Poison's Rikki Rockett on why 'Taylor Swift has more bravery than most rock bands these days'

Poison drummer Rikki Rockett recently joined L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns for a Sunset Strip-themed episode of the Totally ‘80s podcast, and at some point the conversation inevitably turned to the subject of whether or not “rock is dead.”

While Rockett optimistically stated that “there's a lot of promising [new rock music], Stolen Prayer and some of these new bands coming out that are holding the torch,” which he finds “really exciting,” he acknowledged that “rock represents less of the music business, unfortunately” — and admitted that he didn’t “know if we could get back” to rock’s heyday, even though he's “trying desperately to keep rock alive.” And he was surprisingly outspoken about why he thinks rock ‘n’ roll just isn’t as relevant as it once was.

“I don't think rock has any sociocultural movement, and that's the problem. Nobody stands for anything right now. Rap is the most dangerous [genre] now. Actually, Taylor Swift has more bravery than most rock bands these days — not afraid to open her mouth and go against ‘the man,’” Rockett griped, presumably referring to her increasingly political outspokenness in recent years and her battle against her former record label, Big Machine, over ownership of her masters. “Rock bands play the game now, man. … Nobody's that brave anymore.

“I think every great musical movement has been sort of a cultural/social movement. Like, punk rock was extremely social, and what we were doing was a sociocultural movement,” Rockett continued. “You really had to commit to be into what we were doing — I mean, people would get thrown out of school and get in fights with their parents and ‘we’re not gonna take it,’ all that stuff. It really set America and the world on fire, in a lot of ways. And then I think that grunge had a sociocultural movement. … And so, I think that for rock to really come back on top, it has to have something behind it, just like any great art.”

Rockett also addressed homophobia — and hypocrisy — within the aging and increasingly conservative rock community (since his Yahoo Entertainment/Totally ‘80s interview took place, famously cosmetic-enhanced rock stars like KISS’s Paul Stanley, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, and Alice Cooper have all made startlingly transphobic public remarks). “Now, what's crazy is that even though so many people in our era wore makeup back then — and the older I get, the more I need it! — it's amazing how many rock people are homophobic,” Rockett pointed out. “It's an incredibly homophobic genre. It's very weird. … It’s part of why rock is struggling. I think right now there is a contradiction of all these things.”

On a lighter note — and speaking of makeup — Rockett also dished about the notorious cover art for Poison’s 1986 debut, Look What the Cat Dragged In. (“Originally it was Look What the Cat Drug In, but then people at Enigma Records thought that the ‘drug’ reference wouldn't be good,” he chuckled.) The Poison members had their faces heavily painted for the album’s photo shoot by Athena Lee, the younger sister of Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. “You can blame Athena for that album cover,” Rockett quipped, referring to the resulting gauzy-lensed, Merle Norman-makeover glamour shots that caused quite a stir at the time.

Rockett — who revealed that he drew much of the inspiration for his early look not from the Sunset Strip’s hair-metal scene, but from deathrock bands like Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend — went on to explain that Poison’s thick pancake spackle that “you could scratch off with your nails,” wasn’t just a fashion statement, but a necessity. “[Poison guitarist] C.C. [DeVille] had a breakout literally that day [of the photo shoot]. He had a reaction. He had this horrible breakout,” he recalled.

“We kept slapping makeup on [C.C.]. I'm not kidding! We wore makeup, no question, but we were putting tons on, and it wasn't working. It was peeling. … And when we were done with the shoot, Enigma couldn't pay to have us do another photo shoot, so they hired an airbrush artist. Now, at the time, there was no Photoshop; they literally airbrushed it. So, if you airbrush one guy, you’ve got to airbrush all the guys, or it won't work together. And by the time they were done, we looked like porcelain dolls. We looked like [Patrick] Nagel [paintings],” Rockett laughed.

“But we just rolled with it. We're like, ‘Wow, this is so impactful.’”

Read more on Yahoo Entertainment:

• Bret Michaels on 35 years of Poison and how Slash almost joined instead of C.C. DeVille

• Kip Winger on '90s backlash and apologies from Metallica, Mike Judge: 'It was bad. It was really bad.'

• Bret Michaels on whether 'Rock of Love' would fly today: 'It was meant to be fun'

• Vixen's Janet Gardner on being objectified by '80s metal magazine: 'That was the last time I dressed like that.'

• Nirvana manager recalls Kurt Cobain/Axl Rose VMAs feud: ‘They would be friends if Kurt were alive today’

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The above interview is taken from Rikki Rockett's appearance on the Totally '80s podcast, hosted by Yahoo Entertainment music editor Lyndsey Parker.