Retro Spins: Poison - Open Up And Say...Ahh!

   

Way back in 2019, I fired up my first Poison Retro Spin with their 1986 debut, Look What The Cat Dragged In. Today, I'm finally catching up with their 1988 released, Open Up And Say...Ahh!

When it first hit store shelve, it immediately drew negative attention for its demonic cover. Though tame by today's standards, this clashed heavily with conservative sensibilities of parents and major retailers in the late 80's. Corporations, such as Wal-Mart, refused to stock the record, forcing the label to reissue the album with a revised cover.

Despite this initial backlash, Open Up And Say...Ahh! has become the band's most successful album of all time, reaching multi-platinum status in the USA, Canada, and Australia, while also going platinum in New Zealand, and gold in the UK. It spawned four Billboard Hot 100 singles, which included Fallen Angel, which peaked at number twelve, Nothin' But A Good Time, which reached number six, Your Mama Don't Dance, which hit number ten, and the smash number one hit, Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

It's great to hear Bret Michaels and the boys again. Like old friends coming to visit. There's a little bit of what you knew from the past to revisit, while also a bit of "new" to get caught up on.

Naturally, the hits are the bread and butter of the whole thing, but the remainder is also enjoyable. Admittedly, this probably benefits from the familiarity aspect of it all, but it's still good music overall.

Poison entered the 90's poised for continued success, which came with their 1990 album, Flesh & Blood. Fun fact, it too drew controversy for its cover, which featured a bloody tattoo logo.

Unskinny Bop became their next biggest single, peaking at number three, but with it would also come tensions between guitarist C.C. DeVille, and Michaels. Things would come to a head at the 1991 MTV Music Awards, where Poison took the stage to perform the single. However, a drunken DeVille, who kept no secrets for his hate of the song instead launched into Talk Dirty To Me.

The crazy part about this is that if you were watching the event from home, you'd have no clue there was a problem on stage. The band stayed utmost professional, adapting immediately to DeVille's playing, not skipping a beat. It wasn't until they left the stage that tempers would explode, and fists would be thrown, leading to C.C. being fired.

Though they carried on without him, releasing Native Tongue in 1993, but a serious car accident for Michael abruptly halted what would have become their next release, Crack A Smile. Even after finally returning to the studio, it would ultimately be shelved until 2000, where it was released as Crack A Smile...And More! Unfortunately, this late return to record stores would result in low sales, and minimal chart success.

Leading up to its release, C.C. DeVille and Michaels would patch up their differences, with the guitarist being brought back into the band. As such, he too contributed to the aforementioned album. With the original quartet back in place, Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall, and Rikki Rockett released 2002's Hollyweird, and 2007's Poison'd!

Since then, the band has not released any new studio albums, with Michaels stating that he didn't believe they could produce anything that would match their heydays. Further, while they continued to tour, as of 2023, this appears to have ended as well. The band never formally broke up. Rather, their schedules seem to conflict, not allowing them to coordinate further shows together. As a result, both Rockett and Michaels focus mainly on their own projects, Bret with his solo career, and Rikki with his new band, Rockett Mafia.

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And now, 31 Days Of Halloween!

After making my way through the Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street movies, my horror itch needed a good scratching. For this, I turned to two more 80's franchises. One of these was Halloween. What stood out about these was the story they kept building with each installment, well, with exception of number three.

That one took a different direction when John Carpenter felt the Myers story to be over after part two, and envisioned the series becoming anthology based moving forward. That kind of backfired on him after the poor reception of Season Of The Witch, which resulted in the return of Michael Myers, for the better.

Personally, I wrapped up the series with The Curse Of Michael Myers. For me, there was no reason to go beyond that.