A long time ago, in a zip code far, far away lived A Girl who listened to KROQ. Now, KROQ (at that time) was full of bands with names like The Cure, Depeche Mode, U2, The B-52's, Siouxsie and The Banshees and Oingo Boingo.
Not bands like Poison.
Accordingly, The Girl (who dated a guy in a KROQ-ey type band) tended to look down upon mere Hair Bands, as Poisonesque bands tended to be called. The Sunset Strip was loaded with these pretenders (not The Pretenders, Chrissy kicked ass) and they were not typically Her sort.
Recently, The Girl (now married with kids) saw Bret Michaels on Celebrity Apprentice. The Girl will admit freely to being a reality-tv junkie (but still, a selective reality-tv junkie) and was actually shocked to find that Bret was not the complete and utter doofus that She had believed he was for many, many years. Despite his Rock of Love past, The Girl actually began to respect him - he was very creative, a hard worker, a good dad and really, a generally all-around nice guy.
After a complete and utter rollercoaster ride of almost dying, coming back, having a stroke, showing up for the finale of Celebrity Apprentice and winning it (sorry if that's a spoiler, it's been four days, The Girl figures that's enough time to wait to break the news to you), Bret showed up and was actually a high point in the finale last night of American Idol, singing Every Rose Has It's Thorn with Casey James. After twenty years of hearing that song and rolling her eyes, The Girl actually liked it.
Surprise, surprise. Well played, Bret Michaels, well played.
Now don't try to tell Her that David Lee Roth is a good guy. There has to be some sort of clown out there who really still is a clown.
PHOTO: Vince Bucci/FOX
