Poison (Alice Cooper song)
| "Poison" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Trash" |
"Poison" is a song by artist Alice Cooper, co-written by Desmond Child and John McCurry, and produced by Desmond Child. It was released worldwide as a single in 1989, and is featured on Alice Cooper's 18th studio album Trash. The song was one of Cooper's biggest hit singles in the United States, peaking at number 7 on the singles chart, while peaking at number 2 in the UK, only being held off the top spot by hit dance record, "Swing the Mood" by Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers.
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 two versions of the video to the song 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 model Rana Kennedy topless. The portions in question were redone with her wearing a corset to cover her breasts. The video is still often played on VH1 Classic's Metal Mania.
Cover versions
- "Poison" was the first single from the 2004 album 7 Years and 50 Days by German trance group Groove Coverage. It was also released as an EP.
- It was covered by Finnish singer Tarja Turunen on her 2007 symphonic metal album My Winter Storm.
- In 2007, the song was covered by the bluegrass band Hayseed Dixie on their album Weapons of Grass Destruction.
- In 2011, South African singer Nicholis Louw covered it for his album Hier Naby Jou.[1]
- A modified version of the song was featured in a February 2011 television ad campaign for the Volkswagen Passat.[2] A man is shown driving his new Passat, presumably returning home from work. A series of fortuitous events accompanies his drive: an attractive woman smiles at him as he passes by; a traffic light turns green as he nears an intersection; a police man pulling vehicles over for inspection allows him to pass; the barrier-gate at the entrance to an underground parking garage rises upon his arrival; and a parking space is vacated just as he approaches. In the final scene, he throws an empty disposable coffee cup at a trash can but misses.[3] The lyrics sung by the driver are, "I run this road / And I rule the world / Look at me baby and now give me a smile (That's nice) / Let there be green light cos I need to make it on time / There's a police man but he'll let me go by (Thank you sir) / Outside my building I want this gate to be / Open / I find the perfect parking spot / Poison / I can never miss this shot."
- In 2013, the song was covered by Carrie Hope Fletcher on the Alex Day album Epigrams and Interludes.
Remixes
The Groove Coverage version of "Poison" comes in various remixes.
- Radio Version (3.05)
- Rock The Radio Mix (3.26) [Also known as Rock Mix]
- Club Mix Short (3.27)
- Club Mix Short (3:07)
- Extended Version (5.04)
- Club Mix (6.07)
- Tune Up! Remix (5.38)
- Tune Up! Remix (6:05)
- Tune Up! Remix (4:25) (Best of... CD)
- The Paragod Remix (5.40)
- Friday Night Posse Remix (7:12)
- Friday Night Posse Remix (5.50)
- Friday Night Posse Remix (4:27) (Best of... CD)
- KB Project Remix (5.27)
- Scott Brown Remix (5.25)
- DJ U☆Hey? Remix (5.51)
- Ultimix Extended
- Ultimix Edit
- Josh Harris Radio Edit
- Josh Harris Club Mix
- Josh Harris Dub
Chart positions
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[4] | 7 |
| Australian Singles Chart[5] | 3 |
| Austria Singles Chart[6] | 3 |
| Dutch Top 40[7] | 10 |
| Germany Singles Chart[8] | 25 |
| Irish Singles Chart[9] | 2 |
| Norwegian chart[10] | 3 |
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 2 |
References
- ^ "Hier Naby Jou by Nicholis Louw MP3 Male Vocal Music @ RhythmMusicStore.com". Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ^ "Volkswagen Passat: It gets into you". Adsoftheworld.com. Mediabistro.com. February 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- ^ "Passat". Volkswagen Israel. February 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- ^ "Poison chart history on Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ ""Poison" Australian chart progression". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
- ^ ""Austrian Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" Austriancharts.at. Retrieved on August 10, 2009."
- ^ ""Nederlandse Top 40 - 21 OKTOBER 2011 - WEEK 42 - Poison"" www.top40.nl. Retrieved on September 8, 2011."
- ^ ""German Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" musicline.de. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ ""Irish Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" irishcharts.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ ""Norwegian Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ ""Poison" UK Chart progression". www.chartstats.com. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
