Ratt is much more than ‘Round and Round’ - AL.com

Rock resurgence is a winding road, so let’s get out the map. Here’s one route: If your band’s track gets played during the final scene of a prestige TV hit, a la Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” and HBO’s “The Sopranos.” A tell-all book and resulting biopic can do the trick too, just ask Motley Crue. For some bands, simply reuniting all (or in the case of Guns N’ Roses most) of a classic lineup makes the sky rain money again. Bringing in songwriting ringers like Desmond Child and Diane Warren during the late ’80s bought the dudes in Aerosmith larger houses and faster cars. At its height, the video game “Guitar Hero” introduced a new generation of wayward sons and daughters to bands like Kansas.

Then there's Ratt. The '80s Sunset Strip glam-metal act was recently featured in a TV commercial for Geico home insurance. Singer Stephen Pearcy and bassist Juan Crucier may be the only remaining members from the quintet's heyday, but the Geico placement reminded us how killer "Round and Round," Ratt's signature song, still is. The ad even helped "Round and Round" reach the Top 20 rock chart again some 36 years after the song's release.

Ratt is much more than “Round and Round” though. During an interview for a 2017 LA Weekly story, Sirius XM radio personality and former “That Metal Show” host Eddie Trunk told me, "I think it’s quickly forgotten just how big Ratt was. To me, album for album, song for song, you could even make the case they were more consistent than Motley Crue. But I think a lot of the reason they don’t get that same reverence as a band like Motley Crue is they had a lot of lineup changes. Motley was great at making a book and dating Hollywood celebrities, and the excess really fueled their legacy, whereas Ratt kind of kept it in-house and you didn’t really hear about it all that much. So I think that factors in their perception.” In recent years, Ratt made news, including the story I interviewed Trunk for, for having two different versions of the band touring simultaneously and mired in legal tangles.

The band should get more credit for being glam-metal pioneers. Pearcy is a unique rock singer, his vocal tone evokes a sleazier Rob Halford. Ratt’s lead-guitar duo, Warren DeMartini and the late Robbin Crosby, was one of the era’s best. Bobby Blotzer brought hip-shaker haymakers and one of rock’s great drummer names to the mix. Croucier’s bass grooves, strong and slippery enough he also played on Dokken’s debut album.

Ratt started in late '70s San Diego. Back then the band was called Mickey Ratt. Pearcy, inspired by acts like Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper, was the only member of Mickey Ratt still in the fold when the group hit it big, with 1984 debut album "Out of the Cellar." After the group relocated to Los Angeles circa 1981, Pearcy lived in a friend's garage. Pearcy also played guitar in the band early on. He became friends with a young Eddie Van Halen and would talk and trade gear with EVH. Pearcy once told me a story about smoking a joint with a then-unsigned David Lee Roth outside the Whisky a Go-Go in West Hollywood. I'm sure he's told a lot of other people too. That and many other rollicking tales can be found in Pearcy's entertaining memoir "Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll" My Life in Rock."

At one point, Mickey Ratt included future Ozzy Osbourne shredder Jake E. Lee. After shifting appellation to Ratt, "Tell The World," a track recorded by a pre Blotzer/Croucier version, was featured on "Metal Massacre," an influential 1982 compilation album that also introduced Metallica to the world.

Ratt's self-titled 1983 EP generated buzz on Southern California rock radio. The legs on the EP's cover photo belong to future Whitesnake video vixen Tawny Kitaen, who was romantically involved with Crosby and Kitaen also graced the "Out of the Cellar" sleeve. Starting with "Out of the Cellar," Ratt scored four straight platinum albums. The band headlined arenas for many years. Pre and post pinnacle, a fleet of notable guitarists have passed through Ratt's ranks, including: BulletBoys' Marq Torien, former Motley Crue replacement singer John Corabi, Quiet Riot's Carlos Cavazo and Scorpions' legend Michael Schenker.

