He then joined New Jersey progressive rock band Prophet as a drummer. They released their first album in 1985. Poley also sang lead vocals on some of their songs. In 1987, while working with the band’s second album, he was approached by Bruno Ravel and Steve West to join Danger Danger and he accepted.
In 1993, he finished recording Danger Danger’s third album, Cockroach, but was surprisingly fired from the band. They hired another singer (Paul Laine) and attempted to release the album with new vocals, but Poley sued and prevented the album from being released.
The same year, he formed a new band called Bone Machine with guitarist John Allen III (Tommy Lee’s band.) In 1994, they released their first album titled Dogs. In 1995, they toured the UK and released a live record titled Search and Destroy. In 1996, they released their last album titled Disappearing, Inc. The album is noted for featuring an eerie premonition of what would happen in the 2001 9/11 attacks in the cover art.
In 2000, he joined the band Melodica with Gerhard Pichler on guitar. As a band, they released several albums: USAcoustica, and Lovemetal among them. During this time, Poley returned to U.S. and played for the first time in seven years.
In 2001, Danger Danger finally released the album Cockroach after reaching an agreement with Epic Records. The album featured two discs: one with the Poley vocals, and the other with the new vocals by the band’s new singer, Paul Laine.
In 2002, Poley’s band (now known as Poley/Pichler) released an album titled Big. This album featured Gerhard Pichler on guitar, Joe Slattery on bass guitar (with whom Poley had played with before in Lush back in the early 80’s) and Slattery’s band mate from the AOR melodic rock band Norway, Marty Brasington on drums.
In 2004, he rejoined Danger Danger and started touring with them again.
[/spoiler]
02. What If She Knew
03. Waiting Line
04. Maybe
05. Deep Inside
06. Going Blind
07. I Love You
08. You’re The One
09. Let Me Out
10. Missing You
11. Anisha
12. Shellshocked
13. Mrs Frankenstein
14. The Song
15. Life And Times
16. Simple Life
17. Phone Sex[/spoiler]
02. Lovemetal
03. One And Only
04. Praying For A Miracle
05. Only Human
06. Crossing This Ocean
07. Perfect Imperfection
08. If I Were James Taylor
09. Takoyaki Rock
10. Wastin Your Luv
11. Listen To Ya
12. Smile (Original Smile demo)
13. You Wont See Me Cryin (prev. unreleased demo)
14. Tokyo Nites (prev. unreleased demo)
15. A Letter To Santa
16.Ted Poley (Parody of the KISS Song “Unholy” by C.C Banana w/ Chris Caffery)[/spoiler]