The 10 Album Challenge: Open Up and Say... Ahh! by Poison

 

On July 11, 2025, my blog entry was a republishing of a “10 albums in 10 days” challenge that I originally did on Facebook in 2020. The rules were that you post 10 albums, 1 every day. The original way was to leave no explanation, but the explanation is the fun part for me! It does NOT have to be a “best of all time” album, just an album you think is noteworthy for whatever reason, be it personal or musical.

I’ve put together another list of ten albums I’d like to write about, but I doubt I will accomplish the task in 10 days, lol.

At any rate, today’s album is Open Up and Say... Ahh! by Poison.

Poison was, to me, the ultimate hair metal band. Not necessarily the best, the most talented, or the best songwriters, but the ultimate. They were the whole package: glammed out makeup and clothing to the max; teased, moussed, and puffed-up hair up to there; and catchy, power-hook laden anthems and big power ballads that sounded best played loud. Plus, I think the band, or Bret Michaels at least, were in on the joke. Cause let’s face it. Hair metal is more than a little ridiculous. Oh, don’t get me wrong – I love hair metal! But I recognize the inherent silliness of it as well. And I think Bret Michaels did so, as I always felt he performed and posed with a wink and nod.

Open Up and Say... Ahh! was Poison’s second album and was a step up in songwriting, musical performance, and production from their first album, Look What the Cat Dragged In. Open Up was released in April 1988, which was the end of my senior year at The College of Wooster. I was in a party mood at the time, having finished my senior Independent Study Thesis, and wrapping up my undergrad studies. And this album is definitely a party album, with tracks like "Love on the Rocks, " "Back to the Rocking Horse," "Good Love," "Tearin' Down the Walls," and "Bad to Be Good." And, of course, it has one of the 1980’s definitive party tracks, "Nothin' But a Good Time." But perhaps the highlight of this record is the ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," one of the best hard rock ballads of that decade.

I blasted this album often from my dorm room in Wooster, and all that summer – well, usually through headphones then, as I was staying with my grandparent that summer while I worked at the stamping plant where my brother worked. When I graduated from Wooster, I felt like I knew it all. I was probably insufferable! But I also felt lost. I loved my undergrad experience at Wooster and was heartbroken at having to leave. I was going to start grad school at Kent State that fall, so I had a place to go, but I knew it wouldn’t be the same. Somehow, in some ways, my party mood and senioritis at the end of my Wooster experience was a cover for my sadness. So, this album kind of propped me up during a difficult time.