Crosby struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years. Those issues led to his departure from Ratt in 1991 and from the living a little more than 10 years later at age 42. Pop-culture writer Chuck Klosterman penned a memorable New York Times obituary for Crosby and Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone, who died within 24 hours of each other. The dual obit gets into thought provoking analysis of elitist bands and populist ones. It’s essential reading. “To rock aficionados, Dee Dee and the Ramones were ‘important'’ and Crosby and Ratt were not,” Klosterman wrote. “We are all supposed to concede this. We are supposed to know that the Ramones saved rock 'n' roll by fabricating their surnames, sniffing glue and playing consciously unpolished three-chord songs in the Bowery district of New York. We are likewise supposed to acknowledge that Ratt sullied rock 'n' roll by abusing hair spray, snorting cocaine and playing highly produced six-chord songs on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip.”

In 2020, Ratt may not have been booked for stadiums like the Motley, Def Leppard and Poison trek, but a planned tour also boasting Ratt, Cinderella's Tom Keifer, a Sebastian Bach-less Skid Row and Slaughter was a package fans were excited about. Like nearly everything else in rock, that tour has been tabled to (at least) next year due to coronavirus. In addition to Pearcy and Croucier, Ratt's current lineup features drummer Pete Holmes and guitarist Jordan Ziff.

Pearcy, DeMartini and Crosby wrote "Round and Round" in a one-bedroom apartment, using two cassette recorders to get an initial vocals/guitars sketch down. The song eventually became an MTV, thanks to a music video featuring comedian Milton Berle, the uncle of Ratt's then manager Marshall Berle.

Decades later, with an assist from Geico, "Round and Round" is getting a well deserved victory lap. Below are 10 more Ratt songs music fans should revisit or get to know for the first time. And then go from there.

"Lay it Down"

Album: "Invasion of Your Privacy"

Released: 1985

The main guitar riff puts the metal in glam-metal. Careful, Pearcy's hairspray howl might get you pregnant.

“You Think You’re Tough”

Album: "Ratt"

Released: 1983

Ratt's eponymous EP is hungry and heavy and left rock listeners wanting more, perfectly setting up "Out of the Cellar."

"Way Cool Jr."

Album: "Reach for the Sky"

Released: 1988

Slinky, bluesy cut could easily fit on an Aerosmith record.

“Slip of the Lip”

Album: "Dancin' Undercover"

Released: 1986

Pearcy’s lyrics address the Cold War spy ring that led to a retired naval officer’s conviction. Kidding. It’s a song about boinking.

“Wanted Man”

Album: "Out of the Cellar"

Released: 1984

The first song on Ratt's first full-length album is alluring, dynamic and stylized.

“Sweet Cheater”

Album: "Ratt"

Released: 1983

Thrashy guitars and Blotzer’s rhino-in-Spandex throb will have you breaking speed limits and/or beer bottles.

“Dangerous but Worth the Risk”

Album: "Invasion of Your Privacy"

Released: 1985

The song's Motorhead-worthy title is hard-rock poetry, just by itself. The hooks, grooves and Pearcy's purring deliver on the promise.

“Nobody Rides for Free”

Album: "Point Break" soundtrack

Released: 1991

Soundtracks became a crowded heat during the '90s. The music from beloved Swayze/Keanu surfer crime saga "Point Break" is often forgotten, but its mix is intriguing. In addition to a very Ratt sounding Ratt song, the soundtrack boasted tunes from the like of Concrete Blonde, Jimmy Buffet, Jimi Hendrix, Public Image Ltd., Love, L.A. Guns and Sheryl Crow.

“Loving You Is a Dirty Job”

Album: "Detonator"

Released: 1990

Song-doctor deluxe Desmond Child (Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, etc.) co-produced and co-wrote this hook-heavy album.

“You’re In Love”

Album: "Invasion of Your Privacy"

Released: 1985

With a riff that spins like an Apache rotor and chorus-first vocals, it immediately grabs listeners by their jean jackets. And never lets go.

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Ratt is much more than ‘Round and Round’ - AL.com
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