Poison Albums Ranked! Hair Metal Haven, Episode 2 

Thanks for your service my brother !!!

Hair Metal is always a good topic of discussion!

Enjoyable ranking, especially for a casual Poison fan like myself. I am the same age as the Guru, and have had their first three albums for decades. I probably won´t add to the number of Poison CDs on my shelf, since there is so much great hair metal out there yet to be bought and appreciated. I love this channel. I enjoy the reviews, the commentary, the reminiscing and the recommendations. Discogs and eBay very often receive orders from me after I have watched another episode of the Hair Metal Guru. Thank you for the great content👍

Love your show man!! My era of music! ;)

I seen Poison and Warrent twice in the late 80's with like 18 thousand people in the civic coliseum in Knoxville TN, then later in like 94 or 95 I seen Warrant in a little theater in Knoxville with about 100 people and It was great. They put on a hell of a show and played for a long time. They played old covers in their set. what amazed us was that they put so much into that little show. They couldn't have made any money. I respect the guys from Warrant for that show. Grunge was king then, but they came out and showed that they could kick ass with the best of them. Those guys came from nothing and suffered to make it and lost everything over a change in culture, but even after losing out, they were still out rocking.

Deeper cuts on Look What The Cat Dragged In are what make that a Classic 💄🤘

Great stuff brother. Some good and funny takes🤘

Please make more videos I loved it

I LOVE POISON. Good job on the commentary and rankings.🤘

Great videos! I like how in depth you talk about the albums and songs before you do your ranking. I agree Flesh And Blood is all killer no filler! Life loves a tragedy is one of my all time fave songs. Also … I am one of the Native Tongue defenders! LOL, I do love that album. Can’t wait for more videos! Some of my favorite bands related to that era are Tesla, Skid Row, Aerosmith and Motley.

I’m liking the channel. I always thought Poison had good singles but much of the deeper tracks were average at best. There are some gems on their albums but the singles were really good. If you ever wonder why these guys were signed, see them live and you will see why. It’s a fun high energy show! And that energy hasn’t faded in almost 40 years.

Great review and comments. I would add Living For The Minute and Face The Hangman to Open Up (deep cut B sides released back in the day) both great songs!

I agree 100% on this awesome analysis!! Great work!!

Tearin Down The Walls has one of the best guitar solos…double tracked etc…CC nailed it

Rikki said the cover of Look, CC had a breakout because of the makeup they had to airbrush him, and so they did the rest of them to the point they looked porcelain. Cry Tough was a song from the Matt Smith era. Open up, CC said once back then said that Tearin down the walls was his proudest solo up until that point. circa 90. Flesh and Blood was and is my favorite album of all time, any in music. Yes, Life loves a tragedy should have been a single. My opinion 1. Flesh & Blood 2. Open Up and say ahh 3. Crack a smile 4. Look What the cat dragged in 5. Swallow this live's (STUDIO SONGS) Those songs show that the next album would have been a multi platinum album... BUT anyways and 6. Native Tongue

Got the Flesh and Blood album before they changed the cover as well. Saw that tour.

I had bought the open up and say ahh cassette before the cover was changed, of course now its not a big deal. I saw them open for David Lee Roth and was energetic.

This is great. I always thought Crack A Smile And More was an awesome album that didn’t get enough credit.

Hey there @hairmetalguru Being an English Gent, it would be great if you covered bands like Thunder, Little Angels, Tigertailz etc on an episode. Keep up the Great Work brother.... keep the Poodle Rock flag flying high!! 👍🏼🤘🏼

That song by CC I HATE EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY BUT MINE IS A GREAT SONG LIKE YOU SAID I SEEN POISON IN 2011 THEIR 25TH ANNIVERSARY PLAY THAT SONG AND IT WAS GREAT AND THEY DO PACK IN A BIG CROWD,WARRANT WAS THE OPENING BAND AND ROBERT MASON DOES A GREAT JOB SINGING FOR THEM LOVE HIM IN LYNCH MOB

This has been an interesting review. I don't know how common this is, but did anyone else know that Hell or High Water was actually the official song for the Gulf War?

