Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1989
Poison (Alice Cooper song)
Buy Poison (Alice Cooper song) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Poison
| cover = Poison (Alice Cooper).jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Alice Cooper
| album = Trash
| B-side = Trash
| released =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = {{Hlist|Glam metal|hard rock}}
| length =
| label = Epic
| writer =
| producer = Desmond Child
| prev_title = Freedom
| prev_year = 1987
| next_title = Bed of Nails
| next_year = 1989
| misc =
}}
"'Poison'" is a song by American musician Alice Cooper. Written by Cooper, producer Desmond Child and guitarist John McCurry, the song was released as a single in July 1989 from Cooper's eighteenth album, 'Trash'. It became one of Cooper's biggest hit singles in the United States, peaking at number seven on the 'Billboard' Hot 100. The power ballad performed even better in the UK by peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart. "Poison" remains one of Alice Cooper's best known songs. It is ranked by 'Billboard' as the "91st top song of 1989", while Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it as the "7th best Alice Cooper song", commenting "Poison sounds like a typical '80s pop-metal number at times, but Coopers intensity brings it to a whole other level." The song's main riff was written by guitarist John McCurry, who two years earlier had used it for the John Waite track "Encircled".
Music video
There are two versions of the video to the song, one of which shows Alice Cooper being chained to a bizarre mechanism and singing while a ghostly woman looms over him. The original video had to be censored for showings during the day, due to shots of a topless model. Rana Kennedy plays the roles of both women in the video but the topless scene were shot with a body double. This is notably visible in the video. The studios in which the video was filmed in spring of 1989 have since been torn down and are now a parking lot in Los Angeles. The video is still often played on MTV Classic's 'Metal Mayhem'.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
}}
Cover versions
*The Vandals, 1993
*Groove Coverage, 2003
*Husky Rescue, 2007
*Alex Day, 2013
Film & media usage
* Tango & Cash, 1989
* The Jackal, 1997
* End of Days, 1999
* Peter Pan, 2003
* Mean Creek, 2004
* Pineapple Express, 2008
* A modified version of the song was featured in a February 2011 television ad campaign for the Volkswagen Passat.
* Spartacus Vengeance, 2012
References
Category:1989 singles
Category:Songs written by Desmond Child
Category:Songs written by Alice Cooper
Category:Alice Cooper songs
Category:Song recordings produced by Desmond Child
Category:1989 songs
Category:Epic Records singles
Category:Songs about BDSM
Category:Glam metal ballads
Category:1980s ballads
Buy Poison (Alice Cooper song) now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1989