"Nothin' But a Good Time" (also known as "Nothing But a Good Time") the first single from the hard rock/glam metal group Poison's second studio album Open Up and Say... Ahh!, with the band releasing that album in May 1988. B-sides "Livin' for the Minute" and "Look But You Can't Touch" were included in the single's release.
The music video features a restaurant employee, played by the same actor who appeared in the video for Mötley Crüe's "You're All I Need", washing dishes while listening to the Kiss hit single "Rock and Roll All Nite", performed by Poison who recorded that for Less than Zero soundtrack in 1987. The manager enters, turns off the radio, and delivers to the employee a scathing reprimand, reminding the employee that he is being paid "to wash dishes, not to listen to that... that rock 'n' roll," and accusing him of "moving in two speeds: slow, and stop." After threatening to fire the employee if he didn’t hurry up, the manager exits, whereupon the employee turns the radio back on, then he abandons the dishes and kicks open a nearby door to reveal a concert hall stage, upon which the band then performs the song. When the song is over, the manager returns, discovering, to his surprise, that all the dishes are washed. It was played in heavy rotation on MTV in 1987.
Reception and legacy
"Nothin' But a Good Time" is widely regarded as one of Poison's best songs. In 2017, Billboard and OC Weekly ranked the song number nine and number four, respectively, on their lists of the ten greatest Poison tracks.[7][8]Music critic Steve Huey of Allmusic has also stated that "Nothin' But a Good Time" became one of the bands "most widely recognized signature songs" as well as that parent album Open Up and Say... Ahh! wound up having "solidified the group's status as hair metal's top party band."[9]
TV appearances
A 2007 Xbox commercial featured a cover version by a school choir. [1]
"Nothin' But a Good Time" was performed by Poison, with the cast of Rock of Ages, at the 63rd Tony Awards on June 7, 2009. After the performance, as the band made their way backstage, a piece of the stage scenery collapsed on Bret Michaels.
The song was used in the movie The Rocker where it was covered by the fictional band A.D.D. The actual recording was mostly done by Chad Fischer with Teddy Geiger singing lead vocals. This version was released on the film's soundtrack album.
A cover of the song is featured in the game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (erroneously credited as "Ain't Nothin' But a Good Time"), while the master track is featured in Guitar Hero: Smash Hits (this time correctly credited) and was featured as a downloadable track for the Rock Band series.
In The Simpsons season 11 episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", Otto hires a Poison tribute band called Cyanide to play this song at his wedding. However, the band can only play the intro before Otto's fiancé, Becky, stops them.
"Nothin' But a Good Time" is available since October 14, 2014, as a purchasable and downloadable song for the music video game Rocksmith 2014, featuring guitar and bass parts as well as authentic tones.
This song is played in the pilot of the Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai "Ace Degenerate".
The first episode of Dexter: Original Sin uses this song to commemorate the title character's first kill.[20]
