#1 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
Song#: 3703
Date: 10/29/1988
Debut: 60
Peak: 1 (3 weeks)
Weeks: 21
Genre: Glam Rock
Pop Bits: Poison's second album, Open Up and Say...Ahh! was shaping up to be a bigger hit than their 1986 #3 triple-platinum debut with its first two singles making the Pop Top 20 with "Nothin' But a Good Time" reaching #6. The hits helped the LP go double-platinum, but they were not done yet. For a third single, the band selected to release this ballad. The tune went against their party-hard glam metal sound, but they were confident it was a hit. Indeed they were right with the single climbing to #1 on the Pop chart. It would stay there for three weeks and would sell enough to go gold. It would end up being the #3 song on the year-end singles list for '89. It would also get to #11 Rock. The hit would really push album sales and by January of '89 it would reach the 4 million mark.
ReduxReview: Since I really didn't care for Poison back in the day, I didn't give this ballad much of a chance. I tried to ignore it, but that was hard to do since it got played to death on the radio. While I'm still not a fan of the band, I can now listen more objectively and I do recognized that this is arguably their best song. Michaels based it on a personal experience and that feeling certainly shows through the song. It showed a more sensitive side of the band, but the song was good enough to not take away from their ruff 'n' tumble rock sound and image. There was heart to it without being too sentimental and sappy. That was kind of a hard thing to pull off for a glam metal band but Poison was able to do it well.
ReduxRating: 8/10
Trivia: Lead singer Bret Michaels came up with the lyrics to this song while out on tour with the band. It seems he called up his then girlfriend Tracy Lewis and heard another guy's voice in the background. Apparently, their relationship was already rocky and the call pretty much killed off anything they had left. Michaels finished the song with the rest of the band. They all knew they had a great song on their hands and it seems their label, Capitol, didn't disagree. However, the label balked at releasing it as a single thinking it was too pop-leaning and that it might go too much against the band's established glam metal sound, which could cause some backlash. However, Michaels and the band pestered the label enough that they finally relented and allowed it out as the third single. It became the band's signature tune and their only #1 Pop hit. Michaels would later re-record the song twice. In 2010, he would do a country-leaning version for his solo album Custom Built. The track would feature country stars Chris Cagle and Mark Wills along with 3 Doors Down lead singer Brad Arnold. Three years later, he would remake the tune once again for his next solo effort Jammin' with Friends. This time around he recorded it as a duet with country superstar Loretta Lynn.
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