Published on May 4, 2006
I’ll come out and say it: I like Poison. I’ve seen
the band twice in concert — once with Warrant opening, the other
time with Don Dokken and Slaughter opening. Truly, those concerts
were among the two best I’ve ever attended. Back in the day, my
best friend and I used to cruise for girls on First Avenue in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, with Look What the Cat Dragged In blasting
through the car stereo.
As an example of how Poison has integrated into my
life, I have to share this story. When I was in high school, I
worked at a restaurant with a mom (Barb) and daughter (Lisa). Lisa
and I were the same age. I vividly remember Barb and I having a
conversation about Poison. She felt Poison was not an apporpriate
band for Lisa and objected to the lyrics “Talk Dirty To Me.” She
said she didn’t want her teenage daughter talking dirty to anyone.
I dismissed her concerns, mainly because I couldn’t see where she
was coming from as a parent at the time; really, I thought it was
over-protecting and downright weird to prevent someone from
listening to the music that they wanted to hear. I also remember
vowing to myself that if I ever had a child, I would never, ever
prevent my daughter from listening to any band.
I chuckle now when I think about all that has changed
for me since those days. I’m married, two kids, career,
responsibilities. I can tell you that, as a parent, Barb makes a
lot of sense now. I am struggling with whether to allow my 9
year-old daughter to listen to this release. Like Barb, I don’t
want my daughter to “talk dirty to” anyone — yet I am reminded of
the fun I associate this music with in my mind.
It’s hard to believe that Poison has been around for
20 years — it doesn’t seem possible. I can say now that Poison’s
cockiness appealed to us — vocalist Bret Michaels, guitarist CC
DeVille, bassist Bobby Dall, and drummer Rikki Rockett — then and
it still has a magic now. Their “we can do whatever the hell we
want” confidence still brings justifiable comparisons to KISS and
Van Halen in the areas of attitude and writing a great lick.
Poison followed up Cat with Open Up And Say
Ahhh and Flesh & Blood and then the Seattle
explosion went off. The band was lumped into the hair metal
category and their attitude became a source of mockery. Rock radio
stations dropped them. CC DeVille left the band after a fight with
vocalist Michaels. Their 1993 release only had one single, “Stand,”
and the fans moved away as the lyrics moved away from the typical
party-’til-you-drop fare.
Predictably, the material on this disc focuses on the
band’s first three releases with a flavoring of material from their
other discs. As it should, this collection opens with “Talk Dirty
To Me,” the single that got the band on MTV and launched their
career. There are five tracks from Look What the Cat Dragged
In and I could tell you a story about how each one has affected
my life. Though it was never released as a single, the title track
from that disc definitely belongs here. Open Up And Say Ahhh
is represented with four tracks and Flesh & Blood gets
four as well. The rest of the release is filled with their cover of
KISS’ “Rock And Roll All Nite,” “The Last Song” and “Shooting Star”
before finishing with a recently recorded version of “We’re An
American Band.” The band sounds good on this track and it is almost
a tribute to their attitude that I adored when Cat was
released.
Overall, this release is a great retrospect of the
band’s career. There are a few songs missing that I would have
included, namely “Let Me Go To The Show” from Cat, “Look But
You Can’t Touch” from Open Up And Say Ahhh and “Poor Boy
Blues” from Flesh & Blood. But I can get past that and
still say this release captures the band’s magic in its
entirety.