Showing posts with label Poison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poison. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Top 100 Songs by Hair Bands

Hair Bands:

Top 100 Songs

Ah, the hair bands. This much-maligned genre was a mix of rock and pop wrapped up in big hair and leather pants. The bands – almost all white men – were known for lifestyles filled with debauchery and depravity. It was no wonder teens in the ‘80s flocked to the bands like moths to a flame.

Regardless of these bands’ lack of critical acclaim, some of these bands (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard) when on to become some of the biggest rock bands in the world – even after they cut their hair and opted for more sensible jeans. Here – love ‘em or hate ‘em – are the top songs from hair bands as determined by aggregating 21 lists and then ranking those songs featured on 3 or more lists in order of their overall DMDB points.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (1987)
2. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” (1986)
3. Van Halen “Jump” (1984)
4. Def Leppard “Pour Some Sugar on Me” (1987)
5. Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” (1987)
6. Guns N’ Roses “November Rain” (1991)
7. Whitesnake “Here I Go Again” (1987)
8. Kiss “Rock and Roll All Nite” (1975)
9. Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (1988)
10. Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” (1987)

11. Bon Jovi “You Give Love a Bad Name” (1986)
12. Def Leppard “Photograph” (1983)
13. Scorpions “Rock You Like a Hurricane” (1984)
14. Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (1984)
15. Europe “The Final Countdown” (1986)
16. Ratt “Round and Round” (1984)
17. Quiet Riot “Cum on Feel the Noize” (1983)
18. Van Halen “Runnin’ with the Devil” (1978)
19. Extreme “More Than Words” (1990)
20. Mötley Crüe “Girls, Girls, Girls” (1987)

21. Whitesnake “Is This Love” (1987)
22. Warrant “Cherry Pie” (1990)
23. Def Leppard “Love Bites” (1987)
24. Bon Jovi “Wanted Dead or Alive” (1986)
25. Mr. Big “To Be with You” (1991)
26. Night Ranger “Sister Christian” (1984)
27. Guns N’ Roses “Patience” (1988)
28. The Scorpions “No One Like You” (1982)
29. Kiss “Detroit Rock City” (1976)
30. Def Leppard “Rock of Ages” (1983)

31. Van Halen “Panama” (1984)
32. Mötley Crüe “Home Sweet Home” (1985)
33. Quiet Riot “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)” (1983)
34. Poison “Nothin’ But a Good Time” (1988)
35. Skid Row “I Remember You” (1989)
36. Tesla “Love Song” (1989)
37. Van Halen “Hot for Teacher” (1984)
38. Whitesnake “Still of the Night” (1987)
39. Mötley Crüe “Dr. Feelgood” (1989)
40. The Scorpions “Still Loving You” (1984)

41. Lita Ford “Kiss Me Deadly” (1988)
42. Skid Row “18 and Life” (1989)
43. Warrant “Heaven” (1988)
44. Cinderella…Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone (1988)
45. Bon Jovi “Bad Medicine” (1988)
46. Mötley Crüe “Kickstart My Heart” (1989)
47. Queensrÿche “Silent Lucidity” (1990)
48. Def Leppard “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” (1981)
49. Lita Ford with Ozzy Osbourne “Close My Eyes Forever” (1988)
50. Poison “Talk Dirty to Me” (1986)

51. Alice Cooper “Poison” (1989)
52. Bon Jovi “Runaway” (1983)
53. Great White “Once Bitten Twice Shy” (1989)
54. Autograph…Turn Up the Radio (1984)
55. Def Leppard “Foolin’” (1983)
56. White Lion “When the Children Cry” (1987)
57. Twisted Sister “I Wanna Rock” (1984)
58. Cinderella “Nobody’s Fool” (1986)
59. Mötley Crüe “Shout at the Devil” (1983)
60. Kiss “Lick It Up” (1983)

61. Skid Row “Youth Gone Wild” (1989)
62. Poison “Something to Believe In” (1990)
63. Damn Yankees “High Enough” (1990)
64. White Lion “Wait” (1987)
65. Ozzy Osbourne “Shot in the Dark” (1986)
66. Poison “Fallen Angel” (1988)
67. Dokken “In My Dreams” (1985)
68. Slaughter “Fly to the Angels” (1990)
69. Van Halen “I’ll Wait” (1984)
70. Winger “Seventeen” (1988)

