Bret Michaels has detailed the early rejection that he believes is “the best thing to ever happen to Poison.”
In the mid-’80s, the group was one of many Sunset Strip acts, gigging heavily and doing anything they could to score a record deal. Poison played showcases for many labels at the time, all of whom passed. During a recent appearance on the Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast, Michaels detailed one experience in particular, when his band performed for Don Arden, the record executive father of Sharon Osbourne.
“He came down and we had no money,” the singer explained. “So we live behind the back half of a dry cleaner. And we think, because he’s a big record label, they’re going to want drinks set up. We got a foldout table, shittiest foldout table you’ve ever seen, laid it out. And we went and got bologna sandwiches for a record label. We cut them up. We set all this shit out thinking we’re going to impress him.”
Unfortunately, Arden was definitely not impressed by the spread, nor the band.
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“He listens to a couple songs, and he just gets up halfway through the song,” Michaels remembered. “And I jump off this little teeny stage at SIR. I go, ‘Whoa, whoa, where are you going? We got food. We got five songs we’ve got to play. These are great.'”
Despite Michaels’ insistence, Arden had made his mind up about the band.
“We’re halfway through ‘Talk Dirty to Me.’ And we’re jumping around playing the song,” the singer reiterated. “He stands up with one of the people [who] came with them. He goes, ‘I’m sorry. I just don’t hear the nucleus of any hit.’”
Bret Michaels Was ‘F—ing Done’ After Rejection
Arden’s rejection was eye-opening for Poison. “At that moment I said, ‘Guys, I am fucking done,’” Michaels admitted. “I said, ‘Let’s go put our money together, that we can save up.’ And it was like five, six grand.”
That was enough to help Poison record their debut, which was independently released. The group agreed to a distribution deal with Enigma Records, which notably allowed them to keep ownership of their masters and publishing. Those assets proved hugely valuable when Look What the Cat Dragged In became a massive multi-platinum success.
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“The best thing that happened to Poison is no one wanted it,” Michaels matter-of-factly declared. “We kept all of our publishing to this day. We kept all the master rights to publishing… It didn’t suck. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Even after the success of their debut, remaining an independent act proved beneficial to Poison.
“If we would have been on [a major label], when our second record didn’t hit, we would have been dropped, Michaels explained. “Like if something, all of a sudden ‘Every Rose’ came out and it tanked or ‘Nothin’ but a Good Time, they would have just… put us on the shelf and we were, we were done.”
Michaels is spending 2025 touring with his solo band, including a run of dates with Def Leppard. He has claimed that Poison will be back on the road in 2026 to celebrate their 40th anniversary, but an official announcement has not yet been made.
