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Express-News: Music
Poison still rocking in its classic '80s style

By David Glessner
Special to the Express-News

Poison's 1986 debut album had more lipstick, teased hair and pouty, come-hither stares than an X-rated hot line ad, but the music has endured far longer than a one-night stand. With more than 20 million albums sold, the Cadillac tramps are still talking dirty, playing hard and delivering on their promise of nothing but a good time.

photo Poison will headline the Glam Slam Metal Jam for the third year in a row.
Courtesy Photo
Glam Slam Metal Jam
Where: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 16765 Lookout Road, Selma
Featuring: Poison, Warrant, Quiet Riot, Vince Neil, Enuff Z'nuff, Great White, Bulletboys
When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $17.50-$35

Get out the hair spray! A look at the Glam Slam Metal Jam

Now that they're not spending as much time at the salon, some of the '80s' most famous hair-metal bands are out on the road and packing venues all summer long. The bands get knocked for being so image conscious, but hey, even the hardest-rocking metalhead can recall a special night with Whitesnake in the background. Hair's the latest on the Glam Slam Metal Jam lineup.

Warrant
One of the worst offenders of the 'hair band' aesthetic, Warrant nonetheless displayed some skilled songwriting ability. Yeah, 'Cherry Pie' was as cheesy as a stuffed crust pizza, but 'Down Boys,' 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' 'I Saw Red' and 'Heaven' had merit. Singer Jani Lane has not yet retired to the Hair Club for Men.

Quiet Riot
Back with the classic lineup of Kevin DuBrow, Carlos Cavazo, Rudy Sarzo and Frankie Banali, Quiet Riot's new album, 'Guilty Pleasures,' is due any day. DuBrow describes it as being a return to the anthemic metal and the 'big drum sound and big, dirty guitars' of 'Metal Health (Bang Your Head),' 'Slick Black Cadillac,' 'Cum on Feel the Noize' and 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now.'

Enuff Z'Nuff
A Chicago-based institution, Enuff Z'Nuff was all over MTV in the '80s with the Beatles-esque smash hit 'Fly High Michelle.' Singer Donnie Vie and bassist Chip Z'Nuff now have guitarist Monaco and drummer Ricky Parent in their ranks. The band's 10th album, appropriately titled '10,' features a guest appearance by fellow Chicago homeboy and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. A new album is being finished with reported cameos by Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick and James Young from Styx.

Great White
Led by skilled vocalist and rock-out party dude Jack Russell, this revolving door of a rock band has a catalog that includes the cuts 'Rock Me,' 'Save Your Love,' 'Stick It' and the once-overkilled cover of Ian Hunter's 'Once Bitten, Twice Shy.' The band's last single, 'Rolling Stoned,' was a killer return to form.

Vince Neil
The Motley Crue singer is reportedly playing loads of classic Crue along with material from his soon-to-be-rereleased solo albums 'Exposed' and 'Carved in Stone.' And no, Motley Crue has not broken up, according to Neil.

Bulletboys
If there were an award for cloning vintage David Lee Roth, Bulletboys singer Marq Torien would have won it repeatedly back when he was belting out 'Smooth Up In Ya.' It's safe to assume he'd trade 'the look' for Roth's sales figures.
-- David Glessner

For the third summer in a row, the original Poison lineup of Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall and Rikki Rockett shows up to blow a kiss Saturday when the Glam Slam Metal Jam pops the cork at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. The Glamour Shots reunion also includes '80s pretty boys Warrant, Quiet Riot, Enuff Z'nuff, Motley Crue's Vince Neil, Great White and Bulletboys. Pass the hair spray.

"This year, obviously we wanna do all our greatest hits songs," vocalist Michaels said. "But we want to add the brand-new songs from (last year's) 'Power to the People,' we wanna do 'Sexual Thing' off 'Crack a Smile,' we want to add in a brand-new song we've got called 'Rock Star,' and just add new songs in there to make it exciting for us. Plus, there's a lot of (breasts) out there, which is awesome. (Breasts) and beer are timeless (laughs)."

If Michaels sounds like a skirt-chasing, Ferrari-crashing, ex-boyfriend of Pamela Anderson, it's because he is. He's also an eternally grateful performer and fan, and the voice of rock classics such as "Nothin' But a Good Time," "Talk Dirty to Me," "Something to Believe In" and the immortal karaoke hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

The fortune, fame and flamboyant image recently landed Poison at the top of VH-1's "Top 40 Hair Bands of All Time" special (a list that also included Warrant, Quiet Riot and Great White).

"I don't look at (the hair-band label) as being derogatory," Michaels said. "I truly am passionate about what I do, and it's part music and part image. What the (expletive) would rock 'n' roll be without attitude? We're up there with Motley Crue, the Scorpions — that's not such bad company."

Long before landing in such good company, Poison was a starving bar band that formed in Pennsylvania in 1983. Taking a cue from idols Kiss and David Lee Roth, Poison spent every elusive nickel on lipstick, pyro, banners and outrageous clothes to make sure their keg party gigs were the talk of the town. With stars in their eyes, they sold everything they had, piled into a beat-up Chevette and headed for Los Angeles, where their definition of poverty sank to a new low.

Life in an abandoned dry cleaning establishment was too much for original guitarist Matt Smith, who bailed out, making room for DeVille, who has been in and out of the band due to personal problems and personality conflicts. It should be noted, however, that DeVille remains a fan favorite and has been in the band far longer than he's been out.

By 1986, the small, independent Enigma record label spent a meager $30,000 to produce Poison's debut album, "Look What the Cat Dragged In." The tracks "Talk Dirty to Me," "Cry Tough" and "I Won't Forget You" catapulted Poison out of the dry cleaner and into the big leagues, including the 1987 Texxas Jam with Aerosmith. Poison's star was shining so brightly that Kiss' Paul Stanley showed up in street clothes to play the Kiss classic, "Strutter" on a guitar borrowed from DeVille. Former guitarist Smith has been kicking himself ever since.

"I think it's an honor if I can go out there and my fantasy and my reality become one and the same," Michaels said. "For me, that's a dream come true."

Poison and the countless bandanna bands they inspired were living the dream of platinum albums and glitzy videos until an unbathed bunch called Nirvana exploded out of Seattle and turned self-loathing and ratty cardigans into big business and high fashion. Glam was out, goatees were in and the Poisons, Ratts, Motley Crues and Skid Rows of the world struggled to remain viable when music became therapy instead of hot-and-bothered escapism.

MTV and radio will say it ain't so, but Poison and their contemporaries remain big business on the concert circuit.

"I think people come out and go, 'Look, this is a big summer show, stuff's gonna explode, it's gonna be exciting,'" Michaels said. "And, again, I go back to the universal bonding — a lot of naked breasts."

05/24/2001




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