Bret Michaels' Broadway Souvenir: Nose Fracture From Tonys Mishap

Sunday night's Tony Awards gave Bret Michaels and Poison the opportunity to bring an Eighties anthem to an unlikely audience — the Broadway theater world — and celebrate hair-metal musical Rock of Ages in front of millions of people. But as Rock Daily reported yesterday, their performance of "Nothin' But a Good Time" ended with anything but: a moving set piece smashed Michaels in the face when he tried to scoot below it before Stockard Channing began her part of the opening number. The result of the frontman's injuries has been revealed this morning: a fractured nose and busted lip requiring three stitches.

Michaels' spokewoman tells People Bret snapped photos with Broadway royalty Angela Lansbury backstage and managed to laugh when host Neil Patrick Harris kicked off his monologue with a reference to the mishap: "Gives a whole new meaning to headbanging." And the moments after the accident sound trippier than an episode of Michaels' dating show Rock of Love: "He told me, 'All I remember is Shrek and the donkey helping me up, and Liza [Minnelli] giving me a towel,' " rep Joann Mignano said.

The singer wiped his blood with a towel and remained at the ceremony for the rest of the show before heading to the doctor for X-rays. He received a CAT scan yesterday because he has previously suffered a neck injury.

Michaels is due on the road with Poison for the band's joint tour with Cheap Trick and Def Leppard starting June 23rd in New Jersey. Check out Rolling Stone's preview of the big trek here.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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