Recording Engineer Michael Wagener on Poison’s ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In,’ “That was probably the biggest mistake of my life”

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INSIDE THE ALBUM: Poison’s ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’

Poison’s debut was not born in some glossy Sunset Strip fantasy. *Look What the Cat Dragged In* was hammered together on a shoestring by a band that had more attitude than budget, sneaking into the big leagues on pure hustle. They chased the producer whose name they’d seen on the back of Ratt’s *Out of the Cellar*, cut basic tracks fast, then lived with every punch‑in and vocal comp as those choruses were built line by line in the dead of night.

Behind the scenes, there was friction, happy accidents and a string of production choices that made a low‑budget record sound like MTV gold. If you want to know how four broke kids turned big hair and bigger hooks into a multi‑platinum calling card, watch the video below.

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