Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 05/20/2003
Copping a stylistic change eerily similar to pro skater
Bam Margera (right down to the Old English initials on the cover underneath his full name) and
Kid Rock circa 1999, everybody's favorite
hair metal filmmaker returns to the fold with something totally not removed from his glory days of
Poison. Right from the get-go,
Bret Michaels wastes no time doing what he does best: relating to the average working Joe.
"Menace to Society" is a beautiful tone poem dedicated to stickin' it to the man, which if it sounds all too familiar, it's because it is. He did the song way back in
Poison's heyday and called it
"Nothin' but a Good Time." Nevertheless,
"Menace" is that song redux with a
Green Day or Hot Topic band
du jour feel to it. Think of it as "Nothing but a Good Time 2.0" and you'll be all set. Moving on,
"Bittersweet" and
"Raine" sound like
Poison's
"Fallen Angel" and your favorite
Poison ballad, respectively. Things keep on non-rockin' with
"Forgiveness" until the murky
"Loaded Gun" comes on in and reminds you what a
Bon Jovi B-side could sound like if
Jon and
Richie didn't care about what they wrote.
"Songs of Life" sounds like a horrible musical ode to
John Cougar Mellencamp's
"Small Town," and the song would be much better if
Mellencamp made an appearance. The
ballads make their final appearance with
"One More Day," and then for a grand -- and I do mean grand -- finale,
Michaels does the sensible thing and throws his hat into the antiwar ring with the most intelligent and intelligible song on the whole record,
"War Machine." As a bonus track, the tune
"Party Rock Band" makes a most welcome reappearance (it originally appeared in
Bret's movie,
A Letter From Death Row), and by far and away, it's the best song on the album. If you're a fan of
Bret, you're no doubt going to enjoy
Songs of Life all the way through start to finish. Everyone else should just stick to the
Poison greatest-hits records.
~Rob Theakston, All Music Guide
Listen