71. Kix “Don’t Close Your Eyes” (1988)
72. David Lee Roth “Yankee Rose” (1986)
73. Kiss “Heaven’s on Fire” (1984)
74. Cinderella “Gypsy Road” (1988)
75. Cinderella “Shake Me” (1986)
76. Dokken “Alone Again” (1984)
77. Firehouse “Love of a Lifetime” (1991)
78. Ugly Kid Joe “Cat’s in the Cradle” (1992)
79. Mötley Crüe “Without You” (1989)
80. Winger “Miles Away” (1990)

81. Winger “Headed for a Heartbreak” (1988)
82. Great White “Rock Me” (1987)
83. Kiss “Tears Are Falling” (1985)
84. Warrant “Down Boys” (1988)
85. Tesla “Signs” (live, 1990)
86. Slaughter “Up All Night” (1990)
87. Ratt “You’re in Love” (1985)
88. Mötley Crüe “Looks That Kill” (1983)
89. Firehouse “Don’t Treat Me Bad” (1991)
90. Vixen “Edge of a Broken Heart” (1988)

91. Guns N’ Roses “Nightrain” (1987)
92. Mötley Crüe “Live Wire” (1981)
93. Cinderella “Coming Home” (1988)
94. Warrant “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1990)
95. Mötley Crüe “Too Young to Fall in Love” (1983)
96. Faster Pussycat “House of Pain” (1989)
97. Ratt “Lay It Down” (1985)
98. Mötley Crüe “Wild Side” (1987)
99. Trixter “Give It to Me Good” (1990)
100. L.A. Guns “The Ballad of Jayne” (1989)

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First posted 1/23/2018; last updated 5/11/2021.

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Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Top 100 Power Ballads

First posted 6/3/2020.

Power Ballads:

Top 100 Songs

Classic rock came about in the 1970s, built on the backs of staples from the ‘60s like Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Who. Newer acts like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, and Boston were added to the fold to create a radio format which still maintains presences in major U.S. markets.

As rock became more commercialized, some acts like Foreigner, Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Styx were mocked as “corporate rock” for their more pop-friendly songs. One of the trends was for such bands was to produce “power ballads,” which were slower-tempo songs which fit well into adult contemporary radio and attracted female fans in addition to the more male-oriented fans which dominated classic rock. As the ‘80s wore on, the trend extended to more glammed-up “hair bands” (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison, Mötley Crüe) also crooning about love and finding huge success.

This list of the top power ballads of all time was created by aggregating more than 25 best-of lists. Click here to see other genre and category specific song lists.

1. Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (1989)
2. Foreigner “I Want to Know What Love Is” (1984)
3. Heart “Alone” (1987)
4. Whitesnake “Is This Love?” (1987)
5. Guns N’ Roses “November Rain” (1991)
6. Skid Row “I Remember You” (1989)
7. Night Ranger “Sister Christian” (1984)
8. Aerosmith “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (1998)
9. Bonnie Tyler “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (1983)
10. Cinderella “Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone” (1988)

11. Def Leppard “Love Bites” (1987)
12. Meat Loaf “I’d Do Anything for Love But I Won’t Do That” (1993)
13. Warrant “Heaven” (1989)
14. REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You” (1980)
15. Bon Jovi “Always” (1994)
16. Journey “Open Arms” (1981)
17. Mötley Crüe “Home Sweet Home” (1985)
18. Journey “Faithfully” (1983)
19. Bad English “When I See You Smile” (1989)
20. Cutting Crew “I Just Died in Your Arms” (1987)

21. Tesla “Love Song” (1989)
22. Cheap Trick “The Flame” (1988)
23. Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’” (1981)
24. Prince & the Revolution “Purple Rain” (1984)
25. Aerosmith “Dream On” (1973)
26. The Cars “Drive” (1984)
27. The Scorpions “Wind of Change” (1990)
28. Bon Jovi “I’ll Be There for You” (1988)
29. REO Speedwagon “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1984)
30. Whitesnake “Here I Go Again” (1987)

31. U2 “With Or Without You” (1987)
32. Queensrÿche “Silent Lucidity” (1990)
33. Mr. Mister “Broken Wings” (1985)
34. Starship “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (1987)
35. Nazareth “Love Hurts” (1975)
36. The Scorpions “Still Loving You” (1984)
37. Bryan Adams “Heaven” (1984)
38. Boston “Amanda” (1986)
39. John Waite “Missing You” (1984)
40. Boston “More Than a Feeling” (1976)

