MAKING OF THE ALBUM: Poison – Look What the Cat Dragged In

Three years before the success of their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, Poison were a world away from the showbiz glamour of Hollywood. Formed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1983 as Paris, the original line-up consisted of singer Bret Sychak, guitarist Matt Smith, bassist Robert Kuykendall and drummer Richard Ream. Performing in local clubs and gaining a small-yet-loyal following, the band began writing their own material, which included a track called Rock and Roll Bandit, which would later be reworked into the hit Nothin’ but a Good Time. By March the following year, Paris had set their sights on stardom and, renaming themselves Poison, relocated from Pennsylvania to California. At that time, Los Angeles had become a mecca for rock groups, with the likes of Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P. and Ratt making a name for themselves on the L.A. club scene. By now the members had adopted rock ‘n’ roll-type stage names, with Sychak now known as Bret Michaels, Kuykendall as Bobby Dall and Ream as Rikki Rockett, but the problems arose when Smith discovered that he was to become a father, forcing him to return back to Harrisburg.

Auditioning for a new guitarist, the band managed to narrow down their choices to two candidates: English-born Saul Hudson (more commonly known as Slash), who had performed locally in a group called Hollywood Rose and had been suggested by Smith, and New York guitarist Bruce Johannesson (C.C. DeVille), who had cut his teeth with bands like Screaming Mimi and The Rods. But when Slash was told that the post would require him to wear make-up to fit in with their flamboyant and effeminate image, Slash refused and walked out of the audition. DeVille, meanwhile, had no interest in learning any of the songs he was being shown and began playing a riff he had been working on. Although Michaels had stormed out of the room in anger, Dall and Rockett began jamming with DeVille and before long they had completed their first song together: Talk Dirty to Me. Poison soon began to gain a reputation around Los Angeles for their energetic live performances and were signed to independent label Enigma Records.

Having built up a repertoire from their live shows, the band had assembled ten songs to record for their debut album and entered the now-defunct Music Grinder Studio on Hollywood Boulevard with Ric Browde, who would become one of the key producers of the so-called hair metal scene through his work with such artists as Faster Pussycat (their 1987 eponymous debut), Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (Up Your Alley) and The Dogs D’Amour (Straight). The sessions for the album would last only twelve days and cost approximately $23,000, with Browde giving the songs a raw-yet-commercial sound. True to their attitude onstage, the songs on the album mostly focused on partying and having sex, with tracks such as I Want Action and Play Dirty celebrating the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. In preparation for its release, the band performed two nights at The Palace in Hollywood, where they recorded their first promo video for the track Cry Tough.

Look What the Cat Dragged In was released on August 2nd 1986, with Cry Tough debuting three days later. Whilst the single would fail to reach high in the charts, the album slowly began to attract attention, partially due to the artwork, which featured the band at their most effeminate. But it would not be until the release of their third single, Talk Dirty to Me, in February 1987, that Poison finally attracted the attention of both the music press and MTV. Subsequently, the band appeared in the rockumentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, which also featured Ozzy Osbourne, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P. and Faster Pussycat.