Poison still living rocker's dream after 20 years

With the exception of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, few rock bands that got their big breaks in the '80s are still playing arenas and amphitheaters today.

And with the exception of the recent Motley Crue reunion, finding a hair band that was launched on L.A.'s Sunset Strip during the 1980s and is still playing those venues is an even rarer breed.

So the odds Poison, a band that never received a lot of love from critics, would still be playing amphitheaters 20 years after they brought hair spray, makeup and glam rock to a whole new level would seem remote.

But on Tuesday, as Poison plays at the USANA Amphitheatre, the band, against all odds, will be marking its 20th year of music with the original lineup of Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Rikki Rocket and Bobby Dall.

"I'm extremely excited and proud," a tired sounding Michaels said by phone from the tour's kickoff in Minnesota, where he stayed up until 2:30 a.m. to make last-minute preparations and then awoke before noon (unheard of for rock stars) to field media calls.

"I got to live out my dream," Michaels said. "I got to do it for more than one to three years, which is the average of a career. I got to stay in arenas and amphitheaters and play our music, and got to, for the most part, do it our way. Our successes and failures are our own.

"The fact C.C. and I are still alive . . . the fact we're still here and enjoying it . . . we're like a band of brothers," Michaels said.

What's even more remarkable is that Poison has made an entire career out of essentially three albums: "Look What the Cat Dragged In," "Open Up and Say . . . Ahh!" and "Flesh and Blood." Those albums produced some of the biggest testosterone-party anthems of their era, such as "Talk Dirty To Me," "Nothin But A Good Time" and "Unskinny Bop."

Even when grunge seemingly killed off the hair nation, Poison never tried to switch styles or become something it wasn't. Two decades later, sticking to their guns has paid off.

"There was no point trying to come out and trick anybody," Michaels said. "We are what we are, just great hard rock music with catchy songs . . . music that meant something to us that was fun. We just wrote what we felt and stuck to it and continue to put on a big show."

And as for those critics, Michaels said they really have no choice now but to tip their hats to a band that has survived. "They're like, 'We've hit them with every punch we got and they're still standing. They're here. They've got some great fans. They're passionate with what they do.' "