These Philly-born Nerf bangers (they hailed from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) – whose first two albums showcased a blissfully carefree marriage of Sixties bubblegum to Seventies glam rock – are probably best remembered for their US #1 single, Every Rose Has Its Thorn (1988).
An overblown soft metal ballad with flowery instrumentation and guitars which are too clean to rock, the single peaked at #13 in Britain.
Combining a flair for spandex and bangles with some shredding metal laced with fine pop hooks, Poison hit paydirt on their sophomore album, Open Up and Say . . . Ahh!, which was released on 3 May 1988. Recorded by veteran arena-rock producer Tom Werman, the LP capitalised on the band’s party reputation and penchant for raunchy riffs.
Poison were a good-time band and certainly lived the life of metal monsters, with videos featuring peroxide babes, and ludicrous dressing room demands for vast quantities of pepperoni pizza, fried chicken and boxes and boxes of Trojan condoms. All of which were provided.
The downfall of Poison can be traced to the day the band decided to stop wearing make-up and girls’ clothes . . .
Somewhere between the Fallen Angel and Every Rose Has Its Thorn videos, the band apparently noticed that Guns n’ Roses were breaking the bank with the natural look, and traded in their lipstick and pink guitars for body hair and Harley T-shirts.
And on their third album, Flesh & Blood (1990), Poison let pop fall by the wayside.
Bret Michaels (Bret Michael Sychak)
Vocals CC DeVille (Bruce Johannesson)
Guitar Bobby Dall (Robert Kuykendall)
Bass Rikki Rockett (Richard Ream)
Drums
You May Also Like
Stupidity Look up the word "entrepreneur" in the Oxford English Dictionary and you'll probably find a photograph…
Spy V Spy I first saw Spy V Spy in 1982 at the Governor's Pleasure in The Rocks in…
Pandoras, The The Pandoras - an all-female rock band from Los Angeles - were associated with the Paisley…
Chas and Dave This pop duo from north London emerged as unexpected chart successes in the late 1970s and…
Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox was born on 15 April 1966 in Mile End, London, to parents Patrick…
Box of Fish This Australian band formed in Sydney in March 1982 as 'Box of Fish with Tartare Sauce'…
Waitresses, The Formed in 1978, The Waitresses existed for the purpose of performing the witty, often female-oriented songs…
Club Ska Formed in January 1986 by four former members of The Allniters and led by Jamaican vocalist…
