Bret Michaels |
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Mon. June 02.2003 10:34 AM EDT |
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Bret Michaels: "Life" is GoodPoison front man cuts solo disc, recounts decades of debauchery. by Gil Kaufman |
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Bret Michaels (Publicity) |
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Bret Michaels has done it all: the drugs, the platinum albums, the strippers,
the motorcycle crashes, the sold-out stadiums, the car crashes, the strippers, the sex tapes that
were supposed to be private and, uh...have we mentioned the strippers?
Thanks to 18 years spent with glam rockers Poison, Michaels played out the American rock 'n' roll dream and lived to tell about it. But even after selling millions of albums, sustaining a respectable concert career, and releasing his first proper solo album, the 40-year-old singer isn't really satisfied. "I’ve never felt completely successful," he says. "I’ve always felt there was something more I could do. That’s part of what makes me crazy. I wish I could sit back and say, ‘Okay, now I’m done." The new Songs of Life should be reason enough for Michaels to hold his head high. The disc is an old school rock ‘n’ roll chronicle that recounts his personal history. It stretches from reporting on the 17-year-old kid whose boss told him he’d never amount to anything ("Menace to Society") to a reflection of his first child ("Raine"). With a Poison show that’s bigger than ever ("more pyro, more lasers"), Michaels is hitting the road this summer - the backstage party never ends. Sharing the stage are his hair band contemporaries Skid Row, and former Motley Crue singer Vince Neil. Michaels spoke to VH1 about breaking CC DeVille’s nose, flirting with death after recording "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," and his ultimate night of rock star debauchery. VH1: What do you miss about the prime Poison years? Michaels: I consider all 18 years of Poison as awesome - even the bad times. The fistfights with me and CC, the rehab. We're the only one of the bands of our genre who has stayed in amphitheaters throughout our career. VH1: What's the wildest memory you have of that time? Michaels: Playing Texas Stadium during the Flesh and Blood years. I always remember walking to the stage and there was Paul Stanley from KISS on one side and Steven Tyler from Aerosmith on the other side. Lisa Marie Presley was there. I'll never forget looking around and thinking, “This is surreal, here they are giving me advice.” Robert Plant was giving me advice. Even last year, hanging out with Korn and Puddle of Mudd, Lit, Kid Rock... these guys come out because it's a big rock 'n' roll show. VH1: What's your biggest regret? Michaels: In 1992, when we were recording our fourth album. It was a time in our career when CC and I probably needed to take a vacation and talk about where we wanted to go musically and personally. I'll never forget having a knock-down, drag-out fistfight backstage at the MTV Awards. Both of us were intoxicated and needed rehab. Then we went to New Orleans. We were in the lobby of Le Meridian hotel, having another fight and then we parted ways. It's not like you fight a stranger in a bar and brag to your pals afterwards. I'm not proud that I broke his nose and knocked his teeth out. This is my best friend; we grew up together. We parted ways for two or three years and then I got in my car accident and CC called me in the hospital. VH1: Was there a moment when you stopped and said, "This is it, this is as big as we get?" Michaels: No. I've never felt in my soul like I've reached the top, which is probably the reason for Poison's staying power. It was great to look out at 80,000 people at Castle Donington and having it be like Beatlemania in London. We couldn't get out of the car. VH1: What's your favorite souvenir from those days? Michaels: From every show we do, I keep a souvenir. I have the poster from Donington that said “Sold Out” and I ripped it down. Part of it is ripped because I took it off a construction site. I made them pull the car over and said, “I need that because it's authentic, it's real.” VH1: What's Poison's legacy? Michaels: Probably "Every Rose Has its Thorn." It's not just our lives personally, it's our career. We've lived out every rock 'n' roll fantasy because we thought that's what you do. The car wrecks, the fistfights, rehab, women, videotapes ... Our legacy is that we lived out the fantasy, but the music is based in reality. VH1: You're retiring the original 12-string guitar from "Every Rose" and giving it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ever get sick of that song? Michaels: The reason I never get sick of playing it is I am so angry and bitter about the stripper who f*cked me over and who I knew in my soul would never cheat on me, but did. Every time I sing it I'm stabbing her in the heart. VH1: Any other sex tapes out there we should know about? Michaels: That one with Pam [Anderson] was it. A security guy ran a copy of the tape, which for his sake was intelligent because we didn't notice it was missing. It taught me to be more careful with the people you have around you. Taping can be fun for anybody, but you have to be careful. VH1: Are you telling me that you still tape your sexcapades? Michaels: [laughs] I haven't necessarily stopped taping, I'm just more careful about who has access. VH1: I was going to give you a hard time for the lyrics to "Menace to Society," since it's about not having any money or possessions, but then I read you wrote it when you were 17. How did you hold onto that feeling for so long? Michaels: That's what this album is about. I don't forget where I'm from. I can remember exactly where I was when I wrote those lyrics. I was sitting behind Bob's Big Boy off Trundle Road in Mechanicsburg, Penn., in my lime green LTD, holding this Strat copy called a Lark. I'll never forget sitting there and jamming on this song - half Ramones, half Zeppelin. My boss assured me that I would never succeed [in the music biz]. VH1: With "Raine" you're now the guy who writes a sensitive song to his kid. Michaels: That is from a very real spot. When my first child was born in May of 2000, it was the most incredible feeling in my life. If that doesn't make you want to write a song, nothing will. It's about the circle of life and getting through it, and to me it's a very raw, emotional song. VH1: What do you think is the most common misperception about you? Michaels: That I'm just out of my mind, a complete party animal. People find it hard to believe that I can turn around and write a song like "Every Rose" or "Something to Believe In." [Look at other people] who've survived in this business: Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant. I know they can party, but they also have their sh*t together. VH1: Is there a video you look back on from that era that just makes you groan? Michaels: There is one I wish I would have never made. The video for "Tell Me Why" was made after me and CC got into a fight and I shot the video all by myself with this big screen of the band behind me. Every time I watch it I wish I was on the phone patching it up with him instead of in L.A. in some warehouse without the band. VH1: You’re hitting the road with Skid Row and Vince this summer. How's it different from the old days? Michaels: We have a bigger production now than ever, more pyro, more lasers. We still have the backstage party, but I enjoy myself more than in the early '90s. Everything back then was too much too soon. VH1: What’s the most rock star thing you've ever done? Michaels: When we were in San Antonio, there were three girls in the front row that were drop-dead gorgeous - obviously exotic dancers. We finished the set, security pulled them and we went to bus and I did them all. It was a menage a mess and one of my best rock moments ever. It was the drugs, the booze, doing the lines off their asses. Just a classic old school rock 'n' roll, hangin' and bangin' moment. |
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