TOP TEN Poison Songs

Published on November 12, 2011 by Christian Sellers   ·   4 Comments

While those old enough to remember them at their commercial peak may dismiss them as pretentious, and younger audiences are more familiar with the personal life of frontman-turned-reality TV star Bret Michaels, there was a time in the late 1980s when Poison were plastered on the front of almost every metal magazine, were staples of MTV and lived the rock ‘n’ roll dream.

First emerging from the Los Angeles hair metal scene with their 1986 debut Look What the Cat Dragged In, the group (who had briefly considered hiring future Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash before settling on C.C. DeVille) were at the peak of their success when DeVille was fired due to excessive substance abuse following the release of Swallow This Live in 1991.

Over recent years the band have made something of a comeback, despite the mediocre response to their last studio album, 2007′s Poison’d!, while earlier this year they toured the United States with fellow ’80s survivors Mötley Crüe.

10. SWAMPJUICE (SOUL-0)
Sandwiched in between the sleazy (Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice and lead single Unskinny Bop on their 1990 album Flesh & Blood was Swampjuice (Soul-O) which, at just one minute twenty-six seconds, is one of the shortest tracks in Poison‘s entire back catalogue. Performed entirely by DeVille, the song was an acoustic instrumental that allowed the guitarist to flex his talents without the restraints of the verse-chorus structure. The track was first included as the B-side to Unskinny Bop.

9. #1 BAD BOY
1986′s Look What the Cat Dragged In, released when the band were at an average of twenty-three, captured Poison at their most playful and carefree, with many of the songs focusing on sex (I Want Action) or rock ‘n’ roll (Let Me Go to the Show). #1 Bad Boy was Michaels’ attempt to portray himself as something of a rebel, declaring, “What you heard about me was probably right. I’m the boy next door, the one you were warned about.”

8. TEARIN’ DOWN THE WALLS
The band’s sophomore effort, Open Up and Say… Ahh!, suffered from bland production courtesy of Tom Werman, who gave similar treatment to Mötley Crüe‘s Girls, Girls, Girls, released the previous year. The songs themselves were for the most part were catchy, most evident with the four singles chosen, but perhaps the most underrated song on the record was Tearin’ Down the Walls, which was also featured as the B-side to 1989′s Your Mama Don’t Dance.

7. LOOK WHAT THE DRAGGED IN
The title track to their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, showed the exhaustion that the band were feeling after two years of constant performing on the L.A. music scene. While some songs celebrated their partying lifestyle, Look What the Cat Dragged In showed the morning after, with Michaels confessing, “I went to bed too late and got up too soon. My poor head’s still spinning from too much booze.” The song remained a live favourite during the group’s heyday.

6. NOTHIN’ BUT A GOOD TIME
After the success of Look What the Cat Dragged In Poison made a comeback in 1988 with Nothin’ but a Good Time, which once again launched the band into the charts. A statement against 9-5 existence, the song has since remained a live favourite and was later featured during a humorous scene in the 2005 Brad Pitt blockbuster Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The video also featured an excerpt from a Poison cover of the Kiss classic Rock and Roll All Nite, which was included on the soundtrack to the 1987 movie Less Than Zero, based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho).

5. SO TELL ME WHY
Poison were known for their energetic live shows and this was eventually captured on their 1991 album Swallow This Live, which was recorded during their touring of Flesh & Blood. As a bonus treat, they recorded four studio songs, the strongest of which was the single So Tell Me Why. This would be their last recording before the departure of DeVille, although he had split from the band by the time of its release.

4. SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN
In late 1989 Michaels was informed that the band’s security guard, James Kimo Maano, had passed away. Maano was a close friend of Michaels and his death affected him deeply, inspiring him to write the ballad Something to Believe In on his piano. Following the success of the upbeat Unskinny Bop, the song was a change of pace for the group and showed a more mature sound, with Michaels demonstrating his most personal lyrics to date (“I tried all night not to break down and cry as the tears rolled down my face. I felt so cold and empty, like a lost soul out of place”).

3. TALK DIRTY TO ME
Based around a guitar riff written by DeVille that he performed during his audition, Talk Dirty to Me proved to be the band’s breakthrough song, rescuing Look What the Cat Dragged In from a commercial slump and launching them from small clubs to venues such as Madison Square Garden. Similar in tone to I Want Action, the song was notable for featuring prominent backing vocals from the other band members.

2. FALLEN ANGEL
While dreams may come true in Hollywood, each year thousands of hopefuls are exploited by sleazy agents and producers with false promises of stardom. 1988′s Fallen Angel told of a young woman who decides to relocate to Los Angeles to pursue a showbiz career but is left feeling shallow and used, while its accompanying video featured Michaels’ then girlfriend Susie Hatton in the lead role.

1. RIDE THE WIND
1990′s Flesh & Blood is arguably Poison‘s most overlooked album, capturing a band as they were starting to move away from their pop-orientated beginnings and moving into more mature and experimental territory. Sadly this was cut short by the departure of DeVille the following year but the album featured some of the group’s strongest work, including the track Ride the Wind. The track made comparisons between the cowboy lifestyle and that of motorcycle riders (“Modern warriors saddle iron horses of chrome”). Bizarrely, the song was recently the subject of a lawsuit along with several other tracks by members of a long-forgotten band who claimed that DeVille had auditioned for them prior to joining Poison and had stolen some of their material, resulting in some of Poison‘s more famous songs.

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