It has been widely known that Slash once auditioned for Poison, and Bret Michaels really pushed to bring him on board. In a new book, we learn some additional details of how C.C. DeVille became the guitarist for Poison instead.
Michaels recalled this situation in Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion, which was released last month. Michaels said in the book (as transcribed per Ultimate Classic Rock), “I got where Slash was coming from. But Bobby and Rikki saw it with C.C. It was one of our first arguments in the band. Because Slash f—ing killed it. C.C. came in and barely learned our songs. He started playing his own stuff. He was like, ‘I’ve got these other songs! You gotta hear ‘em!’ We immediately butted heads.”
Slash would eventually bow out of consideration for the guitarist position in Poison largely due to not being really big on the band’s super glam persona. As for those songs DeVille wanted to play instead of what Poison had already written, drummer Rikki Rockett noted in the book that one of them was “Talk Dirty to Me,” which turned out to be a huge hit.
Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion is currently available for purchase at Amazon.
