{"id":310654,"date":"2026-02-26T04:49:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/310654\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T04:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:49:17","slug":"feel-the-darkness-the-story-of-poison-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/310654\/","title":{"rendered":"Feel the Darkness: The Story of Poison Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

LISTS<\/a><\/p>\n

Feel the Darkness: The Story of Poison Idea<\/p>\n

By <\/p>\n

John Gentile<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00b7
\n February 25, 2026<\/p>\n

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\u201cJerry A.\u201d Lang survived Poison Idea<\/a>. Many of the players didn\u2019t. Guitarist Tom \u201cPig Champion\u201d Roberts\u2014Dead. Drummer Steve \u201cThee Slayer Hippy\u201d Hanford\u2014Dead. Bassist Chris Carey\u2014Dead.<\/p>\n

Throughout the band\u2019s on-again-off-again 39-year run, Poison Idea, with its nihilistic worldview and relentless sonic smash, came to codify the essence of American hardcore. There are songs about hating everyone around you. There are songs about just how messed up the government is. There are a lot of songs about doing drugs.<\/p>\n

But get this: Lang is supposed to be dead, too. In 2022, he published his three-part autobiography Black Heart Fades Blue<\/a>, which was going to be his literal suicide note. \u201cAfter finishing the book, I planned on disappearing,\u201d Lang says.<\/p>\n

But between the time Lang started Poison Idea, and the time he finished writing his book, something happened. He decided to live. To that end, we had Lang take us through the Poison Idea discography and tell us why he was able to crawl through the spikes, razor blades, and needles when so many others got trapped.<\/p>\n

Pearls Before Swine<\/a> (1980)<\/p>\n

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Lang did not come from a happy home. Both of his parents were addicts. His dad beat him. His step-parents were worse. He was molested multiple times. He was drinking before he was 10. He was doing drugs before he was 12. He was homeless before he was 16.<\/p>\n

And so, in all of that misery, the one thing that really sparked was music. He says, \u201cThere were concerts every couple of weeks: BTO, Fleetwood Mac, the Guess Who. I first started going to concerts at nine. I was raising hell, and my mom said that if I didn\u2019t burn down the barn, she would take me to see Three Dog Night. That was my first concert. As soon as I got in, I ran away and stood behind the drummer and watched the show from the top of the stage. I said, \u2018I\u2019m going to do this every day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Not too long after, Lang would begin to devour the Stones and the Beatles, \u201cI thought the scary hippies were kind of cool,\u201d Lang says. \u201cI grew up during Vietnam and Charles Manson, and I thought that was really cool stuff.\u201d Not too long after, posters of Kiss adorned his walls\u2026and then\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ramones record came out,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThat blew my mind. But, at that time, I was still into Kiss, and I was listening to the Ramones every day, but I was going to the store waiting for the new Kiss record. Finally, it came out! I think it was Love Gun, and I remember going home and listening to it and trying to like it and looking up at the Ramones, looking at Kiss, looking at Ramones, looking at Kiss, looking at Ramones, and finally I made the conscious decision\u2014I am with these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few years later, after several other short-lived bands, Lang, living in a punk house, at the grand ol\u2019 age of 16, formed the first incarnation of Poison Idea. He pulled together some musicians from the local scene and started a post-punk band. P.I. shifted through numerous styles before establishing with Lang on vox, Chris Tense on guitar, Glen Estes on bass, and Dean Johnson on drums. This early incarnation never recorded any studio material, but a live show was captured on New Year\u2019s Eve 1980. That recording features the band losing the last elements of their art rock influence and leaning into full-on hardcore.<\/p>\n

