Happy 50th Birthday to Bret Michaels [VIDEO]

Go ahead and laugh, make fun if you must, but I can't help it. I am a Bret Michaels fan. More so a Poison fan, but there is no Poison without Bret. It’s hard to believe that the Poision frontman turns the big 5-0 today, but he does, so let's celebrate! 

In honor of his 50th birthday today (March 15), we take a look back at what he'll be most remembered for the rest of his decades. And no, it's not the most inexplicable reality show of all time, Rock of Love, or all of his hats, but instead one of the most celebrated metal power ballads ever, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

The tune was Poison's lone No. 1 single, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the final week of 1988 and carrying over into the first two weeks of '89.

Michaels wrote this in response to a failed love affair with Tracy Lewis. After playing at a bar in Dallas, Texas, Michaels called his girlfriend at her Los Angeles apartment and heard a man's voice in the background. The next day the disconsolate Michaels took his acoustic guitar with him to a Laundromat and wrote the song right there. He explained in Rolling Stone June 10, 2010: "I remember using a pay phone to call this girl I was dating. We were on the road, touring in our Winnebago, and my relationship was falling apart. I still have the yellow legal pad I wrote it on. There are, like, a bazillion verses that I later edited down."

Bret is filming the new show Rock My R.V., no lie, and so his annual birthday celebration had to be pushed back a few weeks. And starting next week you too can party with Bret as he hits the road.