Cool channel. Let's do a hair metal ballad list

My cousins ex girlfriend was in the Fallen Angel video. She is the girl getting off the bus when Susie gets on Bret’s motorcycle

Ha! I was going to comment before you started talking about Hollyweird.. :) I saw them in TOronto for that tour with Winger, Cinderella & Faster Pussycat... I couldnt believe there was over 16000 people there... and i knew maybe TWO people who bought Hollyweird... :) So ya, they were a HUGE draw live at that time (one of the best concerts i have ever seen)

You’re wrong on Native Tongue however completely agree with you on Flesh and Blood being best album

poison ended (album wise) after Native Tongue for me. So my rankings... 1) Look what the cat dragged in 10/10, 2) Flesh and Blood 9.5/10, 3) Native Tongue 9/10 4) Open Up 8.5/10 Native Tongue was a great album but the issue I have with it is its too long - theres about 3 or 4 songs to many on it. A shorter version losing a few of the fillers wouldve been better. Oddly I hated Native Tongue when I bought it back in the day but love it now. I always felt Open Up...was an album of fillers plus an annoying cover version. Fallen Angel, Good TIme and Thorn are excellent but for me the rest are rather forgettable. Oddly you say you dont really like Native Tongue but your scores for the songs are a lot higher the others - so deep down you love it!

You should have a better account of followers because your way of talking about metal is very good and interesting, i like your reviews and ranking

First off thank you for your service and what you have done for this country. Second speaking as a die-hard Poison fan I say everyone's entitled to their opinion. I agree with some of the things you said but disagree on poison songs recorded overall. Strongly agree with you about how Hollyweird was under produced. It could have been better. Also Flesh and blood did have five singles the fifth single was flesh and blood ( sacrifice) which a video was made for as well. Crack a smile had some really great hidden gems like Tragically unhip and That's the way I like it. Like you I wish they would get together with a great producer like Don was or Bob Rock and put out one more great record even if it's the last one. I think the die hard Poison fans deserve that

I love Poisons Power To The People. All 5 studio tracks are awesome

28:29 No, you were correct! They did kick Poison out of the band when CC left.

The 3rd Tesla album 5 Man Acoustical Jam rocked The 4th Tesla album Psycotic Supper rocked too

Native tongue is my favorite

Where did you get all your poison posters and stuff behind you at

Great assessment. I'm your age and agree

I love Poison. Saw them with Warrant at least 3 times that tour. But here's some trivia I bet you weren't aware of. Poison got sued for their song I want action because it sounds exactly like We go Rockin by Swedish band Easy Action. Take a listen and you can see how obvious it was. I believe they settled out of court but not sure of an amount. I agree with you on the harmonica, Bret needs to give it a rest. My all time favorite song is Fallen Angel. I can't even listen to Every Rose anymore. I'm so burned out on it Flesh & Blood sacrifice should have been a single. Not a huge fan of Unskinny Bop. Still too much harmonica on Strange days of Uncle Jack. Overall it's a decent album but not as good as Open up and say ahhh. When they released Native Tongue I was pissed. Hated it and quit listening to new Poison. I checked out after album 3. But I love greatest hits cd. And hail to Sturgis! From your rocker brother in SD to your south. Keep Rockin.

Totally agree 100 percent

I have seen poison about 4 or 5 times and they were amazing ithink the first time was 1999 it was LA GUNS,SLAUGHTER,DOKKEN, CINDERELLA ,AND POISON,IT WAS A GREAT CONCERT AND 2OR3 TIMES BETWEEN 2000AND THE LAST TIME WAS 2011 THERE 25TH ANNIVERSARY THEY WERE GREAT BUT I WAS 13 IN 1986 ALSO

After native tongue the best thing that came from them is from Ricki being on the Devil City Angels S/T album with Tracii Guns and Eric Brittingham

Flesh and Blood is my favorite

Where did you pick up the original version of Crack A Smile? I have Crack A Smile and More....

