Poison, Open Up And Say. . . Ahh!

By Christian Lipski

This was the first new Poison album to come out since their 1986 debut, Look What The Cat Dragged In, and I got the album (yes, vinyl!) for Christmas that year. I think this was the real and true beginning of my hair metal journey. I already had Poison’s first album, along with some Def Leppard and even Stryper, but this was the first real, commercial glam metal I had, and from there it never stopped.

This was the one with “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” so I would guess that a billion people bought this record. I personally got it for “Nothin’ But A Good Time,” which is still one of my favorite Poison songs, and the first rock song that I actually learned from guitar tablature. And of course there’s “Fallen Angel,” the classic story of a girl with dreams being consumed by the Big City! This was the age when MTV played videos all the time, and I really learned to appreciate the songs on Open Up, since four of them had videos in heavy rotation.

The rest of the album was all of a piece, all swinging rock songs about girls and, uh. . . maybe other things. Bret Michaels really got comfortable with his “Southern Good Old Boy” vocal style on this album, and has stuck with it to this very day. At the time, though, it was kind of entertaining.

I just remember playing the hell out of this record throughout that winter and on into spring. It cemented my love for Poison, and indeed for the glam metal genre. It takes me back to college and pure, unadulterated fun.