Poison helped Loggins and Messina’s “Your Mama Don’t Dance” return to the Top 10 in 1989 – but that left original co-writer and performer Jim Messina frankly confused.
“I listened to it,” Messina tells two-time Grammy Award–winning producer Pete Ganbar on the latest edition of Rock and Roll High School, “and thought, ‘Man, that doesn’t sound like the song I wrote.'”
It’s understandable: Loggins and Messina were a Americana-leaning pop rock duo that Messina started with then-unknown Kenny Loggins after stints in Buffalo Springfield and Poco. Poison was a glammed-up pop metal band with hooks almost as big as their teased-out hair.
How Jim Messina Began to Appreciate Poison
Loggins and Messina’s signature original version of “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” from their self-titled 1972 album, was a gold-selling Top 4 smash. Loggins and Messina would become the second of three consecutive million-selling LPs. Poison’s No. 10 hit cover version ended up as the fourth hit single from their multi-platinum second album Open Up and Say… Ahh!
Messina decided to dig a little deeper. “I started listening to their other music and it dawned on me,” he said. “It’s about the art and depends on what your style is, your genre, however you do it.”
Listen to Poison’s Cover of ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’
He eventually came to appreciate Poison’s completely reinvented approach. “I realized their music had a genre like Picasso has his thing and Dali has his thing,” Messina said. “It’s about the art and then I really started appreciating how people record other people’s music.”
READ MORE: Poco is One of Five ‘70s Bands Who Should Have Been Bigger
Loggins and Messina split in 1976, and Loggins went on to solo superstardom. Messina has since issued nine solo albums of his own, including 2025’s Here, There and Everywhere. His expansive tours touch on every stage of his career. (See a complete list of confirmed dates, venues and cities below.)
“At 78 years old, I’m singing sometimes five nights in a row,” Messina added. “I’m singing all the songs, not just half of the songs. I’m working harder now than I ever have in my life but I’m enjoying it.”
Listen to Loggins and Messina’s ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’
Jim Messina 2026 Tour Dates
8/25-26 – Minneapolis, MN @ Dakota
8/28 – Skokie, IL @ North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
8/29 – Edwardsville, IL @ Wildey Theatre
10/1 – Buffalo, NY @ Buffalo State Performing Arts Center
10/15 – Savannah, GA @ District Live at Plant Riverside District
10/16 – Newberry, SC @ Newberry Opera House
11/6 – Waynesboro, VA @ Wayne Theatre
11/8 – Richmond, VA @ The Tin Pan
1/7/2027 – Oxford, AL @ Oxford Performing Arts Center
1/14/2027 – Clearwater, FL @ Bilheimer Capitol Theatre
The ’80s Most Outrageous Rock Fashion
In the same way that ducktails defined the ’50s and bell bottoms became shorthand for the ’70s, neon-lit sartorial choices can be firmly placed in the Reagan years.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
Real-Life Spinal Tap Stories: Poison’s Richie Kotzen
