Poison

Poison are an American glam metal band formed in 1983 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and one of the defining acts of the genre's mid-to-late 1980s heyday. The band's classic lineup — singer Bret Michaels, guitarist C.C. DeVille, bassist Bobby Dall and drummer Rikki Rockett — combined big hooks, party anthems and power ballads with the flashy visual style associated with the Sunset Strip glam scene.

Their debut Look What the Cat Dragged In introduced the band's catchy, hard-partying image, and follow-up Open Up and Say... Ahh! pushed them to a new level of commercial success, driven by the power ballad «Every Rose Has Its Thorn», which topped the Billboard Hot 100. Hits like «Talk Dirty to Me», «Nothin' but a Good Time», «Fallen Angel», «Unskinny Bop» and «Something to Believe In» kept Poison as a constant presence on rock radio and MTV throughout the era.

As the glam metal wave receded in the early 1990s with the arrival of grunge, Poison's commercial peak passed, but the band has continued to tour and remains one of the most recognizable names of the hair metal era, celebrated for its anthemic choruses and unabashedly fun sensibility.