Flesh & Blood (Poison album)

Flesh & Blood is the third studio album by American glam metal band Poison, released in 1990 through the Enigma label of Capitol Records. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts[4] and it sold over 7.2 million copies worldwide. It peaked at #1 on the Cash Box charts.[5]

Flesh & Blood
Studio album by
Poison
ReleasedJune 21, 1990
Recorded1989 - 1990
StudioLittle Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre
Length57:38
Label
Producer
Poison chronology
Open Up and Say... Ahh!
(1988)		 Flesh & Blood
(1990)		 Swallow This Live
(1991)
Alternative cover
Original banned blood version
Singles from Flesh & Blood
  1. "Unskinny Bop"
    Released: June 27, 1990
  2. "Something to Believe In"
    Released: September 4, 1990
  3. "Ride the Wind"
    Released: January 21, 1991
  4. "Life Goes On"
    Released: April 21, 1991
  5. "(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice"
    Released: July 1991
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
Entertainment WeeklyB− [2]
Rolling Stone [3]

The album spawned two top 10 singles: "Unskinny Bop" and "Something to Believe In", as well as three other hit singles: "Ride The Wind", "Life Goes On", and "(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice".[6]

Flesh & Blood was certified Platinum in 1990 and Triple Platinum in 1991 by the RIAA.[7] It has also been certified by CAN 4x platinum and by BPI gold.

Production and marketing

The album was recorded and mixed at Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with Canadian producer Bruce Fairbairn and mixer Mike Fraser.

The front cover of the album featured the Poison logo and album title as a tattoo on Rikki Rockett's arm. The cover was originally planned to have a slightly different version of the tattoo cover that featured the tattoo after being freshly inked. This showed the skin as red and inflamed with dripping ink or blood. This cover was pulled though and instead a cleaned up tattoo was shown. The original cover was released for the initial pressing in Japan but was subsequently removed from all later pressings (including those in Japan). The record's marketing reflected the end of the more extreme elements in Poison's "glam" image, including its excessive make-up and teased, girlish hair (see Look What the Cat Dragged In), featuring a look similar to Guns N' Roses.

Songs

Parts of the album reflected a darker, more serious side to the band, touching themes such as hard times and overcoming them ("Valley of Lost Souls", "Life Loves A Tragedy", "Come Hell Or High Water"), missing loved ones ("Life Goes On"), long-term relationships ("Don’t Give Up an Inch", "Ball and Chain"), and disillusionment ("Something to Believe In"). The fun side of the band remained intact, however, in tracks dealing with sex ("(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice", "Unskinny Bop"), exhilaration from music or motorbikes ("Let It Play", "Ride the Wind"), and tongue-in-cheek poverty ("Poor Boy Blues").

The meaning of "Unskinny Bop", one of the band's most popular songs, has always been shrouded in obscurity. DeVille later confessed that the phrase "unskinny bop" has no particular meaning. He invented it as a temporary measure while writing the song, before vocalist Bret Michaels had begun working on the lyrics. The phrase was used on the basis that it was phonetically suited to the music. The song was later played to producer Fairbairn, who stated that although he did not know what an "unskinny bop" was, the phrase was perfect.[8]

Accolades

Flesh & Blood was voted Best Album in Circus magazine's 1990 Readers' Poll, while "Something to Believe In" was voted Best Single.[9]

The album was connected to three Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards in 1990, when the magazine's readers voted it for Album of the Year and "Something to Believe In" for Song of the Year and Best Video.[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall and Rikki Rockett, except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Strange Days of Uncle Jack"1:40
2."Valley of Lost Souls"3:58
3."(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice"4:40
4."Swampjuice (Soul-O)"1:25
5."Unskinny Bop"3:47
6."Let It Play"4:21
7."Life Goes On"4:47
8."Come Hell or High Water"5:01
9."Ride the Wind"3:50
10."Don't Give Up an Inch"3:43
11."Something to Believe In"5:28
12."Ball and Chain"4:22
13."Life Loves a Tragedy"5:14
14."Poor Boy Blues"[†]5:19
Total length:57:38
Bonus tracks on the 20th anniversary remaster:
No.TitleLyricsLength
15."Something to Believe In" (acoustic with new lyrics) 5:59
16."God Save the Queen" (instrumental; Sex Pistols cover)Glen Matlock, John Lydon, Paul Cook, Steve Jones2:47

^ † The 2006 reissue contains a mastering error, as the last few seconds of "Poor Boy Blues" are missing from this version.

Video album

Flesh, Blood, & Videotape is the second video compilation released by Poison, featuring the music videos from Flesh & Blood.

  1. "Let It Play" (Montage clip)
  2. "Unskinny Bop"
  3. "Ride the Wind"
  4. "Poor Boy Blues" (Montage clip)
  5. "Something to Believe In"
  6. "Life Goes On"
  7. "(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice" (Uncensored version)

Personnel

with

Production

Charts
Chart (1990) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 2
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 17
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[13] 4
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 88
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 31
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[16] 4
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] 11
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 17
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[20] 3
US Billboard 200[21] 2

Year-end charts
Chart (1990) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[22] 45
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[23] 21
US Billboard 200[24] 51

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[25] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[26] 4× Platinum 400,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[28] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Flesh & Blood at AllMusic
  2. Entertainment Weekly review
  3. Rolling Stone review
  4. "Allmusic (Poison charts and awards) Billboard albums".
  5. "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  6. "Allmusic (Poison charts and awards) Billboard singles".
  7. "RIAA Gold & Platinum". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24.Retrieved 2010.
  8. Harper C, "In Samantha 7 Heaven: An Interview with C.C. DeVille of Samantha 7" Ink 19, Retrieved October 18, 2005.
  9. Circus, February 28, 1991
  10. Metal Edge, May 1991
  11. "Australiancharts.com – Poison – Flesh & Blood". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  12. "Austriancharts.at – Poison – Flesh & Blood" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  13. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 1340". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  14. "Dutchcharts.nl – Poison – Flesh & Blood" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  15. "Offiziellecharts.de – Poison – Flesh & Blood" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  16. "Charts.nz – Poison – Flesh & Blood". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  17. "Norwegiancharts.com – Poison – Flesh & Blood". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  18. "Swedishcharts.com – Poison – Flesh & Blood". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  19. "Swisscharts.com – Poison – Fleshh & Blood". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  20. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  21. "Poison Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  22. "ARIA Charts – End of Year Charts – Top 50 Albums 1990". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  23. "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1990". RPM. 12 December 1994. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  24. "Billboard 200 Albums - Year-end 1990". Billboard. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  25. "Aria Album Chart - 1990". Aria Charts. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  26. "Canadian album certifications – Poison – Flesh & Blood". Music Canada. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  27. "British album certifications – Poison – Flesh & Blood". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 26, 2020. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Flesh & Blood in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  28. "American album certifications – Poison – Flesh & Blood". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 26, 2020. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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