Well, This Is Stupid

I've decided to start tagging nearly everything I see on Twitter with #ThisIsStupid. I might start weekly round-ups of stupidity here, too.

RATT is a joke of a band these days. I mean, just a straight up mess. The iconic band made some of the best songs of the era we love, but good grief. So many lineup changes, firings, scab members... come on. George Lynch is one of the best living guitarists of all time. He's also not RATT. Warren DeMartini is RATT. Period. The whole thing is such a shame. #ThisIsStupid

Tell The World: The Very Best Of Ratt

Comments

[texjay]

RATT either needs to make up or break up- it is indeed stupid.

[stu]

you mean such a “shame shame shame.”

[Gary]

Ratt hit with the wall when the big guy passed on. King was the sole voice of reason in a boat full of narcissistic douche nozzles and another uber talented moron guitarist who could give a dirty rats ass (yeah,I went there) what went down,because that Mars fortune is a gift that'll keep on giving long after he has taken his last whack off of the bong.
So, Unless these self absorbed asshats can finally realize that it's not 1985 and the majority of their old fans:
a) have moved on to the next "big thing" by 1986
b) are wondering why interstate highways aren't paved with the same substance that apparently is responsible for Steven Pearcy's face
c) are babysitting their grandchildren (that may actually be from Steven Pearcy and his Marlboro man complexion)
d) are perplexed how Lynch could even consider squeezing in a Ratt gig with the other 852 projects he's currently involved in (no moss growing on the back of this guy's guitar neck)
e) all of the above

they're destined to play to 350 drunk dudes screaming free bird at your local firehouse. Robben has to be rolling over in his grave watching what has become of this once incredibly talented band...

[Him]

Agreed, Gary. Agreed. And there are lesser instances of a band falling apart once a necessary member dies. I won't recount them, as it would cheapen the impact of those instances, those bands, and those departed members to mention them in the same sentence as Ratt.

But what about this soppy mess of a soap opera has gotten more stupid since all of this went down? Strikes me that this is just one more speck on the continuum of dumb displayed by the boys in Ratt. When you stroke your own ego for so long, well . . most of the guys in Ratt suffer from PE (Premature Exultation) or ED (Expectation Dysfunction).

Infestation was a near-perfect return to form. So? As a glorious first-tier act from the Sunset Strip sub-genre of metal in the 80s, they are playing to a very small segment of the metal community these days. And, by their own admission(s), they messed up the chance to be a legacy act a la the Crue the first go around by . . . wait for it . . . doing the exact same thing they are doing now (minus the corporate support, huge budgets, etc.). So what makes any of them think that this time it will be different? If anything, it will be/is worse. Less interest, less pay, lower slots on festival gigs, and all the rest.

My thought: Infestation was an anomaly, not a return to form, when you read Ratt's career across the decades. That we tend to focus on those bright spots only suggests how frustrating it is when a band like Ratt actually lives down to its potential.

[Shawn]

You know the reason all of these guys were successful back in the day was they were hungry for fame,success, musical recognition and loved the music. None of them are hungry anymore for any of the things that made them who they were. That could be said for so many -- sad state of life I guess.

[Him]

Good point(s), Shawn. Hunger does have a part to play in a band's approach. I suppose I didn't think about it that way.

So let me ask you (and this could also be applied, in part, to my frustrations with Page in a more recent post): what is your take on Metallica? Personally, I am not much into--and have said as much on here--them post-MoP. But I give them credit for their business sense. And I also think that they have been willing to take risks, cost what it may when it comes to their diehard fans, etc. I think that suggests a certain sort of hunger. But I also know that it is easy to slag them by saying, "they are just doing what they want because they can."

I guess a variation on the question is: what legacy acts still show a hunger in their music? I would be fascinated to hear what people think.