Why Do I Like Them?
Well, it was back in 1986-87, I was about 13 and I was in 7th grade in a Catholic School. I had been basically following trends as far as music goes. I was more concerned with liking what was popular to try to fit in.
Then it happened. As I was flipping through the TV channels, I saw this extremely colorful and fast paced video on MTV. I'd never seen anything like it with these 4 guys screwing around in front of the camera. I stopped changing channels because I just had to see who the hell these nuts were. The song was called Talk Dirty To Me and of course being the catholic school girl that I was, I was totally intrigued by the name. At that point I was hooked, I loved the song, the video, the attitude, the style, and I loved the way Rikki fell off his drum riser :-D
Poison became the first band that I truly loved by myself. Nobody influenced me and it wasn't the popular thing to do but I liked them anyway. I also got my two best friends into them pretty heavily (Hi Hutch!). They were like a new beginning for me music-wise, opening up the world of hard rock and heavy metal sounds that I still love. They've also kept my spirits up through all the various medical problems I've had over the years.
Poison was my first concert experience. I discovered something there that I still believe today. There is some kind of strange electricity at a Poison concert that I don't feel anywhere else. A sense of togetherness. I feel like I'm among family and friends that I just haven't met yet. I love watching them play because I think their excitement is completely genuine and it's just amazing to watch the crowd feed off of it.
One of the reasons that I still love them today is that they don't apologize for the kind of band they are or were. In this generation that we have now of lackluster, boring, unimaginative, cookie-cutter bands, it's just not acceptable to have been in a band from the 80's. It makes me sick how some idiot in control at MTV decides what kind of music today's youth will listen to. Back in the 80's at least you had a good variety of stuff to see on MTV. Now it's basically four categories - rap, alterna-rock, teen pop sensations, and R&B divas. They act like there is nobody even listening to Poison and other bands like them anymore. I guess I was imagining all those people I saw at the 3 Poison shows I went to this year. Despite their best efforts, this music style is not dead and I don't think it ever will be as long as we have bands like Poison who aren't afraid to continue making music even if it doesn't quite fit in to the mainstream.