Bret Michaels 2001-2006

[PhrozenInferno]

This was an interesting period for Bret. It was after the successful Poison summer run and before the Rock of Love stuff, I believe, that then sent him on his current strange trip.

But there were the beginnings of a genuine, non-cynical solo career here. Yes, the multitude of self covers, reworkings and same songs appearing on numerous 'albums' came across like total release-diarrhoea in a trend he's continued to this day. HOWEVER - there were some good/great? songs here between 01 - 06

Walk Away
Bittersweet
Raine
Forgiveness
Songs of Life
Open Road
All I Ever Needed
It's All Good
The One You Get

There's 9 of the genuine article. Songs he either wrote or co-wrote where you can tell he was enjoying himself, and still had something to say musically. Too bad there was absolutely no market for this stuff between 01-06. Fair enough, some of these sound like a cut rate Bryan Adams, Garth Brooks or Tommy Keene, and maybe not nailing one genre down was his mistake - but you can tell he still cared. Maybe his last burst of creative output... ever? We all know how it went after ROL. Sometimes it's cool to remember, no matter how limited, Bret was a musician first (Sludge away). Maybe there still is one underneath all that... Caribbean shit he wears.

[thunderdan]

Bret went solo in 2003. He released "songs of life". Very good album. When my band opened for him believe it or not, he played a long 15 song set of poison, maybe 4 or 5 solo songs, and 1 cover. Bret was hungry to prove himself compared to 9 song sets the last 10 years. I hate to admit it his solo albums after "songs of life" i bought the first few and i even admit they were bad. "Rock of Love" hit in 2007 and made Bret Michaels a solo star in and more out of music. Once "rock of love" hit things went nuts with his drawing power and how much he got paid. I know for sure what he got paid in 2003 starting as a solo act and he did well but probably 1/5 how much he averages now.

[p86]

Riding Against the Wind and Nothing to Lose from 2010 are both excellent songs.

A lot of his solo albums were rehashes of previous ones so there’s a lot of overlapping songs on them.

[PhrozenInferno]

Bret went solo in 2003. He released "songs of life". Very good album. When my band opened for him believe it or not, he played a long 15 song set of poison, maybe 4 or 5 solo songs, and 1 cover. Bret was hungry to prove himself compared to 9 song sets the last 10 years. I hate to admit it his solo albums after "songs of life" i bought the first few and i even admit they were bad. "Rock of Love" hit in 2007 and made Bret Michaels a solo star in and more out of music. Once "rock of love" hit things went nuts with his drawing power and how much he got paid. I know for sure what he got paid in 2003 starting as a solo act and he did well but probably 1/5 how much he averages now.

How much was it? Sludge away

[Anthrax442]

I would extend it to 2007 and add Go That Far to the list.

I honestly think he just isn't an awesome song writer on his own, and he needed C.C. (or Richie or Blues, etc.) to write with, and he probably got tired of having to go through the process if he wasn't going to play the songs live.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

All of the above! Lots of good songs and he played quite a few live when I saw him during that time period.

But it was all about seeing Bret from Poison in a club for only 20 bucks.

Rock of Love and winning Celebrity Apprentice changed everything. Nobody has milked it for all it was worth better than Bret.

[aznsquirt]

Riding Against the Wind

So basically when he needs a song he just cops the same Bob Seger song even harder?

[Velvis]

All of the above! Lots of good songs and he played quite a few live when I saw him during that time period.

But it was all about seeing Bret from Poison in a club for only 20 bucks.

Rock of Love and winning Celebrity Apprentice changed everything. Nobody has milked it for all it was worth better than Bret.

Is it really milking it when thousands come out to see you play?
I saw him two years in a row at Mohegan Sun which holds about 8000 and it probably had 6000 people. Even with a percentage of those being comped it's still impressive for a solo artist without the rest of the band.

I'm by no means a huge Poison or Bret fan, but I had a great time and he put on a great show and genuinely seemed to appreciate people coming out to see him.

And realistically how much of that audience is from Rock or Love and/or celebrity apprentice?
Most people were in their late 40's - early 50s. AKA people who grew up in the 80s listening to Poison.

Honestly, I am surprised at the draw he gets without the rest of Poison.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

Honestly, I am surprised at the draw he gets without the rest of Poison.

That’s my point. He’s doing better than most and he’s playing the shortest sets with songs from only 3 albums.

