P is for Poison

Ah, POISON. Finally. Probably one of the most popular (and recognizable) hair bands of the 80s - and the source of my first, true rockstar crush. No, I'm not talking lead singer Brett Michaels. (Though admittedly, he's the band member who aged the best...despite his disgusting behaviour on the TV series, Rock of Love. Ew.)

Jessica Bell and I have teamed up for the A-Z blogging challenge this year to talk about our musical muses - a band/artist or song that has inspired, or affected us in some way. For about three years, no other band had more of an impact on me than Poison.

Or rather, the band's drummer, Rikki Rockett.

That's him on the far left. Every inch of my teenage bedroom walls were covered in his pictures. In that naive way only school girls can, I believed I actually had a shot with him - mostly because he said in an interview he liked girls with bushy eyebrows. I'm Italian. Nuff said. 

Turns out I may have scored in the eyebrow category, but I failed to meet his other, uh, expectations. After winning front row tickets to a Poison concert (my friend and I dressed up like Brett and Rikki, and I painstakingly created a drum kit out of cardboard that was exactly like Rikki's), I waited patiently for my drummer man to point his sticks at me - thus issuing backstage freedom. It didn't happen for me.

But it did for the breasts of the scantily clad woman to my right. A few of my posters came off the wall that night. My first heartbreak.

My sister would have hundreds of stories to tell you about my Rikki Rockett obsession, but the reality of that infatuation wasn't truly clear until recently when my friend Jen pointed out I'd gotten married on Rikki's birthday. Unintentional! (I think.)

Poison sang a lot of great songs, and I could skip to a ballad, but since I'm being honest (and have already embarrassed the crap out of myself), let's go with Talk Dirty to Me.

Talk to me, who's your "P" band inspiration?

Now, go check out some of the other blogs taking part in the A-Z Blogging challenge, including my Dawn Dalton blog where I'm talking about awesome YA books, and the Most-Wanted Monsters blog where Judith and I are writing poems and talking smack about some creeptastic beasties.

- Dawn