Poison (Alice Cooper song)

"Poison" is a song by American hard rock musician Alice Cooper. Written by Cooper, producer Desmond Child and guitarist John McCurry, the song was released worldwide as a single in late-1989 from Cooper's eighteenth album, Trash. It became one of Cooper's biggest hit singles in the United States, peaking at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It performed even better in the UK by peaking at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. "Poison" remains one of Alice Cooper's best known songs. It is ranked by Billboard as the "91st top song of 1989", while Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it as the "7th best Alice Cooper song", commenting "Poison sounds like a typical ’80s pop-metal number at times, but Cooper’s intensity brings it to a whole other level."[1] The song's main riff was written by guitarist John McCurry, who two years earlier had used it for the John Waite track "Encircled".

"Poison"
Single by Alice Cooper
from the album Trash
B-side"Trash"
Released7 July 1989
Recorded1988
GenreHeavy metal, hard rock, glam metal
Length4:28
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Desmond Child
Alice Cooper singles chronology
"Freedom"
(1987)		 "Poison"
(1989)		 "Bed of Nails"
(1989)
Music video
"Poison" on YouTube

The song is available as downloadable content (as part of the Alice Cooper pack or as a single) for use in the music video game Rock Band, and a re-recorded version is also available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

Music video

There are three versions of the video to the song, one of which shows Alice Cooper being chained to a bizarre mechanism and singing while a ghostly woman looms over him. The original video had to be censored for showings during the day, due to shots of a topless model. Rana Kennedy plays the roles of both women in the video but the topless scene were shot with a body double.[2] This is notably visible in the video. A final third cut utilizes alternate takes of Cooper during the final refrain of the song, leading to the end (this version seemed to receive the most airplay on MTV). The studios in which the video was filmed in spring of 1989 have since been torn down and are now a parking lot in Los Angeles. The video is still often played on MTV Classic's Metal Mayhem.

Cover versions

Chart positions

Weekly Charts
Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[5] 3
Austria Singles Chart[6] 3
Canadian RPM Top Singles [7] 39
Dutch Top 40[8] 10
Germany Singles Chart[9] 25
Irish Singles Chart[10] 2
Norwegian Chart[11] 3
New Zealand Chart[12] 2
UK Singles Chart[13] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 7

Year-end charts
Chart (1989) Position
United States (Billboard)[15][16] 91

Certifications

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Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[17] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[18] Gold 50,000^
Sweden (GLF)[19] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[20] Gold 400,000
United States (RIAA)[21] Gold 500,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

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gollark: You can be LyricLy (hyperreal).
gollark: I don't think their growth rate is even quadratic, let alone exponential.
gollark: Irrelevant.
gollark: (scheduled for 2026)

References
  1. "Top 10 Alice Cooper Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  2. https://www.facebook.com/LouderNoiseTV/posts/hi-i-just-saw-your-80s-top-video-vixen-pick-list-funny-did-you-guys-write-that-g/1625004070849935/
  3. "Volkswagen Passat: It gets into you". Adsoftheworld.com. Mediabistro.com. February 2011. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  4. "Passat". Volkswagen Israel. February 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  5. ""Poison" Australian chart progression". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  6. ""Austrian Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" Austriancharts.at. Retrieved on August 10, 2009."
  7. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.6623&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.6623.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.6623
  8. ""Nederlandse Top 40 - 21 OKTOBER 2011 - WEEK 42 - Poison"" www.top40.nl. Retrieved on September 8, 2011."
  9. ""German Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" Archived 2012-09-27 at the Wayback Machine musicline.de. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
  10. ""Irish Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" irishcharts.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
  11. ""Norwegian Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
  12. ""ALICE COOPER - POISON (SONG)"" charts.nz. Retrieved on February 9, 2019."
  13. ""Poison" UK Chart progression". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  14. "Poison chart history on Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  15. "1989 The Year in Music: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 101 (51): Y-22. December 23, 1989.
  16. "Billboard Top 100 – 1989".
  17. The ARIA Report. 10. ARIA. 18 March 1990. p. 4.
  18. "Canadian single certifications – Alice Cooper – Poison". Music Canada.
  19. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  20. "British single certifications – Alice Cooper – Poison". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Poison in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  21. "American single certifications – Alice Cooper – Poison". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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