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A few of us here at
www.ilovethe80s.com
honestly thought this was an all girl band when we first saw
them in 1986. Poison is one of the greatest glam rock bands of all
time and they have an interesting history. The first iteration of
Poison formed back in 1983 in Pennsylvania as a band called The Spectres,
and then later changed to "Paris". After moving to L.A., they
changed the name of the band to Poison. The only original member
not part of the band in 1983 was C.C. Deville. Deville was hired
after the original guitarist left. Rumor has it that C.C. was
chosen over Slash (Guns 'N' Roses), who also auditioned, due to his high
energy.
So by the time they signed with Enigma in 1986, the band
was: Bret Michaels (vocals), Rikki Rockett (drums), Bobby Dall
(bass), and CC Deville (guitar). The boys in Poison were paid $30k
for their first release,
Look What the Cat Dragged In
(1986), which turned out to be the highest grossing album in Enigma's
history. Hit songs from the album included "Look What the Cat
Dragged In", "Cry Tough", "Talk Dirty To Me", "I Won't Forget You", and
"I Want Action". Poison found themselves supporting bands like
Ratt, Cinderella, and Quiet Riot in support of this initial effort.
Open
Up and Say Ahh, released in 1988, was the album that
contained their biggest hit to date: "Every Rose Has It's Thorn".
Other songs on this album you may remember included "Nothin' But a Good
Time", "Your Mama Don't Dance", and "Fallen Angel". By 1989,
Poison was no longer an opening act, but a headliner with claim to the
seventh best selling hard rock band of all time. Their 1990
release, Flesh and Blood, was also a hit record, charting at #2.
Songs you may remember form this album include "Unskinny Bop", "Ride the
Wind", and "Something to Believe In".
By 1991, after relentless touring, tensions began to grow
within the band (as well as drug use). After a drunken MTV Music
Video Awards performance by C.C., things between Michaels and C.C. came
to blows (literally). By 1992, C.C. was fired from the band and
guitarist Richie Kozen took over. After one album, and the
discovery that Kozen was romantically involved with Rockett's fiancé,
Kozen was soon out. By 1996, C.C. and Michaels had patched things
up, and C.C. was back in the band.
In 1999, Poison went back on tour with huge success and
since then, the band has continued releasing new material. There
has also been solo efforts by both C.C. and Bret (country music).
Brett has also showed up on TV from time to time (Celebrity Apprentice,
Rock of Love). At the time of this writing, the Poison Discography
was as follows:1986: Look What the Cat Dragged In
1988: Open Up and Say...Ahh!
1990: Flesh and Blood
1991: Swallow This Live
1993: Native Tongue
1996: Poison's Greatest Hits 1986-1996
2000: Crack a Smile...and More!
2000: Power to the People
2002: Hollyweird
2003: Best of Ballads and Blues
2006: The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock
2007: Poison'd
2009: Poison - Box Set Collector's Edition
2010: Double Dose: Ultimate Hits |
