The Days of Lore

Black Friday: Ratt ‘n’ roll hoochie koo

Friday, May 8th, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

My cousin used to record videos from MTV on to audio cassettes with a boombox. I guess at the time it was the new version of recording songs off the radio (and avoided that annoying deejay yapping over the first 20 seconds of the song). I remember listening to one of those tapes on a family trip to Disneyland in my aunt’s two-tone brown GMC van.

Among the Wham! and DeBarge and Tears For Fears was RATT’s “Round and Round.” The song made me stop what I was doing (which was probably daydreaming about Heather Thomas) and hit the rewind button … over … and over again. Oh you laugh, but for a pimply young lad of 12 who had been listening to Starship and Falco, this was some serious shit. Which led me to that fateful purchase Out of the Cellar, my gateway drug to metal. It’s a great, classic pop-metal album if you’re into that sort of thing … even if you’re not into that sort of thing.

[Warning: This is where things get confessional and awkward between us.] I celebrate RATT’s entire catalog. The very first review I wrote was of their Reach For the Sky album for my high school newspaper. I saw RATT play live with some singer named Jizzy Pearl. I saw original vocalist Stephen Pearcy perform solo to about 11 people … and wrote about it. I ended up with an autographed photo of Mr. Pearcy and myself. I have a RATT sticker on my bike. I still have a faded RATT shirt that I received for my birthday in 7th grade. What does this all mean? It means I have an incredibly good sense of humor … or that I am incredibly lame.

RATT has been kicking around off and on for the past few years—behind refrigerators, underneath rubble … at casinos and state fairs—with various lineups. The band is gearing up to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Out of the Cellar by doing what seems to be a growing trend among metal bands—performing the album in its entirety. Kind of sad and pathetic, but kind of cool at the same time. RATT will throw down at this year’s Rocklahoma festival—a veritable who’s who of (semi?)washed-up metal bands including Anthrax, Twisted Sister and Great White. That said, I will not be there. I outgrew all of that at least three years ago.

“The Morning After” - RATT

Video for “Round and Round” feat. Uncle Miltie

Tags: "Round and Round", Out of the Cellar, RATT, Stephen Pearcy