The song was written and produced byElliot Straite (Dr. Freeze). Straite had originally planned to feature the song on his own album, but plans changed when the members of Bell Biv DeVoe heard his demo version. "When the guys heard it, they went nuts. I didn't think that record was going to be that big because it was a personal love letter to my ex-girlfriend at the time. It wasn't a song at first. It was a letter. When I wrote it as a song, I let a lot of my friends hear it, and they said it was weird. After that, I put the music together. I was thinking I wasn't going to be on the album because such heavyweights were already on it. I ended up having two songs on the album: 'Poison' and 'She's Dope!'."[5] Straite cited German electronic groupKraftwerk and Latin musiciansTito Puente andMongo Santamaria as influences on the song's sound and production.[5]
On the USBillboard Hot 100 singles chart, "Poison" rose from number 52 to number 38 on the week of April 14, 1990, and eventually peaked at number three for four consecutive weeks, beginning on June 9, 1990. The single also peaked at number one on theBillboardHot Black Singles chart for two weeks.[6] "Poison" became one of the most successful singles of 1990 and was a staple onMTV and mainstream radio in the middle of the year. The single peaked at number seven on theBillboardDance Club Play chart.[7] "Poison" was certified platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on June 1, 1990, for sales of over one million copies.