Still, Poison Idea didn\u2019t truly solidify until Lang linked up with a big, bearded, \u201credneck\u201d that sold cocaine and played guitar in local band Imperialist Pigs. \u201cThe first time I saw Tom Roberts, aka \u2018Pig Champion,\u2019 was about a year before he joined the band,\u201d Lang says. \u201cI was able to get into a 999<\/a> show, even though I was underage, because the band put glasses on me and gave me a case, and I walked in as a \u2018roadie.\u2019 When 999 played, I jumped down from the stage into the pit and started slamming around with some big guy. A year later, I went to see the Imperialist Pigs, and the guitar player said, \u2018I know you! You\u2019re that kid that was pogo pitting at 999!\u2019 I went, \u2018I know you! You\u2019re that big redneck that I was pushing back and forth!\u2019 And he said, \u2018Yeah, I was ready to kick your ass!\u2019 And I said, \u2018shut your mouth, you\u2019re a big, dumb hippy!\u2019 And, the next day, we were best friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pick Your King<\/a> (1983)<\/p>\n

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Soon, the first classic era of Poison idea began: Lang and Roberts as the backbone, with Chris Tense on bass and Dean Johnson on drums. They set to work on their first record in 1983.<\/p>\n

Sardonically titled Pick Your King, Poison Idea\u2019s first proper release was a double A-side that featured Jesus on one side\u2026and Elvis Presley on the other. Lang says, \u201cWe were fans of Elvis\u2026not so much in that we thought he was the end-all-be-all for rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. It was that he was just so obsessive and so crazy. With his drugs and his weight, he was nuts, and we thought that was funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clocking in at 13 tracks across 12 minutes and 59 seconds, the record is a series of sonic shotgun blasts. On it, Lang welcomes death, rants against the government, and attacks mainstream music. Equaling Lang\u2019s vitriol, Roberts smashes out punchy riff after punchy riff, utilizing both the snappiness of early L.A. punk and the barrage approach of Discharge<\/a>. Few records were as fast, as savage, and as negative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a conscious decision to anchor the music in such negativity,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThat was just in us. We played fast. Some of that came from us trying to get through a set before getting thrown off stage, and some of that is because that\u2019s how we were feeling. We were kids going 100 miles per hour, and that\u2019s how we got off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes<\/a> (1984)<\/p>\n

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Released less than a year after their debut, Poison Idea\u2019s first 12-inch, Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes, already found the band evolving. Shockingly, the songs crossed over the one-minute mark. The band retained their berserk charge throughout the release, but on tracks such as \u201cCold Comfort,\u201d a metal\/Motorhead coating entered into bashing\u2014a style that would remain attached to the band for the remainder of their career. At the time, it was bold to mesh punk and metal, as each faction was seen as separate. Yet somehow, Poison Idea was able to exist in both worlds.<\/p>\n

Lang comments on the evolution: \u201cWe started to learn how to play. We bought a stroke tuner. We learned how to tune our guitars. We watched other bands. At first, it\u2019s kind of like a baby rattlesnake, which is more deadly than a grown rattlesnake. It will bite you and shoot in all of its venom at one time. We would go as fast as we could and shoot out all the venom at once. We slowed down here, which is funny to say, because we were still going 100 miles per hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kings of Punk <\/a>(1986)<\/p>\n

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1986\u2019s Kings of Punk was a turning point for the band. While the previous records flirted with nihilism, Kings is where Poison Idea started speeding into the black. Lang speaks on the faux-chest-beating album title, \u201cYou know, at the time, there were so many better bands than us. Discharge was around, Black Flag was around. We were far from the kings of punk.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this point, Roberts\u2019s guitar licks had become a hybrid of punk charging and metal screeching. Some tracks, such as \u201cLifestyles,\u201d even have melodic blues-metal interludes. Meanwhile, Lang dives full on into the bleakness that would come to define Poison Idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou write what you see, what you are feeling, and what you are living,\u201d Lang says. \u201c\u2019Death Wish Kids\u2019 is about going to a show and seeing a 12-year-old kid, living by himself, who had it worse than I did when I was 12. The cycle continues. \u2018Ugly Americans\u2019 is about getting chased by guys in a pickup truck, getting your head bashed in by grown men when you are really just a kid just because you had a shaved head. We wrote about stuff we dealt with every day. We didn\u2019t write like, \u2018What if the Hobbit fell into a hole and Gollum was there or whatever\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

