Despite the band’s success, the situation behind the scenes began to deteriorate. Michaels and lead guitarist C.C. DeVille came to blows backstage during the 1991 “MTV Video Music Awards” because of the latter’s obviously bad onstage performance, a result of his cocaine and alcohol problems. The band replaced DeVille with two other guitarists of little consequence and soldiered on, though they never duplicated their previous success. While recording their sixth album, Crack A Smile, Michaels suffered multiple injuries – several broken bones and missing teeth – after he crashed his Ferrari into a telephone pole in Burbank in 1994. The near-fatal collision put the album on hold until 1996, and then went on to only sell a million copies worldwide. By then, the band’s decline was in full evidence.
Meanwhile, Michaels ventured into other avenues, notably filmmaking. He joined actor Charlie Sheen to make “A Letter From Death Row” (1998), writing, directing and starring in the low-budget thriller about an innocent man writing about his life on death row. Michaels directed Sheen again in the made-for-TV movie “No Code of Conduct” (USA Network, 1998), a crime thriller about two undercover cops trying to crack a Phoenix drug ring while battling the city’s crooked politicians.
Michaels continued to work with Poison, finally going on tour in 1999 to support the band’s Greatest Hits album, a tour that featured a rejuvenated DeVille. The band enhanced its newfound popularity after taking part in an episode of VH1’s “Behind the Music” (1997-2006), which highlighted their well-known partying lifestyle. After a successful reunion tour, Poison hit the skids again with Hollyweird, a mess of an album that was panned by fans and critics alike. Meanwhile, Michaels made more headlines, thanks to a sex tape with Pamela Anderson that made the Internet and DVD rounds before he successfully stopped continued distribution.
Taking another path, in 2007, Michaels became the latest celebrity to land a reality show, starring in “Rock of Love With Bret Michaels” (VH1, 2007- ), a “Bachelor”-esque style competition for the big-haired crowd, that pitted a group of female suitors against each other in a series of challenges – including an album photo cover shoot and a phone sex competition – that ultimately determined which one could keep up with Michaels’ notorious lifestyle. Michaels picked the eventual winner, Jes, from two finalists, but she obviously felt otherwise and said he had better chemistry with runner-up Heather. The show was renewed for a second season that aired in January 2008.