Everything you need to know about Poison was summed up in the title of their 1988 hit “Nothin’ But a Good Time.”
Since forming in 1983 in Mechanicsburg, Pa., the stalwart glam-metal quartet has made music for literally nothing but a good time. Sure, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” may have dampened a hanky or two, but Poison’s raison d’rock has been to get the party started and keep it going until dawn and beyond. And the good times rolled to the tune of four multi-platinum albums and eight top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
Poison laid any doubts about its staying power to rest with its performances during 2022’s The Stadium Tour, warming up for Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe with an ebullient greatest set that had thousands of fans rocking each night like it was 1988.
“I never knew what would happen, but I never thought it couldn’t happen,” frontman Bret Michaels tells Billboard. “We just found a way to get it done and enjoyed it. My pot of gold is the journey. I’ve met incredible people, I got to play incredible places and travel the world and play music and have a great time doing it. I think that’s something everybody who comes to see us relates to.”
During its tenure, Poison released seven studio albums, from the triple-platinum blockbuster Look What the Cat Dragged In in 1986 up to the 2007 covers set Poison’d! The classic lineup of Michaels, guitarist C.C. DeVille, bassist Bobby Dall and drummer Rikki Rockett has remained intact since 1996, and the frontman says the group is looking at 2025 for another tour and possibly some new music.
From Billboard chart hits to deep cuts, here are our picks for the group’s 10 best songs.