41. Bon Jovi “Never Say Goodbye” (1986)
42. Guns N’ Roses “Patience” (1988)
43. Bryan Adams “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (1991)
44. Foreigner “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (1981)
45. Chicago “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” (1982)
46. Kiss “Beth” (1976)
47. Alias “More Than Words Can Say” (1990)
48. Metallica “Nothing Else Matters” (1991)
49. Harry Nisson “Without You” (1971)
50. Phil Collins “Against All Odds” (1984)

51. Eric Carmen “All by Myself” (1975)
52. Lita Ford with Ozzy Osbourne “Close My Eyes Forever” (1988)
53. Aerosmith “Angel” (1988)
54. Goo Goo Dolls “Iris” (1998)
55. Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” (1971)
56. The Beatles “Something” (1969)
57. John Farnham “You’re The Voice” (1986)
58. Bangles “Eternal Flame” (1988)
59. Alannah Myles “Black Velvet” (1989)
60. Thunder “Love Walked In” (1990)

61. T’Pau “China in Your Hand” (1987)
62. Alice Cooper “Poison” (1989)
63. Nickelback “How You Remind Me” (2001)
64. Slaughter “Fly to the Angels” (1990)
65. Aerosmith “What It Takes” (1989)
66. Styx “Lady” (1973)
67. Europe “Carrie” (1986)
68. Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” (1990)
69. Chad Kroeger with Josey Scott “Hero” (2002)
70. Heart “These Dreams” (1986)

71. Mr. Big “To Be with You” (1991)
72. Def Leppard “Hysteria” (1987)
73. Roxette “It Must Have Been Love” (1990)
74. Poison “Something to Believe In” (1990)
75. Loverboy “Heaven in Your Eyes” (1986)
76. Roxette “Listen to Your Heart” (1989)
77. L.A. Guns “The Ballad of Jayne” (1990)
78. Van Halen “When It’s Love” (1988)
79. White Lion “When the Children Cry” (1987)
80. The Beatles “Let It Be” (1970)

81. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge” (1991)
82. Chicago “You’re the Inspiration” (1984)
83. Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here” (1975)
84. Maria McKee “Show Me Heaven” (1990)
85. Metallica “The Unforgiven” (1991)
86. The Rolling Stones “Angie” (1973)
87. The Beatles “Yesterday” (1965)
88. The Rolling Stones “Wild Horses” (1971)
89. Eric Clapton “Tears in Heaven” (1992)
90. Def Leppard “When Love and Hate Collide” (1995)

91. Damn Yankees “High Enough” (1990)
92. Pearl Jam “Black” (1991)
93. Kansas “Dust in the Wind” (1978)
94. Tina Turner “We Don’t Need Another Hero” (1985)
95. Extreme “More Than Words” (1990)
96. Styx “Babe” (1979)
97. Van Halen “Love Walks In” (1986)
98. Eric Clapton “Wonderful Tonight” (1977)
99. Billy Idol “Eyes Without a Face” (1984)
100. Berlin “Take My Breath Away” (1986)

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Rock of Ages might make you throw up…in your pants.

image from norwalkcitizenonline.com

I was a big fan of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, an improv show which originally aired on British television from 1988-98 and then got an American face list and ran from 1998-2006. One of the games was built around the actors being given a movie scene to act out. The gimmick, and much of the humor, grew out of the “director” constantly interrupting the scene to tell the actors to perform in a different style.

Alan Shankman, the director of Rock of Ages, thought it would be fun to direct an entire movie that way. Each actor was given different instructions about how to perform in the film. The two leads, Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta, were asked to play their roles like they were in a made-for-tweens Disney television show. While it made them into eye-rolling caricatures, at least their performances matched the script’s completely clichéd story. Small-town girl heads to Hollywood with a solitary suitcase and dreams of stardom. She barely steps off the bus when she’s mugged, rescued by a cute boy, and is offered a job as a waitress at a bar. The wide-eyed pair immediately become a couple, only to be torn apart by a misunderstanding worthy of every lame sitcom plot twist ever written. I won’t tell you the ending – not because I’m worried about spoilers, but because you know how this wraps up already.

Rock of Ages trailer

Telling such a story could be funny if done with a campy, wink-wink, nod-nod approach. This apparently was how Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand were told to play it. I don’t need to hear them singing again any time soon, but they get the only laugh-out-loud moment in the movie when they duet on an REO Speedwagon song.

Speaking of singing, there are major problems, which really isn’t a good omen for a musical. Julianne and Diego are at least consistent in that they sing the same way they act. They seem unaware that the songs they’re belting out are rock songs, not Broadway show tunes as interpreted by the cast of Glee (which Shankman has directed, by the way).