If you need further proof of the band\u2019s mindset, just look at the cover, which features Lang cutting the band\u2019s name into his own stomach, \u201cThe cover is real,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThat was me. If you look at the pictures of us on the back, our eyes\u2026all of us were pretty out of it. There was one part where it was getting painful. Chris Tense says, \u2018I\u2019ll help you,\u2019 and he did the top of the E and I was like, \u2018Aaaaaah!!! Jesus dude, you are going to spill my guts! I\u2019ll do the rest!\u2019 People were laughing and laughing. Blood was pouring down, so we\u2019d take a wet towel and just wipe it because if you waited more than five seconds, your blood would just pour out. We suffered for our art, didn\u2019t we? I still have a few of those scars.\u201d<\/p>\n

War All the Time<\/a> (1987)<\/p>\n

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Despite this period of Poison Idea being one of the band\u2019s most solid, they were internally a mess. Drummer Dean Johnson left the band to join Portland\u2019s Mule (much to Lang\u2019s annoyance) and was replaced by Steve \u201cThee Slayer Hippy\u201d Hanford on drums. Lang comments on Hanford\u2019s unique moniker: \u201cIt was a show we were playing. Someone pointed at Steve and then some skinhead says, \u2018That\u2019s not Poison Idea, that\u2019s some Slayer hippie!\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, the band added Eric \u201cVegetable\u201d Olson as a second guitarist, expanding to a five-piece. The effect is palpable. You can sum up 1987\u2019s War All the Time in one word\u2014vicious. With the new two-guitar attack, the band maintained their hardcore speed, while simultaneously nodding to thrash by way of Roberts and Olson\u2019s interplay. On the production side of things, the band began to get a little arty: audio clips stitched between songs, a classical interlude, and even a bass solo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title of the record was borrowed from [Charles] Bukowski,\u201d Lang says, referring to the legendary beat poet. \u201cBukowski was pretty hopeless\u2014that destitute feeling of the streets, but still romantic, and we were all into that. There is a lot of growth for the band on this record. You can honestly look at the records, and you can watch us discover girls, discover hard drugs, watch us discover heartache, watch us discover growth. It\u2019s a life right there in music. There is even a time where we say \u2018I\u2019m sorry.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Feel the Darkness <\/a>(1990)<\/p>\n

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Despite the band\u2019s previous productivity, it took them three years to put out a follow-up LP. This was due in part to a frequently changing lineup, internal dysfunction\u2026and drugs. Yet interestingly, despite the band\u2019s internal combustion, to many, 1990\u2019s Feel the Darkness is the band\u2019s landmark record. Just as the band was using drugs and dealing with depression, almost every track here focuses on addiction, being depressed, and being really, really angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message is this is a day in our life, and this is what we do,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThe drugs got worse and worse and ramped up. We were still musicians\u2026that used drugs\u2026but we were headed towards becoming drug addicts that played music.\u201d<\/p>\n

This statement carries through to the album\u2019s striking cover, which stands as one of the band\u2019s most iconic images in a discography full of them: a handgun is pointed directly at poor ol\u2019 Tiny Tim\u2019s face! \u201cWe did hear from Tiny Tim,\u201d Lang says. \u201cSo, we told Tiny that it was a yin-yang symbolism. He was from the age of peace and love, and we said Tiny\u2019s face represented peace, and our gun represented evil, so it was like a two-sided coin. Tiny dug it and said, \u2018Run with it.\u2019 I have a big poster signed by him, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blank Blackout Vacant <\/a>(1992)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is when the drugs started to overtake us, and we started doing them every day,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThere\u2019s a definition of nihilism on the back of the record: Total destruction of the world at large and oneself. That\u2019s kind of what some of the guys were trying to do. They were so nihilistic and depressed with the anger and depression that they weren\u2019t fooling around. They weren\u2019t kids or posers. They were the real thing. If you stare into the darkness long enough, it will stare back at you\u2014and when it does, it is a scary thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Blank Blackout Vacant marks the beginning of the band\u2019s darkest era. Before the record was finished, the band\u2019s roadie hung himself. \u201cThat stuff was happening all around us, all the time,\u201d Lang says. \u201cSo, at the time, it didn\u2019t feel like a big thing. You find yourself in some kind of possession. It is spiritual. It is physical. You see people on the street, and you can tell they are possessed. During Blank Blackout, we were all in a fog\u2014a black fog.\u201d<\/p>\n

