Artist · chart history
Poison
Band Mechanicsburg United States Formed 1983 US glam metal band
Poison formed in 1983 in Mechanicsburg, United States. Poison has 186 chart appearances on 71 radio countdowns from 27 stations on RockLists, spanning 1990–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, which appears on 65 lists with a best position of #44. The station that charted Poison most often is 106.7 WLLZ (Detroit, MI), with 23 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2002.
Poison came roaring out of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, as one of the definitive hair bands of the '80s, on a mission to make hard rock one long party. The lineup that made them famous had Bret Michaels singing and playing rhythm guitar, C.C. DeVille peeling off flashy, sugar-rushed leads, Bobby Dall on bass and Rikki Rockett on drums, all four of them pitching in on the gang-vocal choruses.
Look What the Cat Dragged In broke them in 1986, with "Talk Dirty to Me" and its title song, all bubblegum hooks and glam metal crunch. Open Up and Say... Ahh!, in 1988, is where they hit the big time: "Nothin' But a Good Time" is pure party-rock adrenaline, "Fallen Angel" and "Your Mama Don't Dance" kept the party rolling, and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", a power ballad with Michaels at his most forlorn, went all the way to number one on the Hot 100. Flesh & Blood, in 1990, brought "Unskinny Bop" and "Something to Believe In" and became their best-selling album.
Grunge made the '90s harder going. DeVille left in 1991, Richie Kotzen and then Blues Saraceno took his place, and it wasn't until 1999 that the original four reunited for a greatest hits tour. They put out Hollyweird in 2002, and their 2006 anniversary tour and album put them back in the Billboard top 20 for the first time since 1993.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Poison on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Every Rose Has Its Thorn#498 of all time | 65 | #44 | – | – | |
| 2 | Nothin But a Good Time | 61 | #41 | – | – | |
| 3 | Talk Dirty to Me | 31 | #106 | – | – | |
| 4 | Something to Believe In | 7 | #189 | – | – | |
| 5 | Unskinny Bop | 6 | #177 | – | – | |
| 6 | Fallen Angel | 5 | #375 | – | – | |
| 7 | Your Mama Don't Dance | 3 | #344 | – | – | |
| 8 | Look What the Cat Dragged In | 1 | #203 | – | – | |
| 9 | Hollyweird | 1 | #35 | – | 2002 | |
| 10 | Every Rose Has.. | 1 | #446 | – | – | |
| 11 | Look But You Can't Touch | 1 | #452 | – | – | |
| 12 | Cry Tough | 1 | #687 | – | – | |
| 13 | Red Barchetta | 1 | #688 | – | – | |
| 14 | Play Dirty | 1 | #897 | – | – | |
| 15 | Rock 'n Roll All Nite | 1 | #949 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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