positive bucket list and say, 'I'm just gonna go for it.' There's just so much more I want to do and experience.
[Getting married], for sure, is something I have never done. Kristi's such a great person. We'll see if that happens. But yes, that may be one of the big things on the list. My first goal is to get back (to) 100 percent. I want to continue to rock the world, and I want to continue to love my family and be a good father.

In May 2010, Michaels was the winning contestant on the NBC reality television series Celebrity Apprentice 3 defeating Holly Robinson Peete in the final. On July 6 Michaels released his new solo album Custom Built, which includes the singles "Wasted Time", "Lie to Me" and "Nothing to Lose" (featuring Miley Cyrus), it also includes the song "Riding Against the Wind", which is the theme song for his new reality Docu-series "Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It". The album is Michaels highest charting solo album to date peaking at #1 on both the Top Independent Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums chart and also charting at #4 on the Top Rock Albums and #14 on The Billboard 200.

Band members

Current members

• Bret Michaels – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (since 1983)
• C.C. DeVille – lead guitar, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals (1985–1991, 1996–present)
• Bobby Dall – bass, keyboards, piano, backing vocals (since 1984)
• Rikki Rockett – drums, percussion, backing vocals (since 1983)

Former members

• Matt Smith – lead guitar, backing vocals (1984–1985)
• Richie Kotzen – lead guitar, mandolin, Dobro, keyboards, backing vocals (1991–1993)
• Blues Saraceno – lead guitar, backing vocals (1993–1996)

Discography

Main article: Poison discography

• Look What the Cat Dragged In (1986)
• Open Up and Say... Ahh! (1988)
• Flesh & Blood (1990)
• Swallow This Live (1991)
• Native Tongue (1993)
• Crack a Smile... and More! (2000)
• Power to the People (2000)
• Hollyweird (2002)
• Poison'd! (2007)
• Live, Raw & Uncut (2008)

Tours

• Look What the Cat Dragged In Tour '86-'87 (w/Ratt)
• Open Up And Say Ahh! Tour (w/ David Lee Roth)
• Flesh & Blood World Tour '90-'91 (w/ Warrant, Don Dokken, Alice In Chains, Bullet Boys, Slaughter)
• Native Tongue World Tour '93-'94
• Greatest Hits World Tour 1999 (reunion)(w/ Ratt, Great White, LA Guns)
• Power To The People Tour 2000 (w/ Cinderella, Dokken, Slaughter)
• Glam, Slam, Metal Jam Tour 2001 (w/ Warrant, Quiet Riot, Enuff Z Nuff)
• Hollywierd World Tour 2002 (w/ Cinderella, Winger, Faster Pussycat)
• Harder, Louder, Faster Tour 2003 (w/ Vince Neil, Skid Row)
• Rock The Nation Tour 2004 (w/ Kiss, ZO2)
• 20 Years Of Rock Tour 2006 (w/ Cinderella, Endeverafter)
• POISON'D Summer Tour 2007 (w/ Ratt, Vains Of Jenna)
• Live, Raw & Uncut Summer Tour 2008 (w/ Dokken, Sebastian Bach)
• 2009 Summer Tour (w/ Def Leppard / Cheap Trick)

In Other Media

Musical Theatre

Two shows, one on Broadway and one Off-Broadway, have featured music from Poison in their productions: Rock of Ages and Power Balladz. Both Rock of Ages and Power Balladz use the song "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", while the former also features "Nothin' but a Good Time".

External links

• Official website
• Bret Michaels Official Web Site
• Rikki Rockett Official Site
• Bret Michaels at MySpace
• CC Deville Official MySpace Site
• Rikki Rockett Official MySpace Site