"Poison" is a song by American musician

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

. Written by Cooper, producer Desmond Child and guitarist

John McCurry John McCurry (born June 24, 1957) is an American musician and composer, a guitarist, songwriter and singer based in New York City. He has worked with many well-known musical artists, including Chicago, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Al ...

, the song was released as a single in July 1989 from Cooper's eighteenth album, ''

Trash Trash may refer to: Garbage * Garbage, unwanted or undesired waste material ** Litter, material discarded in inappropriate places ** Municipal solid waste, unwanted or undesired waste material generated in a municipal environment Arts, enter ...

''. 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 A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...

performed even better in the UK by peaking at number two on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. "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 Cooper’s intensity brings it to a whole other level." The song's main riff was written by guitarist

, who two years earlier had used it for the

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single " Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten on ...

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 MTV Classic may refer to: *MTV Classic (American TV channel), a television channel that replaced VH1 Classic on August 1, 2016 *MTV Classic (Australian TV channel), a television channel previously named VH1 Australia until May 2010, and shut down i ...

's ''

Metal Mayhem ''Metal Mayhem'' (formerly ''Metal Mania'' or ''Headbangers'') is a block of classic heavy metal/hard rock music videos that first aired on VH1 Classic. The series originally featured music videos from 1970s to early 1990s, but since VH1 Classic ...

''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

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, 1993 *

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, 2003 *

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, 2007 * Baracuda, 2008 (sampled in "Where Is The Love", alongside Amaranth by Nightwish) *

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, 2013 *

Powerwolf Powerwolf, often stylized as POWERWOLF, is a German power metal band founded in 2003 in Saarbrücken by members of Red Aim. The band consists of vocalist Karsten Brill as "Attila Dorn", lead guitarist Benjamin Buss as "Matthew Greywolf", bassist/ ...

, 2023

Film & media usage

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, 1989 * The Jackal, 1997 * End of Days, 1999 *

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

, 2003 * Mean Creek, 2004 *

Pineapple Express Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaii ...

, 2008 * A modified version of the song was featured in a February 2011 television ad campaign for the

Volkswagen Passat The Volkswagen Passat is a series of large family cars manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and now in its eighth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Mag ...

. * Spartacus Vengeance, 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poison (Alice Cooper song) 1989 singles Songs written by Desmond Child Songs written by Alice Cooper Alice Cooper songs Song recordings produced by Desmond Child 1989 songs Epic Records singles Songs about BDSM Glam metal ballads 1980s ballads