Nobody Rides For Free vs. Nobody Rides For Free

It's that time again. Time to pit song against song to see who comes out on top. Today, we've got “Nobody Rides for Free” vs. “Nobody Rides for Free.” Or, put another way, Dirty Looks vs. RATT.

I hate to influence opinion here, but I prefer the RATT tune: I like the guitar riff better and just the song in general. I like the video better too, but that's beside the point. I don't dislike the Dirty Looks option, I just feel it's not quite as strong. That said, Dirty Looks is rumored to be on the M3 bill and I'm excited about that: I've never seen them, and you know how much I love to scratch bands off my “must see” list.

So which is it? Dirty Looks or RATT?

Comments

[looksthatkill]

Hands down Ratt, it's got a nice attitude and rocking licks + back then they could do no wrong!

[Christian]

Dirty Looks, those guys are way under rated. I'd love to see them live.

[Brian L]

first off...i need to see that movie again.
I will have to choose Dirty Looks on this one. However, the solo from W. D. is smokin. The ratt song is kinda week and commercial. Cannot wait to see DL at M3

[ricksav65]

I like Ratt better as a band; but song for song: my pick is Dirty Looks.

[MEWIZEMGIC]

I like both these songs. I prefer the RATT version and hope Allyson is correct that Dirty Looks will be at M3. Never seen them live - Blue Tequila, Cool to the Wire and It's Not the Way you Rock - they have some great tunes.

[Gary]

I gotta go with anything that Has DeMartini standing behind the guitar on, even though I do think Dirty Looks also kicks ass.

[AngryGeekGirl]

I prefer the song by Dirty Looks. The Ratt tune feels too much like a commercial "movie song." Of course the Ratt tune was written for a movie so that figures.

[bill]

dirty looks

[ROCK-IT]

DIRTY LOOKS... hands down.

Dirty Looks was one of the coolest live "bar bands" ever. Seen them in 6 different states (MD, TX, PA, NY, OK, CA) and no matter the size of the crowd or the location they always delivered (of course that was 87-90).

However... the vibe just isn't there on a big stage.

[Blaine]

RATT. Nobody Rides For Free is my favorite RATT tune.
With that being said, I saw them twice on their last tour, and Nobody Rides For Free sounded absolutely awful live.

[Greg]

Dirty Looks. Nicer hair.

[Metalboy!]

My favorite Ratt tune is "Round And Round", which is also the best Hair Metal song ever written.

My favorite Dirty Looks song is "Cool From The Wire".

And neither song of the same title, "Nobody Rides For Free" by either band measures up to any of each of the bands' other songs.

That said, I'll give it to Ratt, by a hair (har-har), even though their "Nobody Rides For Free" is almost a patchwork quilt of several of their other songs rolled into one.

The chorus just isn't harmonious at all, with Pearcy left searching for a logical progression of notes when we the listeners, even if we're tone deaf, could figure out the logical way to sing along with the music than he has here.

And what's with all the O'Neill, Bodyglove and Quicksilver get-ups on the beach? Oh, I get it, "Surfer" movie = Ratt in surf wear.

"Point Break" is actually a pretty good brain-rester of a movie and the soundtrack is half decent, but Ratt's contribution reeks of Soundtrackitis, where contributors often throw a subpar also ran tune into the mix to make a quick buck.

Dirty Look's "Nobody Rides For Free" suffers from lead singer Heinrik Ostergaard's AC/DC obsession and is just a hair (oh, boy) more typical than Ratt's song of the same title.

Even though Ratt still eeks out a victory here, you gotta hand it to Dirty Looks for "representin'". They look like they put on their denim uniforms a week before this video was shot and proceeded to ride their motorcycles across the desert in 110 degree weather to the set of the video shoot in L.A., stopping only for lap dances and refueling at The Chicken Shack in Vegas along the way, then setting foot on stage without a shower.

Ratt look ridiculous as surfers and also look like there are legions of hair stylists and make-up artists waiting in the wings, inches out of the camera's view to come to their rescue should one strand of hair fall out of place.

Really the solution to the dilemma of two "Nobody Rides For Free"s that don't quite cut it, is to do some kind of mash up of the two songs, where you would take the bulk of Ratt's "Nobody" and only use the chorus of the Dirty Looks "Nobody".

Oddly, that's how I remembered this song in my head before Al posted this. I would sometimes occasionally sing it in my head that way but with Ratt as the band in my mind's eye as the performers.

Fortunately, I saw both bands, Ratt with Robbin Crosby at Hammerjack's in like '89 and Dirty Looks twice at the Cat Club in NYC in '88 and '89!

They're both killer and I love 'em both nearly equally, with Ratt beating out Dirty Looks by a hair (Geez!). However, I like the Dirty Looks album, "Cool From The Wire" better than any Ratt album when you look at both bands' discographies, album for album.

"Cool From The Wire" just has more consistently great songs, measured song for song, than any Ratt album ever produced. Ratt never produced an "all killer, no filler" album, unfortunately, as great as they are.

"The band's really grand
Come and hear them play (shoo be do wah, a shoo be do wah)
Have a drink, what'cha think
This could be your lucky day, yeah, hey, hey"

-- "Cool From The Wire", Dirty Looks, 1987

[spence]

Ratt. Hands down.

spence of takeiteasykeepitsleazy.com

[Kenny Ozz]

Ratt. By a mile.

[Christian]

Metalboy, I agree. That's why I was astounded that they did all of 'out of the cellar' at Rocklahoma, they are just NOT an album band, all their albums are full of filler, although certainly they have some songs that ARE killer.