23. Ratt Out of the Cellar 1984 (Atlantic)
Glam Metal
Hello dealer with snake eyes and hot leather.
The Lowdown
Out of the Cellar was one of the very first metal albums that I ever purchased and it was long before I was even into heavy metal music as a fan. In fact I remember buying it at the same time as I bought the Bon Jovi debut which came out more or less at the same time and both were classified as hard rock/glam metal a fairly accurate label for both albums. I quickly tired though of both albums as they they both failed to ignite any big interest in me to pursue metal much further at that time. I already had at this time anyway albums by the Scorpions, Def Leppard and Van Halen and far preferred those three to new boys Ratt and Bon Jovi. So around the mid 1980s metal for me was just one of the music genres that I was listening to from time to time and was somewhere down my list of favourite musical genres. Many years later as I was getting into metal proper I realized that the Bon Jovi debut was a blandish album, even though I dig a couple of its track like openers “Runaway” and ”Roulette” but overall all the tracks sound like that they’ve been recorded better by somebody else previously. The Ratt album though whilst not being a classic, at least had an engaging if somewhat simplistic sound to it, that always made it decent listening glam metal material. I think it might surprise a number of people that the members of Ratt had been in various bands since the early 1970s and on top of that once Ratt had formed, they had gone through numerous line-up changes with artists like Jake.E Lee spending time in the band. In 1983 they recorded their 6-track EP which upon the success of
Out of the Cellar was re-recorded in a polished manner in 1984. As for the album
Out of the Cellar as far as I’m concerned is not a particularly good album, for the simple reason that nearly all its tracks sound like variations of its stellar song “Round and Round” and nearly all the album’s tracks seem to feed off the engaging and energetic sound of that track, which make no mistake about it is one of the most memorable tracks of the 1980s metal music scene anyway. In fact if this journal were concerned with the best individual metal tracks each year then Ratt would surely be in the top 3 this year, instead of dicing it up around the top 20. The song and the band of course, were another metal band that certainly touched gold when it came to radio and MTV as “Round and Round” was played constantly and become one of the most recognizable tracks of its time. When I drew up this year’s list I was kind of determined to squeeze in the Ratt debut despite its shortcomings, for the simple reason that the album is such an energetic highlight of the early glam metal scene and also one of its biggest sellers along with Quiet Riot’s
Metal Health.
Out of the Cellar is currently certified as a triple platinum album, so that speaks volumes of its impact around this time and on glam metal in general.
Out of the Cellar as said is really about just one track “Round and Round” but there are certainly a few others that are worthy of being let out of the ‘Ratt Cage’ and these include album opener “Wanted Man” whose lyrics would go nicely on an Alice Cooper album and "Lack of Communication" which is an addictive melodic-muscle bound track and a favourite of mine. Then there is the single sounding "Back for More" which is not great but its chorus and opening guitar riff are top drawer stuff and finally "Scene of the Crime" which flows well, despite having some more of the band's silly lyrics....which though can still be fun. Overall the album has three saving graces that ultimately grant its inclusion here 1) A musical energy that approaches Motley Crue. 2) Stephen Pearcy’s addictive voice is just so distinctive. 3) Round and Round…… need I say more. Finally Ratt kind of remind me of fellow American west coast band the Knack, who several years earlier had been one of the highlights of the American new wave scene but ended up being just a one trick pony, as they had nothing that could match “My Sharona” in terms of quality and in many ways Ratt suffered the same fate, as they had nothing that could really match “Round and Round” in their glamster locker.
Stephen Pearcy- Vocals
Warren DeMartini- Guitar
Robbin Crosby- Guitar
Juan Croucier- Bass
Bobby Blotzer- Drums
Production- Beau Hill