"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" | ||||
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Single by Poison | ||||
from the album Open Up and Say... Ahh! | ||||
B-side |
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Released | October 12, 1988 | |||
Recorded | Early 1988 | |||
Studio | Conway (Hollywood, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:20 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Tom Werman | |||
Poison singles chronology | ||||
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"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" is a power ballad [4] by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison's second album Open Up and Say... Ahh! . The band's signature song, it is also their only number-one hit in the US, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 24, 1988, for three weeks. [5] It also charted at number 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. [6] It was a number 13 hit in the UK. [7] "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was named number 34 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s", number 100 on their "100 Greatest Love Songs" and number seven on MTV and VH1 "Top 25 Power Ballads". Billboard ranked the song number five on their list of "The 10 Best Poison Songs". [8]
In an interview with VH1's Behind the Music , Bret Michaels said the inspiration for the song came from a night when he was in a laundromat in Dallas waiting for his clothes to dry, and called his girlfriend on a pay phone. Michaels said he heard a male voice in the background and was devastated; he said he went into the laundromat and wrote "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" as a result. [9]
Jerry Smith, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week , described this song as "over-wrought ballad, but it makes a change from their ponderous metal posturing". [10] Cash Box said that "Poison slows it down with a bevy of acoustic guitars, and deliver a well-measured ballad." [11]
The music video to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was directed by Marty Callner. It starts out with a forlorn Bret Michaels in bed with a young woman, they both look unhappy. He gets up, does the heavy sigh that is at the start of the song and walks away to play the acoustic guitar, the video then goes into video clips of the band's tour. The same young woman is seen driving a Thunderbird in the rain (two different times), listening to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on the car's radio. The video was shot at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and in an empty warehouse nearby. [12] The video ends with Michaels playing the last of the song on his acoustic guitar and walking away.
The song has been seen as a glam metal classic, being ranked on multiple "best of" lists. [13] [14] [15] In 2017, Billboard and OC Weekly ranked the song number five and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest Poison songs. [16] [17]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
All-time charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [37] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [38] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Poison is an American glam metal band formed in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1983. The most successful incarnation of the band consists of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Bret Michaels, drummer Rikki Rockett, bassist Bobby Dall and lead guitarist C.C. DeVille. The band achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s and sold over 40 million records and DVDs worldwide.
Bret Michael Sychak, known professionally as Bret Michaels, is an American singer and musician. He is the frontman of rock band Poison who has sold over 65 million albums worldwide and 30 million records in the United States. The band has also charted 10 singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and a number-one single, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".
Open Up and Say... Ahh! is the second studio album by American glam metal band Poison, released on April 27, 1988, through Enigma Records. It proved to be the band's most successful release, and spawned four hit singles: "Nothin' But a Good Time", "Fallen Angel", "Your Mama Don't Dance" and their only number one single to date, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". The album peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200.
Native Tongue is the fourth studio album by American glam metal band Poison, released in 1993 through Capitol Records. It peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200, #20 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the RIAA on April 21, 1993. It has also been certified platinum in Canada. This is the only album to feature lead guitarist Richie Kotzen. Kotzen was hired as the band's guitarist following the firing of C.C. DeVille in late 1991. The album features the singles "Stand", "Until You Suffer Some " and "Body Talk".
Swallow This Live is the first live album by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in 1991 by Capitol Records. The album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200, number 42 on the Cash Box albums chart, and was certified Gold in 2001 by the RIAA.
"Patience" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses from their second studio album, G N' R Lies (1988), released as a single in March 1989. The song peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song is a ballad, played using three acoustic guitars and was recorded in a single session by producer Mike Clink. A music video of the song was shot and appears on the band's music video DVD, Welcome to the Videos.
"Love Bites" is a song by English glam metal band Def Leppard from their album Hysteria. The power ballad is Def Leppard's only number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became a top-10 hit in Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. On the UK Singles Chart, the track peaked at number 11.
The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock is a compilation album from the American rock band Poison, released to celebrate the band's 20 year anniversary. It has sold more than 1 million copies to date in the U.S as of September 2009. The album was released on April 3, 2006, on EMI
Power to the People is an album by the American rock band Poison, released on June 13, 2000, on the band's independent label, Cyanide Music. It marked the return of the original lineup, together for the first time since 1991's Swallow This Live with the return of C.C. DeVille who replaced Blues Saraceno.
Best of Ballads & Blues is a greatest hits compilation album from the American hard rock band Poison. It was released on August 5, 2003 on Capitol Records.
"Something to Believe In" is a song by American glam metal band Poison, released as the second single from their third studio album, Flesh & Blood (1990). "Something to Believe In" was also released on the Best of Ballads & Blues album in 2003, with alternate lyrics. The ballad peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, number five on the Album Rock Tracks chart, number 35 in the United Kingdom, and number 44 in Australia. It was Poison's last top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Heaven is a power ballad by American glam metal band Warrant. It was released in July 1989, as the second single from Warrant's debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich. The song is Warrant's most commercially successful single, spending two weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and number three on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The track's commercial success has led it to becoming one of the best known songs by the band.
"When the Children Cry" is a power ballad performed by Danish-American glam metal band White Lion. It is the third single and closing track on their 1987 album, Pride. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, number two in Canada, and number 88 in the United Kingdom.
Freedom of Sound is the second solo studio album by Bret Michaels, lead singer of the rock band Poison. It is a country rock album released in 2005, the same year Bret Michaels was a judge on the country music reality TV show Nashville Star.
Ballads, Blues & Stories is a unique storytellers music CD from Bret Michaels, the lead singer of the rock band Poison. Released in 2001 it consists of Bret Michaels' solo music and Poison songs, with a recorded story before each song, about how the songs were created and written.
"I Won't Forget You" is a power ballad by the American glam metal band Poison, originally from the album Look What the Cat Dragged In.
"Fallen Angel" is the second single from Open Up and Say...Ahh!, American glam metal band Poison's second studio album. The B-side of the seven inch was "Bad to Be Good". Released as a single in 1988 on Capitol Records, the track reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #32 on the Mainstream Rock charts and has since gone Gold in the US. This made it the only single from the album not to reach the Top Ten. It also charted at number 21 on the Australian charts and number 59 on the UK Singles chart.
"Your Mama Don't Dance" is a hit 1972 song by the rock duo Loggins and Messina. Released on their self-titled album Loggins and Messina, it reached number four on the Billboard pop chart and number 19 on the Billboard Easy Listening Chart as a single in early 1973.
"Nothin' But a Good Time" is the first single from the hard rock/glam metal group Poison's second studio album Open Up and Say... Ahh!, with the band releasing that album in May 1988. B-sides "Livin' for the Minute" and "Look But You Can't Touch" were included in the single's release.
The discography of Bret Michaels consists of 4 studio albums, 1 soundtrack album, 4 compilation albums, 2 EPs and 29 singles.