Sunday, May 31, 2015

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ratt

Artist:Ratt
Song:Round and Round
Album:Tell The World: The Very Best Of Ratt





Ratt was a standard hair metal band who were successful in the 80s. Round and Round was their biggest hit in 1984. There's a lot of 70s glam rock in their look but I find their music is fairly pedestrian. I think they were a little lucky to be as successful as they were. The band was originally called Mickey Ratt led by lead singer Stephen Pearcy. They moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1980 and then shortened the name to Ratt. By 1983, the other members of Ratt were Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby on guitar, Juan Croucier on bass and Bobby Blotzer on drums. A 1983 EP got them a deal with Atlantic Records and their debut album Out Of The Cellar was produced by Beau Hill who produced similar hard rock bands. The single Round and Round reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified 3XPlatinum. Ratt got a big boost when comedy legend Milton Berle appeared in the Round and Round video and MTV put the video in regular rotation. So they were a little lucky to get in front of teens through the video. Their 1985 album Invasion of Your Privacy wasn't as successful as Out Of The Cellar. But it was certified 2XPlatinum. The single Lay It Down reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their albums continued to decline in sales and they split with Beau Hill after the 1988 album Reach For The Sky. That didn't help and then Crosby went into rehab for drug addiction. He was replaced by Michael Schenker of Scorpions. Remember that though Ratt's album sales declined, they were still a strong concert draw. That's why bands reunite, to get that concert revenue. After appearing on MTV Unplugged in 1992, Ratt split up. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Ratt reunited in 1996 minus Croucier who owned a recording studio. They toured and released a 1999 album on Sony that didn't sell. Pearcy left in 2000 and Ratt continued with new singer Robert Mason. Crosby died in 2002 from a heroin overdose. Ratt continued to tour and Pearcy toured as Rat Bastards. Ratt reunited again in 2006 and released a new CD in 2010. Then Pearcy left in 2010 and Ratt looked to be through. They reunited again in 2012 with plans to record. But Pearcy left again in 2014 and Ratt seems to be done for good. But one never knows. There's money in touring. They might reunite again. Here's the video for Round and Round by Ratt featuring comedy legend Milton Berle. The girl in the video is model Lisa Dean who was also in the 1988 Michael Jackson video Dirty Diana.

1 comment:

  1. Never liked them at all. Not a guilty pleasure. While I am on it., I did not like Motley Crue either. Those two bands were never my kind of music.

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