He’s reinvented himself with just a cowboy hat and goatee. It’s the same songs though.

Every other artist puts out new albums and big stage productions. He puts up photos of himself and wakes Lou gramm from a coma to be his opening act.

Meanwhile the rest of us slave away and get old and fat.

The man is a genius.

[thunderdan]

10k phrozen inferno on his first tour in 2003. Love the Axl photo.

[AlexVonHaig]

Unless there is something that we dont know about his relationship with the other 3 poison members, I'm unable to get past his douchery. If he wrote 10 top 10 hits in the next 10 years, he would still be dead to me

[PhrozenInferno]

10k phrozen inferno on his first tour in 2003. Love the Axl photo.

Cool of you to share! Must have been great to get the gig.

Thanks - I remain fascinated by the CD GNR era. Seems like a fever dream now to think of it in its early incarnation

[Love_Industry]

Unless there is something that we dont know about his relationship with the other 3 poison members, I'm unable to get past his douchery. If he wrote 10 top 10 hits in the next 10 years, he would still be dead to me

I am sure he was not happy about CC being a junkie mess when they peaked and messing up at the MTV awards. For the others it may be the Michael Anthony syndrome... except Rikki isn't Bret's brother.

[Black Stuff]

https://sdmntprsouthcentralus.oaiuserco ... PE8pA7Y%3D

A little bald Bert from AI

[Velvis]

Unless there is something that we dont know about his relationship with the other 3 poison members, I'm unable to get past his douchery. If he wrote 10 top 10 hits in the next 10 years, he would still be dead to me

Yeah, leaving the rest of the guys in Poison for years on end is shitty but he likely makes more money by himself without any rock star BS from the rest of the band. I am not sure I can fault him.

Like someone else said CC fucked them over and if I recall they kicked him off the bus and left him on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. And for some reason Bobby swung a bass at Bret onstage so there is at least some history of drama there.

I am sure the people in his solo band are super ass-kissers because it's a good paying gig and have no attitudes or egos for Bret to deal with.

[PhrozenInferno]

No matter what though. CC made Poison. Absolutely the heart and soul of that band.

[Earl Skakel]

10k phrozen inferno on his first tour in 2003. Love the Axl photo.

What does this mean? I'm lost

[greengoblinrulz]

Saw Bret in the 05 ish era in a neighborhood biker bar in front of maybe 250 people (packed) a mile from our house

[rockker]

Like someone else said CC fucked them over and if I recall they kicked him off the bus and left him on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. And for some reason Bobby swung a bass at Bret onstage so there is at least some history of drama there.

Richie got thrown off the bus, C.C. and Bret had the fistfights. You need to go back to Poison History 101

[FreddyFender]

This is why I don't have an issue with the lack of Poison stuff in 2025.

Michaels put his nose to the grindstone back in the early 2000s - when Poison was pretty much the most uncool band in the world - and never looked back. Built up his personal brand. Played to tiny crowds. Worked with country artists. Was on every TV show he could get on - CMT, VH1, whatever. And now he's reaping the benefits.

I mean, here's a video of some shitty country song he cut back in 2005 - 2million views! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HGPKQfA-Ms

Meanwhile the guys in Poison have mostly sat on their asses the past 20 years and complain that they can't go out a couple months and make the big bucks every summer because Brett's busy.

[Ryan81]

Like someone else said CC fucked them over and if I recall they kicked him off the bus and left him on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. And for some reason Bobby swung a bass at Bret onstage so there is at least some history of drama there.

Richie got thrown off the bus, C.C. and Bret had the fistfights. You need to go back to Poison History 101

You are correct about Richie, but I believe a similar thing happened with CC too. You don't learn that until Poison 203 though. Which is the intermediate/advanced course.

[PhrozenInferno]

This is why I don't have an issue with the lack of Poison stuff in 2025.

Michaels put his nose to the grindstone back in the early 2000s - when Poison was pretty much the most uncool band in the world - and never looked back. Built up his personal brand. Played to tiny crowds. Worked with country artists. Was on every TV show he could get on - CMT, VH1, whatever. And now he's reaping the benefits.

I mean, here's a video of some shitty country song he cut back in 2005 - 2million views! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HGPKQfA-Ms

Meanwhile the guys in Poison have mostly sat on their asses the past 20 years and complain that they can't go out a couple months and make the big bucks every summer because Brett's busy.

