Poison Case

Poison Research Paper

When we were first told to pick a musical group or artist to write this paper on I had no idea who I was going to choose. Rock and Roll isn’t my favorite genre, but I did grow up listening to it. Every morning on the way to school, my parents would be listening to 107.7 on the radio and it’s because of them that I can sing the very few songs I do know. My mom and dad may have introduced me to Rock and Roll, but it was actually my step dad who got me hooked. We would ride around in his car for hours listening to different bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi. Looking back, I must say that my favorite band of all was Poison. Due to the fact that the band that stuck out most to me was Poison, I decided to write this paper on them. First, I am going to tell you about the band as a whole and then I am going to tell you about Michaels’ and DeVille’s personal lives.

Poison started out in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1983 as the group Paris. Paris was made up of lead vocalist Bret Michaels, bass guitarist Bobby Dall, guitarist Matt Smith, and drummer Rikki Rockett. However in 1984, the group moved to Los Angeles California and lost Matt Smith who was soon replaced with C. C. Deville and took to the name Poison. With this lineup, the band was ready to get the show on the road!

Poison signed to Enigma records in 1986 and issued their debut album Look What The Cat Dragged In. The album’s cover was the attention grabber; it featured glammed-up, feminized images of each band member. The album had three hits: "Talk Dirty to Me", "I Want Action", and "I Won't Forget You". The record sold 4 million copies worldwide. It was a great album and it gained the band a lot of admiration and respect.

Nevertheless, the groups second album, Open Up and Say…Ahh! raised the bar. It was number 2 on the American charts and went on to sell 8 million copies worldwide, doubling their previous records sales. This was my favorite album and it was also the album that my step dad and I listened to the most. The album included the band's biggest hit, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” which was my favorite song. By late 1988, Poison had staked a genuine claim to a status as one of hard rock's biggest live acts and hair metal's most serious chart threats (Peake). Poison then went on to release their third album Flesh & Blood, which was also a hit. The tour in support of this album was one of their biggest to date.

The band was successful; there was no doubt about that. However, there were some internal problems forming behind the scenes. The groups lead guitarist C. C. DeVille's cocaine and alcohol addictions had begun to cause trouble within the crew. The band performed at the VMA’s in 1991 and according to VH1, “Rocking troll-doll hair and allegedly drunk and high, C.C. DeVille