Poison - Thieves or Geniuses?

Sometimes, you hear or read stories that just seem a little to absurd to be true. You hear the same tale told time and time again, and it seems as if it is more folklore than fact.

For years, I have read various people online state that "Poison stole their stage show from Kix." To be honest, I never quite believed it, but the story was that Poison used to open for Kix before relocating to Los Angeles, and that when they moved, they essentially incorporated the Kix stage show into their own. It seemed a little bit too much of a stretch for me. I mean, a stage show is a stage show, as far as I was concerned, and I just thought that some bands put more energy into their shows than others. But then something happened last month...I saw Kix live.

I had never seen Kix live before, but they were on the M3 bill, and based upon all the hype I had heard about their live performances, I made sure I was in my seat when they started. I was amazed at what I saw! From the choreographed moves placed perfectly into the songs, to the funky walk that Steve Whiteman does across the stage, to the confetti-filled balloons at the end of the show... I felt like I was watching the "I Want Action" video, but with a different song playing! The resemblance was uncanny and it really made me wonder if the stories I have read over the past few years were just stories... or if there was some fact behind them.

I cannot expressly say this is true, but would it shock anyone to think that the guys in Poison are not 100% creative geniuses? I do give Poison credit, as they are (and were) extremely hard workers and they do put on a great show. Poison made it big and they continue to force some form of relevance in today's changed music scene. That said, I cannot get the recurring thought out of my head, "Did Poison become successful musicians based upon someone else's tried and tested stage show?"

Do any readers know more about this, or have I just been too influenced on random online posts by misinformed people? Help a brother out and leave a comment.

Kix, live in 1989

Poison live in 1991

Comments

[vinni]

did they steal from Kix? it's a non issue. Poison took from everybody, and were not shy about it. CC's guitar playing is a patch work of Ace Frehley, Steve Jones, Eddie Van Halen and Rick Neilsen riffs. Bret was a mini David Lee Roth. and the whole band picked up where the NY Dolls left off. Kix was not an original band either, their look was a blend of the Ramones, Aerosmith and Johnny Thunders and their music was oddly similar to AC-DC.The history of RnR is full of this...MIchael Jackson took from James Brown. Zepplin took from Robert Johnson. I could go on and on...but I will leave it this way, the same bands who laughed at Paris in the PA Musician Magazine, later bought hairspray and lipstick when Poison hit big. Kix missed the boat...too bad, they should have been bigger, but they just didn't get there...still a good band, but sad they were eclipsed by the band who used to open for them. Do they honestly think Poison's success would have been any different if Bret didn't prance around like Steve? C'mon I'm not defending Poison,nor trying to knock Kix.....just offering some insight to this Rock and Roll story

[Tyson]

Poison copied Kix no doubt about it! They copied many and ever notice Poison is a song by Kix and there logo is green to like Kix's

[Rex]

It's NOT a non-issue when you steal the stage show of a band still climbing the ladder,then hop over to LA and beat them with their own road tested (and now unsellable) routine. Kix should have been HUGE, and IMO the course of RnR History was changed forever when Poison ripped them off and slammed the door on them.
I was there in the summer of "82 when the line for Kix in Delaware was literally a mile long. Less than 6 months later this band called Paris drops onto the local Penna. scene with a cadre of 15 year old little girls and a show that was a campy B-League copy of Kix with makeup. I detested them and was happy when they "disappeared". Imagine my surprise when the "Cat" album debuted.
And for the record.......... The band SHARKS mentioned above ... their biggest song at the time was Take Me Back to the Water..... with a riff that was directly ripped off for "Talk Dirty to Me". An even bigger crime if you ask me. Unless you lived in PA/Del/Maryland you can't fully appreciate the level of theft these weasels committed.

[f_inscreenname]

Poison took everything from a lot of bands (no originality) and more than half from KIX and turned it into a joke and cartoon. Poison single handedly destroyed the hair band era or basically Poison jumped the shark. IMHO Poison Sucks!