Poison: A New Coat Of Neon Page 2
by Martin Popoff

"We're a good band and we have a lot of hit songs," offers Rockett on the band's unceasing appeal. "Basically when you see us you get an hour and a half of hit songs and we deliver it with complete high energy and a show and that's important. We're an important band for that reason. I mean, we may not be everybody's cup of tea but nobody is everybody's cup of tea."

"It's kind of befuddled everyone a little bit I think," opines Sir Rockett on the mighty throngs that are seemingly ushering metal's return, starting with this very Poison tour. "I mean, I've had a lot of journalists who have just not been getting it. They don't get it. They say 'I thought this was dead. I thought we put a nail in this coffin,' and then now it is happening again. But that's because they didn't get it in the first place. I mean look, any band that had an image the way we did. You know, whether you put a safety pin it in your cheek or whether you spray paint your hair to Mars, there's issues there. And if you crack open the lid a little deeper you'll find all those interesting things. The fact that we're from the '80s, all of that is the least interesting thing. There's so much more there, you know the entertainment or death thing. Poison sells a lifestyle, not just a song or a video. Maybe that's why people are starting to come out to the live shows regardless of what is going on. And that's good. I have no problem with that quite honestly. This is how Metallica has done it. Even Phish (laughs). I mean, to put us in the same category as Phish seems completely absurd, but somehow that's kind of what's developing, although it's a completely different genre."

Contrast yourself a bit with Cinderella. I mean, do you think Cinderella could have almost pulled this off?

Poison: A New Coat Of Neon Page 3