We Must Burn<\/a> (1993)<\/p>\n

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\u201cHere, we were in the depths of our drug usage\u2026and the record still rocked,\u201d Lang says. If anything, 1993\u2019s We Must Burn suffers from being \u201cjust\u201d a Poison Idea record. Previous releases either found the band evolving or throwing curveballs. But Burn, perhaps in Mot\u00f6rhead or AC\/DC fashion, finds the band \u201cjust\u201d doing what they do, with 11 tracks of ripping metallic punk; Roberts\u2019s leads could fit on a Metallica or Exodus record. Lang, meanwhile, skewers politics, religion, and society with equal parts humor and disgust.<\/p>\n

As drug usage and health issues worsened, We Must Burn presaged the first total collapse of Poison Idea. While the band was on tour in Europe, Roberts decided to quit. Lang says, \u201cTom couldn\u2019t tour. He was really big, and his health was horrible. At times, he could reach 500 pounds. He said to me, \u2018I can\u2019t tour anymore.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t a fight. It was purely emotional. He was falling apart. We were like, \u2018Get home safely.\u2019 He said he was on the train in London, trying to get to the airport, and he saw Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex doing her Hare Krishna stuff. He recognized her, and she said \u2018Take care of yourself. You need to get your health in order.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The band soldiered on as a four-piece for a short while. Lang says, \u201cWe got back to America, and Wurzel had just gotten thrown out of Mot\u00f6rhead, and he kept calling us. I was like, \u2018You know what? Mot\u00f6rhead is Tom\u2019s favorite band. To have you replace him would kind of be a slap in the face of Tom. Wurzel kept calling and calling and calling, and eventually I had to be like, \u2018Dude, it\u2019s not going to happen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, the various losses were weighing heavily on the band. \u201cBy this time, we were drug addicts playing around with music,\u201d Lang says. \u201cBecause when you wake up in the morning, that\u2019s who you are. When you are a musician, you wake up and say, \u2018let\u2019s rock and party and drink and maybe do some drugs!\u2019 That\u2019s one thing, but when you are a drug addict, you wake up and say, \u2018I need to do my drugs first and then let\u2019s play some rock \u2018n\u2019 roll down the line\u2026\u2019 That is not good. That does not work. That\u2019s why we broke up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest Will and Testament <\/a>(2006)<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven when Tom wasn\u2019t in the band, I would go over and see him all the time,\u201d Lang says. \u201cAnd then, we just started playing again. We did some shows with the Kings of Punk lineup, which were great. But Tom was like, \u2018I still can\u2019t play shows, I can barely get on stage.\u2019 So he quit again, but it just kind of morphed. It was like, \u2018Tom, do you want to get together and just do a record. Do you want to play with these kids?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With a new lineup\u2014Lang on vocals; Roberts and Jim Taylor on guitar; Chris Carey on bass; and Chris Cuthbert on drums\u2014Poison Idea laid down demos in 2005. Those recordings would be Roberts\u2019s last ever contributions to the band.<\/p>\n

Lang says, \u201cI was picking Tom up in the morning, taking him to the doctor, and I went over and found him\u2026dead. Tom had a really, really bad childhood. People didn\u2019t have the ways to cope with it back then. You needed to \u2018buck up and just bite the bullet and get on with it!\u2019 After Tom passed away, I found some notebooks that he wrote. He was writing all this really, really heavy stuff about how sad he was. There honestly isn\u2019t a day that goes by that I don\u2019t think about him. It was really hard, and I was really upset. But someday, we will all wind up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

With only the demo completed, the recordings were released as a proper album with the sadly portentous name Latest Will and Testament. Despite its \u201cdemo\u201d status, Latest Will recalls the sonic savagery of early Poison Idea but maintains Roberts\u2019s skillful, seasoned guitar slashing, making it a powerful final statement by the guitarist. \u201cThere are some people who say it\u2019s their favorite record,\u201d Lang adds. With so much wreckage surrounding the band, Lang decided to make some changes in his own life.<\/p>\n

