Bret Michaels recently looked back on Poison’s MTV Video Music Awards performance in 1991 during an interview for Paramount+’s new docuseries, ‘Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal.’
“We were playing live at the MTV Awards. There was a lot of partying going on and C.C. [DeVille] had a really great time, so he’s lit. It was the craziest moment in our career. We’re playing live and we go out there to do ‘Unskinny Bop,’” the singer recalled.
But instead of the first single from their then-brand-new album, ’Flesh & Blood,’ ’Talk Dirty to Me’ from 1986’s ’Look What the Cat Dragged In’ started playing: “I’m like, ‘Holy f*ck, we’re supposed to be playing ‘Unskinny Bop,’ and we’re now live doing ‘Talk Dirty to Me.’”
DeVille also stepped on his guitar cable and unplugged it during the performance as the rest continued playing. The band managed to finish the song, but tensions boiled over backstage.
“It was an instant knockdown, drag out fistfight,” Michaels shared. “Here we are fighting, rolling on the ground, underneath Cindy Crawford and Arsenio Hall who are trying to move out of our way because they have to go out and introduce the next band. A couple of broken noses and loss of a tooth or two and we parted ways that evening, for a little while.”
Ritchie Kotzen replaced C.C. DeVille as the lead guitarist after that night. The original lineup reunited a few years later in 1996, but fistfights between the band members kept coming up even during their 2022 gigs for Mötley Crüe’s ‘The Stadium Tour.’
“I want to be very clear. Other than an occasional throw down fistfight — I’m not making this up — we’re like best friends,” the singer recently explained to AZ Central. “But there’s no gray area. All of a sudden, we’ll get in a fistfight. But the next day, we’ll go out and play. We’ll work it out like a band of brothers. ‘The Stadium Tour’ was amazing. We were having fun.”
Michaels also mentioned plans for a Poison reunion to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In,’ though Rikki Rockett said the vocalist didn’t want to tour in 2025.