He don't want nothin' but a good time: Poison's Bret Michaels comes to East Tennessee

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff

It's impossible not to be won over by Bret Michaels.

Music snobs and rock critics like to belittle the dude's band, '80s glam rockers Poison, and roll their eyes at Michaels cavorting shirtless around a mansion filled with girls with a disproportionate brains-to-cleavage ratio.

Maybe it's because he's 45 and still partying like a man half his age. Maybe it's the fact that Poison's music -- mindless, fun rock 'n' roll that sold millions but left little impact beyond images of pretty boys in makeup and teased hair. Maybe it's standard backlash against music that the mainstream loves -- that "serious" music, "important" music, is somehow the domain of a select few who wouldn't be caught dead flicking a lighter to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" or singing along to "Talk Dirty to Me."

Whatever the case, Michaels is as courteous, as gentlemanly, as friendly as a rock star can be, given 15 minutes to talk with The Daily Times about everything from his performance tonight at The Valarium in Knoxville to his forthcoming solo album, "Rock My World," which hits stores on Tuesday.

To hear him tell it, he's just a regular guy -- a family man, even. And maybe doubters and detractors will roll their eyes at such a claim, but the guy couldn't sound more sincere if he had his hand on a stack of Bibles and his mama looking over his shoulder.

"Here's what it is for me, honestly -- I'm still one of those guys who's just as excited now as when I started," Michaels told The Daily Times. "When I have down time, I completely have down time. I grab my daughters and go hang out; we get out the dirt bikes and the (four-wheelers) and we have fun. They know that my life is a balance, and it's exciting to know that I'm still able to do what I love.

"I just live in the here and now. I don't live for my glory days or walk around looking for the future. When I need some time off, I just say it -- I need a day off here, because I'm flying home to see my kids. I do that, and I get refreshed, and that gives me a chance to go back out there and rock the world."

Michaels, it seems, was destined for nothing else but rock 'n' roll. He got his start in 1984 as a 21-year-old musician in Harrisburg, Pa., where he formed the band Paris. At the time, he was the guitar player; when he replaced the original lineup of Paris with two of the guys who would become Poison -- drummer Rikki Rockett and bassist Bobby Dall -- and moved to Los Angeles, where they auditioned and took in guitarist C.C. DeVille. The band changed its name to Poison and released "Looked What the Cat Dragged In," which would sell 2 million copies on the strength of such singles as "Talk Dirty to Me" and "I Want Action."

The band's sophomore effort, "Open Up and Say ... Ahh!" was even more successful, selling 8 million copies and spawning the hits "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Nothing But a Good Time." It was a time of '80s excess and controversy, with the band members in the news and tabloids as much for their off-stage antics as for their music. Such exploits set the tone for the rest of Michaels career -- whether with the band or on his own, he's been about more than just music. And the publicity, he added, helped Poison stay above the radar when many of their '80s contemporaries faded into obscurity.

"We stayed above the radar, even when MTV and a lot of people turned their backs on us," Michaels said. "We've been very fortunate -- with Poison and myself -- to be able to stay in the arenas, and that's made it easy for me to juggle everything that I do. I'm still really passionate about making music, and part of the sacrifice is that you have to go out there and let people know.

"If you work really hard at putting music together, you want to work really hard to let people know it exists. A lot of bands forget that -- I know I didn't realize that when I was in my 20s. I just thought, isn't there a magic thing that happens where everybody knows you have a new record out? But I know better today, and for me, it's a consistency in my life of working hard and playing harder."

It helps, of course, that the lines between work and play blur for Michaels. Take "Rock of Love," for instance -- the VH-1 program where female contestants compete for the opportunity to wind up with Michaels on their arms. It's tawdry and sleazy and juicy -- everything that critics bemoan about reality TV. It's also a heck of a lot of fun for viewers and Michaels himself, who first turned down the proposal when it was pitched to him.

"I had been newly single, and I go, 'Look, thank you guys, but I would never put my personal life out there on TV like that. I'm not going to do it for a one-off reality show,'" he said. "But they came back three months later and said, 'Bret, you're our guy -- please.' And I said, 'OK -- but only if we do it my way.' Here's the thing -- I'm very open about this. I'm not going in there looking for love. I'm looking for a date. It's not my house; it's a leased house, and climbing in a jacuzzi every night with a beautiful girl doesn't happen in my real life.

"I said, 'Let's make it more realistic and go out and have fun. People are really intelligent, and I think because I was so real, they enjoyed it. I wasn't on there trying to give each one a rose and fall in love every night. Having said that, I get a lot of people who say, 'He's in a rock band -- he's a rock star -- he doesn't need this show to meet a girl.' And I have to remind people that it is entertainment. The show is real, but it's filmed, and if you put 25 girls in a house and 24 of them hate each other's guts, it's going to make for good TV.

"No one's denying that -- I just wanted to make the show fun and entertaining," he added. "And besides, it's only going to get more people exposed to my music."

Tuesday, Michaels' new solo album, "Rock My World," hits stores. It's not the first time he's put out a solo record -- his independent body of work dates back to 1999, when he wrote, starred in and recorded the soundtrack for "A Letter from Death Row," an independent film he put together with business partner and actor Charlie Sheen. Michaels views "Rock My World" as a cross-section of his life in the here and now -- a letter from 2008 to fans and friends who have been with him for more than 20 years.

It's not for everyone, and no doubt, critics and "serious" music aficionados will give it a good drubbing. Michaels just lets it slide off. He's heard it all before, and what matters to him, he added, is the reaction of the fans -- like the ones who'll be at The Valarium and Drink Knoxville for Michael's performance and after-show party tonight.

"This album has a lot of energy and excitement on there," he said. "It's got a good rock feel to it, some good Americana on there -- I think it's a good cross-section of my life. We'll be doing the solo material in Knoxville, but we'll also be playing all the Poison hits. The band is so tight, and the Poison music sounds so incredible, that it's going to be an exciting and fun night."