CC was sorely missed on Native Tongue and Crack A Smile, but it really wasn't as much for his guitar. The guitar on those albums wasn't as good as CC for sure but it's the songwriting. That's why Bret's solo stuff is good but not great. That's not saying that Bret can't write great songs because he can. There's something about the dynamic between Bret and CC together that makes great songs! Sure Bret did Every Rose and CC did Talk Dirty but that dynamic where Bret brings that 70's and 80's hard rock vibe and CC brings this almost punk rock vibe and they mesh and compromise and you get that Poison sound. Without one or the other you don't have that balance. So with CC gone the songs as a whole just weren't as good! They need each other! With Hollyweird, CC was back but you could tell that collaboration just wasn't there. Probably why Bret doesn't wanna do another one. CC did his thing and Bret did his thing. But maybe if CC let Bret polish up his songs a little and Bret to let CC do the same to his then we could have gotten a classic Poison album!

Their were a few hair metal albums that did decent in 1992 and even headbangers ball was playing grunge trying to make both styles relevant and try to coexist but that didnt happen i personally think grunge is a waste look what happened to most the big grunge bands,chris cornell, scott Weiland, mike starr,and layne Staley thats just off the top pf my head, our music has alot of the best vocalists,guitarist, and drummers in music thats a fact and so many great songs

Look what thr cat dragged in is the best album its the hair metal album of poison

Warrant would have had 3 big albums if they had started in 1986 like poison.

I think GnR pushed all these bands into a bluesy direction. Appetite is soaking in blues… although that album didn’t hit until, when?… 88 into 89? Anyway, it just seemed like after GnR, the sound and look of these bands altered into that direction.

Cry Tough was the first tune that I learnt on drums back in 1986, along with Shout at the Devil (I was like 12 or 13). Great opener! I remember getting it when it first came out cause of the record advert in a mag. Look what the Cat Dragged in one of my fav 10 records of all time. Seen Poison twice for Cats Dragged in and Open up and Say Ahh tours... I love the first 3 records, but Cats stands out for me. (like the raw sound more) Great review. My Poison sleeper track was on Flesh and Blood and it was Life Loves a Tragedy should have been a single... I think it a solid tune. Full agree with you! The intro right into the jams... love that tune.

John Nada Lol

Still think native tongue is a great album and the hollyweird album was absolutely horrible

it is a total shame that poison ignores the crack a smile album and acts as if it doesn't exist. it is clearly their best album, and saraceno was a fantastic player. i hate that the native tongue album gets a lot of unnecessary hate. it is a well crafted album, that is a departure from what poison was known for. most artists relish the opportunity to try something new, and in my opinion, its most often the fan's that are unwilling to compromise. music is art, and artists should be allowed to try different things. a couple of things about your commentary on it...the album was recorded from late 1994-1995. the greatest hits was put out instead in the summer of 1996, and included the two tracks. bootlegs of the crack a smile were being sold online from feb 1997 until the point it was released in 2000. 3 years of bootlegging had been going on, and at points, the record was selling for $75 on ebay. one other note...hollyweird is the worst album this band ever did. the production was terrible, and rikki went on record after it was released saying that bret wouldn't do a new record unless he could produce it, and use his home studio. it shows in the product that was released. the album is so trashy bad.

Some negative points for the first album for having I Want Action, a blatantly obvious ripoff of 1983's "We Go Rocking" by Easy Action. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LEIgZ2oOTEg.htmlsi=qys3BMqM_IjNls6o&t=66

Good love and body talk are two of my favorite songs, however I’d bet the farm it wasn’t Brett playing the harmonica on the record. Also crack a smile is great if you cut the goofy song intros.

First two albums are great. FnB is good. Everything else is pretty much crap. Crack a Smile is "OK". Any song off OUASA would have been a better single than "Mama". Typically cover songs should never be singles. Especially when there's better songs on the album. Yeah the Blues thing is what ruined Poison. You can really see it creeping in on the Flesh & Blood album. And it went downhill after that. Same could be said for Cinderella drifting more into the blues arena with Long Cold Winter and especially Heartbreak Station. I think Livin' for the Minute and Sexual Thing are two of the most overlooked Poison songs out there. LFTM should have been on the OUASA album (it was a B-side) and Sexual Thing should have been on a better album.

Anthony just thought I would let you know that Rikki Rockett has a RU-vid channel that is a paranormal channel. I know that a lot of the girls are going to say that they were in love with Bret but, for me it was Rikki who was on my walls🩷🩷