Last Show in France<\/a> (2024)<\/p>\n

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\u201cI got on methadone,\u201d Lang says. \u201cI knew I had to stop using because I wanted to experience more things in life. I knew that if I kept doing what I was doing, there was no way that was going to happen. So, I wasn\u2019t shooting drugs anymore, but I found out methadone was just like being on drugs. I couldn\u2019t tour because you had to see someone every day. That was like a drug deal as far as I could see. So, I got on this thing called Suboxone, and you don\u2019t feel any of the effects of opioids. I was taking them and then cutting them down into smaller and smaller doses myself, and then I weaned myself off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a clear head, Lang decided to do one last Poison Idea record using a lineup of previous members, including Olsen. The end result was Confuse & Conquer, a callback to the band\u2019s prime punk-meets-metal heyday. Several tours followed; they recorded their sendoff show in France on July 10, 2019, and released it as a live album Last Show in France, five years later.<\/p>\n

Poison Idea-style problems continued to plague the band after the tour. Steve Hanford had been released from prison after holding up a string of pharmacies. Lang says, \u201cHe had just gotten out, and I went to meet him at a bar\u2014good place just after prison, right? He was like, \u2018We need to do Poison Idea again!\u2019 I was like, \u2018Steve, you just got out of prison. You need to take it easy. We will do it.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018We need to do it now!\u2019 I was like, it will come.\u2019 And he said, \u2018I\u2019m sober now!\u2019 I said, \u2018Steve, we are in a bar!\u2019 And he said, \u2018Well, I\u2019m not holding up pharmacies anymore.\u2019 So, then, he went out and did what he did and then he died from a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChris Carey\u2019s passing away not too long after was the same thing,\u201d Lang continues. \u201cYou see it coming. You see him, and you say, \u2018You don\u2019t need to do this. You\u2019re an adult.\u2019 He was like, \u2018I\u2019m an adult. I can do whatever I want.\u2019 I was like, \u2018You know you don\u2019t have the best intentions.\u2019 Steve passed away after that, and I kind of saw it coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lang reflects, \u201cI know that perspective. When I was writing the books to tell my story after that, I planned on disappearing. Kind of like Tom did. I figured I did everything I can do in life, it\u2019s over. I want to tell my story the way it is. At that time, I was walking my dogs, and the neighborhood was destroyed. There were syringes all over the park, and I was getting pissed off. I met this woman who was a neighborhood advocate. And she said, \u2018Well, you need to call the city,\u2019 and she started helping me, and I was talking to her, and she turned out to be a mental health therapist. She\u2014her name is Jennifer\u2014had never heard of Poison Idea. I had just met this person, and it was like, \u2018Wow!\u2019 All of a sudden, this door opened up, and it was this world I had never seen, and everything changed. I thought, well, I\u2019m going to keep going, and every day I\u2019ll try to do something new, even if it is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLater, we did a Christmas party, and Jennifer was asking questions from a card game. One question was, \u2018What was the favorite memory from the favorite time of my life?\u2019 and I said, \u2018Right now.\u2019 When my head hits the pillow at night, I\u2019m so happy I\u2019m here. When I wake up, I say, \u2018I\u2019m so happy that I am here.\u2019 That\u2019s how I live 24 hours a day. I\u2019m so happy to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story is not over. It might not even be over for Poison Idea. I\u2019ve learned that even if it\u2019s never, it\u2019s never say never. We\u2019ve always told the truth. We\u2019ve always been honest, and I think you\u2019d be able to see it if we weren\u2019t. If we were just going through the motions, that\u2019s when it starts to suck. We were always doing what comes from our hearts. Playing hard is what comes from our heart. People know it is honest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LISTS Feel the Darkness: The Story of Poison Idea By John Gentile \u00b7 February 25, 2026 \u201cJerry A.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-310654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}