Are We Getting A RATT Tour?
We already know we're getting a special 40th anniversary edition of the debut - I'm hoping for more!
We already know we're getting a special 40th anniversary edition of the debut - I'm hoping for more!
Forty years in the making! RATT has a "new" single called "Reach for the Sky" - and it was originally written (or started) in 1982. The song was supposed to be on Out of the Cellar but it didn't happen and the track was shelved... until now.
Yes, the band's classic lineup plays on this track, including late guitarist Robbin Crosby! As soon as the song starts, you can tell this is classic RATT. Like, "Reach for the Sky" immediately transports you back to that debut-era sound. Just enjoy the dueling guitar solos - so fun! Also, Marq Torien, eventually of the Bulletboys, helped write the track. There's lot of Sunset Strip history here.
"The Final Chapter" is how Nothin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal ends.
There's interviews with Brian Forsythe of KIX (you know I love him), Warren DiMartini, Stevie Rachelle of Tuff and more. This section obviously focuses on the end of the Sunset Strip party, the introduction of grunge to the world and the surprise resurgence of Glam in the early 2000s (this site started in 2006).
Bret Michaels goes over the famous fight he had with C.C. DeVille backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1991 and there's a long look at the drug and alcohol addictions of many bands. Honestly the pre-performance interviews with Bret and C.C. for MTV were cringeworthy because C.C. was so clearly drugged out of his mind. I'm glad the doc included those interviews - the female reporter was frustrated the entire time and getting more so as arguments between the two Poison members raged on.
RATT guitarist DiMartini didn't really want to talk about Robbin Crosby's heroin addiction, but he eventually did and it was pretty heart-wrenching. Fosythe talked about his own addictions, smoking crack ("the worst!"), being arrested and having to get a day job after the party stopped.
My favorite part of this final section of the documentary was Nuno Bettencourt's "Sebastian Bach story." Extreme and Skid Row were on a flight back from playing a gig together. Bach is drunk, the flight attendant cuts him off, he isn't having it and finds more booze... and chaos ensues. There's a fight, a physical interaction with the pilot and an old couple even gets involved. You need to watch just for this story - and the animations - alone, trust me!
Oh and there's a Beavis and Butt-Head Winger section too.
Reflecting on Glam music all these years later - and the rise of grunge - I have pretty much decided that Nirvana didn't kill the scene. The labels killed the scene. Like capitalists often do, they got too greedy and created too many cheap imitations of the real thing, diluted their brand and it all came crashing down.
Hindsight being 20/20, you have to believe big time music execs from that era probably wished they had passed on signing some of the third and fourth tier bands and instead put more energy into the continued creative development of acts like Poison and RATT. The right marketing and songwriting advice could have seen the best bands of the era keep right on plugging with big songs and videos all through the 90s. Instead, the baby was thrown out with the bath water and it was time to chase the latest new trend. Still, remember this: glam had more than a decade and true grunge basically had less than five years. I said what I said.
[RELATED: Part two recap and review]
Enter the realm of death. pic.twitter.com/SF4KVxiY2r
— Black Metal Cats (@evilbmcats) November 30, 2020
If you asked people for their top RATT songs, I bet “Givin’ Yourself Away” wouldn’t make the list and that is a shame. The song is on the album Detonator which is one of my favorites by the band. Overall the album is slick as hell – just as you would expect for a 1990 hair metal release. The entire album sounds huge!
The guitar solo in this under-appreciated RATT ballad just might be some of Warren DeMartini’s best work. The solo really complements the song and gives it an edge. The overall guitar work is excellent in the song throughout as well.
The guitar melody is deceptively simple. The notes challenge Stephen Pearcy’s voice in just the right way. Pearcy sings higher and DeMartini makes his axe squeal in response. There’s bends, hammer pulls, sweep picking and a vacation up and down the fret board.
The melody and solo could fit right into a Hollywood "rom-com" blockbuster. I said what I said.
Faster Pussycat released the album Wake Me When It’s Over in 1989 and it features the song “Slip of the Tongue.” It wasn’t even a single but I think it is the strongest song on the album – and maybe of the entire Faster Pussycat canon.
RATT released the album Dancing Undercover in 1986. It contained the track “Slip of the Lip.” There is an official video for “Slip of the Lip” and it charted as an album single. I do think it is one of the stronger RATT songs, period.
Both songs talk about self-destruction, albeit in different ways. I tend to prefer the Faster Pussycat song but I have to wonder if the guys in the band were listening to RATT’s ideas on “Slip of the Lip” and decided to expound on the idea? Then there’s the Whitesnake album called Slip of the Tongue from 1989… but that’s a whole other conversation.
So who did it better in your opinion?
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