The Collection: Ep. 74 – Everything RATT with Deke from The Distortion Den

This week on The Collection, my buddy Deke from The Distortion Den joins me to talk everything Ratt!! We start with the debut album all the way up to Stephen Pearcy’s latest release and as much as we can in between. We show off Vinyl, CDs, Cassettes, Singles and even a book. Nothing is off limits as long as it relates to Ratt. And that even includes some Stephen Pearcy side projects such as Arcade and even some of his solo albums. Sit back and join us for this hour long conversation that any Ratt fan will enjoy!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight, September 22, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

The Collection: Ep. 58 – May 2025 Wrap-Up

I know it isn’t the end of the month yet, but we are doing our Wrap-Up for May anyway. So for now, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is May 2025 and we have a little vinyl, a whole lot of CDs and even a book. So much to go through including several new Rock Candy CDs in the collection, a new item for the Kiss collection and a couple Box Sets. Lots of great new and old stuff to go through and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, May 26, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And in case you can’t watch it for whatever reason that is not a good enough excuse, here is everything…

‘Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life in Rock’ – A Memoir By Stephen Pearcy with Sam Benjamin – Book Review

I’m a huge Ratt fan as the first series the site ever did was a Ratt one where we reviewed every Ratt album in their discography (and my collection). A big part of that is because I like Stephen Pearcy. So when I was in Los Angeles and saw a book by Stephen Pearcy called ‘Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life in Rock’, I had to grab it. Now, Stephen didn’t write it by himself, he had the help of Sam Benjamin. But the two together crafted a book that was an easy, entertaining read and I like easy. And you will notice down below, the copy I picked up had been signed by Stephen back in 2018 which I didn’t notice until I got back home. Pretty cool!!

The story opens with birth of his daughter and him going to rehab, then quickly jumps back to his childhood. He was a typical kid, parents divorced when he was young so he didn’t now his Dad very well and raised by a single mom. He had to move from L.A. to San Diego when he was young and didn’t fit in with the scene. He found some hippie type friends and got in to drugs and drinking at a young age. He was hit by a car and both legs broken and was in rehab in the hospital for months on end and took a long time to recover.

When he finally discovered music, that became his motivation, his drive, his obsession. He knew he was going to make it and did everything in his power to make it happen. He met David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen early on when that band was getting ready to break and there are some fun stories with that. And with a book called Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll, you get all of that and then some. Most of the book is about his sex addiction and his drug addiction and after awhile that does get old because how many times can you talk about getting trim and not just sound like it is on repeat. He gets a lot and constantly. Stephen is a giant man-child who can’t commit to anything or anyone except the addictions, but his drive to be a rock star was insane.

Continue reading “‘Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll: My Life in Rock’ – A Memoir By Stephen Pearcy with Sam Benjamin – Book Review”

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in February?

You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple! Now, if you want to cast more than one vote, comment on the Twitter and Facebook post and you could get up to 3 votes on your favorite pick.

There are no longer rules for my selections, maybe themes.  I’m just picking albums in my collection and this time they are all from the 90’s. I’m not a huge fan of the 90’s so my collection is limited and don’t expect grunge. What are the 5 albums you ask?  I have them right here…

   Saigon Kick – ‘The Lizard’ (1992)

   Queensryche – ‘Hear in the Now Frontier’ (1997)

   Stryper – ‘Against the Law’ (1990)Apparently I’ve reviewed this so don’t pick it. My memory sucks!!

   Arcade – ‘Arcade’ (1993)

   Collective Soul – ‘Collective Soul’ (1995)

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in February, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!!

My Sunday Song – “Mother Blues” by Ratt

For My Sunday Song #255, we talk through the song “Mother Blues” by Ratt of their interesting 1997 album ‘Collage’. “Collage’ was an album of alternate recordings, B-sides and versions of songs from the band’s early period of Mickey Ratt. “Mother Blues” was written solely by Stephen Pearcy and this was originally an early Ratt demo that Stephen would later released with his band Arcade back in 1993 after Ratt disbanded for a short time.

The song is pretty deep actually. It seems to be about a man who never knew his father and for that, he feels he will never know truly who himself until he understands his dad. Why did he do the things he did, the choices he made and he was incomplete until he knew the story. I think there might be some truth to it in that understanding where one comes from helps you see the path on where you are going.

The song is an acoustic, blues song and it is sensational.  It drips with the blues and too bad the band didn’t dive deeper down this road. The sonics and vibe of this song shows a real maturity the band has never really had prior.  I am not truly convinced it would’ve really worked on any Ratt album which is probably why it was never released.  However, it would’ve bee cool exploring that side more. It is one of my favorites on this album.  Stephen’s vocals really fit the blues as he has a voice that sounds like it has been through a lot. Stephen would later release this song once again on his 2007 solo album Rocky Kandy.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Mother Blues” by Ratt”

December 2020 Purchases – Vinyls & CDs

We are at the final month of 2020 and thank the Heavens. I hope 2021 sees an end to Covid, but not an end to my music buying. This month we have another treasure trove of stuff I have obtained over not just the month, but the last 6 months as a couple things I ordered in prior months finally arrived. And being December, there is everything I got for Christmas that is music related.

First up this month are a couple things I bought back in April/May timeframe, right when Covid started. My brother saw these on the Facebook market from a friend of his and knew I would like it so I told him I wanted them and he bought them (I paid him back of course). I told him to hold them and I would be down to Atlanta soon and boy was I wrong. We are now in December and I haven’t been down. I eventually asked him to mail them. I got another Kiss Tour Book and this was from the Alive/Worldwide Tour (1996-97) and the other is The Ultimate Kiss Fanzine Phenomenon 1976-2009 hard back book. They are both awesome and will be reviewed in detail in 2021.

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Ratt – ‘Collage’ – Album Review

After the disappointing sales of their album ‘Detonator’, Ratt seemed to be falling apart.  Robbin Crosby would leave the band due to his substance abuse problem and the dominos would fall from there.  The band went on “hiatus” in 1992 and it felt like the band was done.  Well, the weren’t just year.

In 1997, reunion talks began with the five original members.  However, Robbin Crosby developed HIV due to his substance abuse problem and was in no shape to carry-on.  Juan Croucier would soon afterwards decide he didn’t want to re-join the band.  So that left Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini and Bobby Blotzer and they decided to continue as Ratt and the set out to go on tour.  Before they did that, the decision was made to release a compilation album of B-sides, alternate recordings and even re-work some old Mickey Ratt tunes.

I wasn’t planning on reviewing any compilation albums in my Ratt Review Series, but this one was different as it wasn’t a greatest hits collection.  Being that most of the songs haven’t been on any Ratt album, I decided it was worth getting a review of it’s own.  I will warn you, this is a collection of songs that is strictly for Ratt fans.

RATT-Collage-CD-1997-DeRock-Records-10-Tracks-EXCELLENT-_1

Continue reading “Ratt – ‘Collage’ – Album Review”