Poison was formed in 1983 under the name Paris and consisted of lead vocalist
Bret Michaels, guitarist
Matt Smith, bassist
Bobby Dall, and drummer
Rikki Rockett. Moving to
Los Angeles on
March 6, 1984, they started playing big clubs and several other clubs. The name Poison was picked by the band after seeing
Spinal Tap. During this period, Poison's manager negotiated a deal under which the
West Hollywood club, The Troubador, would pay for shows.
[3] At this time, Smith left the band to return home to
Pennsylvania, which lead to an audition session that was won by
C.C. DeVille. Michaels, Dall, Rockett and DeVille signed to independent label
Enigma Records in 1986 (see
1986 in music) for approximately $30,000. Their debut album,
Look What the Cat Dragged In, was released
August 2, 1986. It included one single, "Cry Tough".
Look What the Cat Dragged In produced three hits: "Talk Dirty to Me", "I Want Action", and "I Won't Forget You".
[4] In 1987 the band also recorded a cover of the
Kiss song "Rock and Roll All Nite" for the soundtrack to
Less Than Zero. Poison's third album,
Flesh & Blood, was released June 21, 1990. It also was highly successful, peaking at #2. It too features an alternate cover, as the original featured what appeared to be running ink or possibly blood from a tattoo. (Subsequent versions of this cover removed the "extra" ink.) The record went multi-platinum, spawning three gold singles: "
Unskinny Bop," "
Ride the Wind," and the ballad "
Something To Believe In". The last single released was the title cut, "
Flesh & Blood (Sacrifice)". The video was banned from MTV due to its explicit nature, but did surface later in the video compilation
Flesh, Blood & Videotape, in early 1991. The album's success prompted the impetus for a further world tour. One of the band's few appearances in the UK was on August 18, 1990 at
Donington's Monsters of Rock festival in the summer of 1990.
Whitesnake headlined with
Aerosmith,
Quireboys and
Thunder supporting them. This event was broadcast on
BBC Radio 1. Poison recorded several performances during its 1990/1991 Flesh & Blood tour, which were released in November 1991 as the band's fourth album,
Swallow This Live. The double album features live tracks from Poison's first three studio albums and four new studio tracks, which were the last recorded before C.C. DeVille's departure from the band later that year.
Video klip poison band :