Okay, let’s talk about this for a minute. I seriously can’t be the only guy that thought at least one of the band members was a girl when this album first came out. Back in August of 1986, Poison released their debut album called “Look What The Cat Dragged In”. All of the major rock magazines at the time had an ad, a full-page ad in some cases, featuring the announcement of the album.
When I first saw the ad, I wrongfully assumed they were an all-girl band at first glance. After doing a double-take, I still wasn’t sure. Maybe one or two of them are guys that are really made up? But I was pretty sure that at least one of them was female. I was wrong on all counts.
One of my friends actually began to question his own sexuality after he saw the album cover of “Look What The Cat Dragged In” and made the comment that one of them was really hot, only to discover that it was actually a guy. Now keep in mind that this was 1986, not 2020. These days it’s considered taboo to question someone’s gender by a lot of people. But in 1986, Poison was the band of guys with the most over the top amount of lipstick, makeup, and hair to hit the mainstream hair metal movement at that point. On an important side note…the girls seemed to love Poison’s look. I mean it’s not like glam rock hadn’t been done before. The New York Dolls, Hanoi Rocks, David Bowie, and Twisted Sister to name a few, had already ventured into glam territory. Twisted Sister’s look was almost a parody and they weren’t being compared to girls with their look because it was so silly and outrageous that you knew it was for shock value. Poison was the first band that I actually heard girls say that the members were sooooo pretty. For those who didn’t live through the 1980’s heavy metal scene, the culture, for the most part, was testosterone-driven, straight-male oriented, chest-beating rock n’ roll. So, when Poison hit the scene with their look, it was a shockwave that went through the music industry. While traditional metal bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead and AC/DC continued down the path of adrenaline-fueled male-oriented rock music, Poison had unknowingly opened the flood gates for a large number of copycat bands filled with make-up wearing, big hair, glam metal bands to define a large section of metal music near the end of the 80s decade. For better or worse, the glam metal movement changed rock music forever, and likewise, whether you like them or not, Poison’s over the top look helped create that change.
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