80s rockers Poison have allegedly pulled their plans for a 40th anniversary tour, citing a disagreement over how much band members should be paid. The tour was teased on social media last year, but no dates were officially announced.
Offering the scoop to Page Six, drummer Rikki Rockett claimed that vocalist Bret Michaels was after $6 for every dollar his bandmates earned from the band’s potential tour dates.
“We had a great offer, I thought,” Rockett said. “But we left the table. It didn’t work.”
Adding that guitarist C.C. Deville and bassist Bobby Dall were “all in,” Rockett alleged that Michaels wanted “the lion’s share of the money” and his requests reached the point where “it makes it not possible to even do it.”
Rockett explained, “Really, what it came to was C.C. and Bobby, and I were all in, and I thought Bret was, but he wanted the lion’s share of the money, to the point where it makes it not possible to even do it. It’s like $6 to every one of our dollars. You just can’t work that way.
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“I don’t do this just for the money. I do have a love for this, absolutely. But at the same time, you don’t want to go out and work really hard just to make somebody else a bunch of money.”
Rolling Stone notes that Poison last toured in 2022, with stadium shows that featured Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. At the conclusion of the run, Michaels went back to his solo band, which primarily performs Poison hits. In 2024, he hinted at touring plans for the band's 40th anniversary.
In the Page Six interview, Rockett said he wasn’t angry or “quarrelling” with Michaels, but when he was asked if the band would consider bringing in a different lead singer, the drummer answered that the suggestion is “not out of the question. But doing that is like surgery: it’s the last resort.”
He added, “I don’t want to do that. I’m not quarrelling with Bret… We just didn’t come to an agreement. I don’t like it, and I’ll say that, but it’s not like, ‘Let’s put up our dukes.’ I don’t think there’s a better frontman for Poison.”
Since their formation in Pennsylvania in 1983, the band found great success in the 1980s and 1990s with the Billboard #1 single, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and Top 40 singles including Nothin’ But a Good Time, Unskinny Bop, Ride the Wind, and more.
Poison’s breakthrough debut album, the multi-platinum Look What the Cat Dragged In, was released in 1986 and was followed by Open Up and Say... Ahh!, which was certified 5× platinum in the US. In 2025, Ultimate Classic Rock named Poison among the “Big Four” of hair metal, alongside Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard.
