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Every Rose Has Its Thorn was released by American glam-metal band Poison in 1988 as a single from their second album, Open Up and Say... Ahh!, and it became their only song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Written by frontman Bret Michaels, it stood out from the band's louder party anthems because of its acoustic arrangement and reflective lyric about a relationship ending. Decades later it remains a staple of classic rock radio and eighties playlists, and short clips circulate online whenever creators want an instantly recognisable shorthand for regret.
About this sound
A short clip of Poison's power ballad Every Rose Has Its Thorn, with its gentle acoustic opening and emotional chorus for nostalgic edits and montages.
This seven-second clip captures the heart of Poison's 1988 power ballad, opening on a soft, fingerpicked acoustic guitar before Bret Michaels' warm, slightly raspy vocal carries the familiar chorus melody. It is stripped back and wistful rather than loud, with the band's polished glam-metal production softened into something intimate and instantly recognisable. Hearing it tends to trigger a wave of late-eighties nostalgia, a bittersweet ache that fits moments of regret, lost love, or a quiet goodbye. It works because almost everyone knows the tune within a second, even without the full song around it.
