Poison has cancelled their tour plans. Frontman Bret Michaels reportedly demanded a whopping 600% more money than the rest of his bandmates.
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Talk about greedy!
"We had a great offer, I thought. But we left the table," Rikki Rockett told Page Six. "It didn't work. Really what it came to was [guitarist] C.C. [DeVille], [bassist] Bobby [Dall] 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."
Rockett then confirmed that he isn't into music solely for the money. His presence within the band is also born out of passion and love for the art.
"I don't do this just for the money," Rockett said. "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."
While Poison's tour had never been confirmed, it was widely expected that the band would hit the road to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
Poison Hasn't Ruled Out Getting a Different Lead Singer
During the same interview with Page Six, Rockett was asked whether the group had considered replacing Michaels for the tour.
"It's not out of the question. But doing that is like surgery: it's the last resort," he said. "I don't want to do that. I'm not quarreling 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."
There is still time for Michaels to climb down from his lofty asking price. Six times the salary of the rest of the band is both mind-blowing and insulting in equal measure. For now, though, it would appear Michaels is set to continue working solo. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the frontman has multiple solo dates scheduled throughout 2026.
Still, you would hope that he can put his ego aside and celebrate a monumental milestone with the bandmates who helped put him and Poison on the map.