This brings us to Tom Cruise. Some are touting his performance as rock star Stacee Jaxx as Oscar-worthy. His is definitely the most interesting role in the movie, even when he distracts with the over-the-top intensity he brings to everything he does. He gets a scene with a Rolling Stone reporter where you glimpse the pain and loneliness of a celebrity with the status of, oh, I don’t know – Tom Cruise? It’s the kind of moment you wish a whole movie were built around. Then he breaks into Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” and the magic is over.

Cruise’s performance is actually the most maddening. Don’t believe the hype about him having a backup career as a rocker if the acting thing doesn’t work out. It was very considerate of Poison’s Bret Michaels to let Cruise raid his 1980s wardrobe. Cruise also has the whip-an-audience-into-a-frenzy stage moves down. That doesn’t means Cruise can approximate the vocal growl of the era’s hair bands and arena rockers. Considering how widely panned many of those singers were, it doesn’t bode well for soundtrack sales to have an album loaded with second-rate versions of those songs. I mean, has anyone ever said, “Oh, sure, Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Paradise City’ was good, but wouldn’t it be better if we let the star from Top Gun sing it?”

I’m not being completely fair. We do get Mary J. Blige’s pipes in the movie. Unfortunately, her trademark “no one can sing like Aretha, except maybe me” style simply embarrasses everyone else. If only she sang every line of her performance as the streetwise nightclub owner with a heart of gold. She definitely doesn’t need to become a singer with a “hyphenated” career.

Speaking of hyphens, Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of those lucky people who gets terms like “Oscar-winning” and “Tony-award winner” tacked on to her name. She won’t be adding any new trophies to her collection this time around. She plays a politician’s wife bent on cleaning up the Hollywood Strip. It’s the least interesting character in the show – and she’s got plenty of competition.

The movie was summed up for me with a medley of her leading her religious flock in singing “We’re Not Gonna Take It” while Brand rallies the troops for “We Built This City.” Blender magazine called the latter the worst song of all time. When cameos from Sebastian Bach (of the long-disappeared Skid Row), a white-haired Kevin Cronin (who still helms REO Speedwagon), and Debbie Gibson rate as one of a movie’s highlights, the movie has serious problems.

One of Baldwin’s lines in the movie roughly sums it up: “I just threw up…In my pants…Through my ass.”

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Saturday, December 24, 1988

Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” hit #1

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Poison

Writer(s): Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall, Rikki Rockett (see lyrics here)

Released: October 12, 1988

First Charted: October 28, 1988

Peak: 13BB, 14 BA, 14 CB, 14 GR, 12 RR, 11 AR, 13 UK, 2 CN, 16 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.2 UK, 0.7 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 70.9 video, 306.55 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“This is the textbook rocker-dude move. You establish yourself as the king of the party, the debaucherous demon among debaucherous demons. Then, when you’ve got people on your side, you pull out the acoustic guitar and you get sensitive.” SG “Poison were one of the definitive party bands of their era, and yet their biggest hit is ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn.’” SG

In 1986, Poison released their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, “an album where the sleaze is so joyous that it’s almost wholesome.” SG Lead singer “Bret Michaels doesn’t have much of a voice, but he gets over on pure David Lee Roth-style strutting showmanship.” SG The 1988 follow-up Open Up and Say… Ahh! “isn’t quite as inspired…but it’s sleek and sharp, and almost every song sounds like a hit.” SG

“The anthemically cheesed-out lead single ‘Nothin’ But A Good Time’ became the band’s biggest hit yet, peaking at #6…The follow-up ‘Fallen Angel’ just missed the top 10, peaking at #12…Poison offered no indication that they were into depth at all.” SG As such, Capitol Records was understandably reluctant to release “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” despite a slate of hair bands finding success with power ballads. As Michaels said, “We’re not trying to be AC/DC and we’re not trying to be Bob Dylan. But I have both those artists in my record collection. Why can’t I have influences from both?” FB

Regarding the origins of the song, he explained that the band were playing a club in Dallas and staying in a sleazy hotel. He and drummer Ricki Rockett were talking in the laundry room and the idea for the song came to Bret. FB He “had called his girlfriend back in LA, and a man’s voice answered the phone.” SG Surprisingly, the song “isn’t a sneering, snarling woman-done-me-wrong song. Instead, Michaels simply tries to make sense of where things went wrong and of what he could’ve done differently.” SG

Resources:

  • DMDB encyclopedia entry for Poison
  • FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 717.
  • SG Stereogum (6/16/2021). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan

First posted 2/20/2024.

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