Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn (1988)

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" is a power ballad by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third ...

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" is a power ballad by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison's second album Open Up and Say... Ahh!. The band's signature song, it is also their only number-one hit in the U.S., reaching the top spot on December 24, 1988, for three weeks (carrying over into 1989) and it also charted at number 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It was a number 13 hit in the UK. "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was named number 34 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s", number 100 on their "100 Greatest Love Songs" and number 7 on MTV and VH1 "Top 25 Power Ballads".

Music video

The music video to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was directed by Marty Callner. It starts out with a forlorn Bret Michaels in bed with a young woman, they both look unhappy. He gets up, does the heavy sigh that is at the start of the song and walks away to play the acoustic guitar, the video then goes into video clips of the band's tour. The same young woman is seen driving a Thunderbird in the rain (two different times), listening to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on the car's radio. The video was shot at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and in an empty warehouse nearby. The video ends with Bret Michaels playing the last of the song on his acoustic guitar and walking away.