Even though both Bret Michaels and Bobby Dahl had bad feelings about the guitarist (via Living Legends Music), Deville was hired, and the band's ascent was firmly underway. By 1986 they'd signed a record deal with Enigma. Their debut album, "Look What the Cat Dragged In," dropped later that year, producing three solid hits: "I Want Action," "Talk Dirty to Me," and "I Won't Forget You." It was the beginning of a too-familiar pattern of rock success and rock excess.
Years of unprecedented success, accolades, and all-around debauchery will eventually take their toll on any member of any band, but especially on Deville. The guitarist's penchant for alcohol and cocaine over the course of Poison's meteoric rise are well known, but culminated one late summer night in 1991. On September 5, 1991, Poison was set to perform at the MTV Video Music awards (via Tone Deaf). Riding high off the release of their third album, "Flesh & Blood," but internally on the verge of breaking up, Poison took the stage. No one knows for sure what was up with Deville that night, but he wasn't on the same page as the rest of the band. He wasn't even using the same book, for that matter.
Only scheduled to play their hit "Unskinny Bop," Deville hit the stage before the rest of the band, off cue, and ripped right into the song (via Medium). It turns out, though, Deville started too soon. Way too soon, in fact.
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