True, though as the singer that was a luxury he was afforded (and rightfully so). Even at the uncool peak VH1 would speak to the singer of Poison. The bass player? I wouldn’t think so. So it’s not like the others had options. CC maybe - he was larger than life and charismatic. Strange that he went the other way.

[HueyRamone]

And for some reason Bobby swung a bass at Bret onstage so there is at least some history of drama there.

C.C. and Bret had the fistfights. You need to go back to Poison History 101

Who needs the Poison History 101 course??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPegwc4Qdeo

So, here's full story, since you can't really see what happened. Poison was headlining the usual hairband package tour, with Cinderella in support. It was already a weird tour because Tom Keifer blew out his vocal cords, and their unofficial fifth member, keyboardist Gary Corbett was basically having to sing the whole show while Tom limped along. Fast forward to the end of Poison's set, and after they play their last song before the encore, Bobby goes running out to Bret's mic, and shouts out to the crowd, "DO YOU WANT SOME MORE POISON?!", to charge everyone up.

The problem is, Bobby was kind of hanging on the mic stand, and when he let go of it to run back off stage, it teetered back and forth a bit, and then fell down, so Bret's Mic hit the ground. A roadie ran out real quick to set it back up, but didn't check it too close, and apparently it got messed up. The video picks up with that, with Bret trying to talk to the crowd at the beginning of the encore, finds out the mic doesn't work, and hurls it into the stacks of amps. He then yells at Bobby, and Bobby wasn't having it, so Bobby takes his bass off, grabs it by the neck, and throws it into Bret's legs, catching him in the knee. Bret winces and proceeds to put up his dukes, old timey style, and they're both about to trade blows, when Bret's huge security guards come from back stage to break things up.

They go off stage for about 5 minutes with the lights out, and eventually come back out and play the encore. I have no idea what was said to them to get them to finish the show, but it probably involved not wanting to start a riot in a section of town that wasn't great on a good day.

[exitflagger]

Bret Michaels 2001-2006

Only five years old. Far too young.

RIP Bert

[PhrozenInferno]

Bret Michaels 2001-2006

Only five years old. Far too young.

RIP Bert

[FreddyFender]

True, though as the singer that was a luxury he was afforded (and rightfully so). Even at the uncool peak VH1 would speak to the singer of Poison. The bass player? I wouldn’t think so. So it’s not like the others had options. CC maybe - he was larger than life and charismatic. Strange that he went the other way.

Sure, but look at all the shit Nikki and Tommy have done - they've been even more prolific than Vince. Vince's management clearly tried to get him on the Bret Michaels train with the solo album and reality show in the mid 2000s, but dude could never get out of the gate because he refused to eat salads and jog.

The rest of the guys in Poison, if they'd dug in, could have carved out something successful by now - be it a "Special Guests" kind of thing, or something else. Look at Blackstar Riders - one original guy from Thin Lizzy and a couple years grinding it out, and they were on tour with Judas Priest.

[HueyRamone]

True, though as the singer that was a luxury he was afforded (and rightfully so). Even at the uncool peak VH1 would speak to the singer of Poison. The bass player? I wouldn’t think so. So it’s not like the others had options. CC maybe - he was larger than life and charismatic. Strange that he went the other way.

Sure, but look at all the shit Nikki and Tommy have done - they've been even more prolific than Vince. Vince's management clearly tried to get him on the Bret Michaels train with the solo album and reality show in the mid 2000s, but dude could never get out of the gate because he refused to eat salads and jog.

Vince had a mid 2000s solo album?

Rikki and bobbi were in no way the personalities that Nikki and especially Tommy were, so the comparison doesnt stand. Tommy, I think was lightning in a bottle. The other guys had fucked Pam Anderson, but somehow when Tommy did it, it was worldwide news.

[FreddyFender]

Oh yeah. the reality thing was mid 2000s, but he never actually got off his ass and released anything. Desmond Child was writing songs for him on the show.

Didn't get around to releasing this bullshit until 2010.

[HueyRamone]

Oh yeah. the reality thing was mid 2000s, but he never actually got off his ass and released anything. Desmond Child was writing songs for him on the show.

Didn't get around to releasing this bullshit until 2010.

I think I downloaded this from the library and read at least a bit of it. One thing that was funny was at the beginning I think he laughed about "writing" a book and said his guy was doing all the writing, and he likely wouldnt even read the book when it was done.