Tag: Juan Croucier

My Sunday Song – “Tell the World” by Ratt

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For My Sunday Song #256, we will tell the world about the song “Tell The World” by Ratt off their 1983 debut E.P. simply called “Ratt”. The song was written by Robbin Crosby and Stephen Pearcy and would later wind up on the band’s greatest hits album ‘Ratt & Roll 81-91’ which was probably when I first heard it as I didn’t get in to the band until their debut album. The song was never released as a single but was one of the better songs on the E.P. and therefore worth making the greatest hits cut.

Lyrically, the song seems to be about a girl that was using the singer and he was starting to catch on so she told him to leave. He has realized her games and is moving on. He is growing stronger and ready to take on the world and keep her out of his life. As he gets more famous he knows he will get used, but he is ready so tell the world that he won’t be played for a fool. I don’t really know what it means exactly, but that is what I get out of it. You can get out of it what you want.

“Tell the World” is the opening song on Side Two of the E.P. and is very raw and rough track which is the very reason I like it.  It isn’t over-produced and left for what it is.  The guitars and sound feel like Ratt that you know from “Out of the Cellar”. It has some pounding drums from Bobby Blotzer and the guitar work of Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby sound both gritty and hungry. I also like Stephen’s scream during the song which is followed by the guitar solo.  It is a great little rock track and shows the real potential of what was to come with the band.

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My Sunday Song – “Lay It Down” by Ratt

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For My Sunday Song #254, we are going to explore the song “Lay It Down” by Ratt off the band’s 1985 album ‘Invasion of Your Privacy’. The song broke the Top 40 and landed at #40 on the Hot 100. This helped the album sell over 2,000,000 copies and push the band to super stardom after they massively successful debut album. The song is one of the few that is credited to every member of the band except for Bobby Blotzer. He doesn’t have any writing credits on this album.

The song is not very deep lyrically. It basically sums up to trying to getting some female action. It does talk about how she doesn’t really know him and that she might not even care. They play the game of romance but she won’t get to see the real him until they are in the sheets having some fun and letting themselves go completely. I’m sorry there isn’t much more to it than that, but Ratt never claimed to be Bob Dylan now did they.

Musically though, it is a fantastic song. That opening guitar riff from Warren DeMartini is one of the best they’ve ever done. Bobby Blotzer’s drums are hard and heavy and he lays down a cool groove along with Juan Croucier on bass. The song is typical 80’s rock, but Ratt has a way of putting a blues edge to it with both Robbin Crosby and Warren’s playing. It helped set Ratt apart from some of the other bands. The song is also a little on the sleazy side which fits well with the lyrics. Stephen Pearcy’s gritty vocals bring the sleaze to the forefront, but when he whispers that last verse, he shows a softer, sexier side that helps catapult the song to the next level.

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My Sunday Song – “Way Cool Jr.” by Ratt

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For My Sunday Song #252, we are going to go through “Way Cool Jr.” by Ratt. The song is off their 1988 album ‘Reach for the Sky” which was produced by legendary Beau Hill. The song was the first single off the album and didn’t really light the world on fire. It only went to #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 so no Top 40 for this one. The band was on the downslope of their career but it was songs like this that still kept me interested in the band.

The song was written by Stephen Pearcy, William DeMartini and Beau Hill. It seems to be about a handsome fella that was living his best life and thought he was so cool and that all the women loved him. He was slick, charismatic and probably wore sunglasses inside. He wasn’t a good guy though as he was a drug dealer and getting everyone high. The lyrics make you think he is a blues guitarist, but he is serving something else. It shows the glamours side and the seedy side and is full of contradictions. There has even rumors that the song is about Robbin Crosby who was deep in to the throes of heroin by this point.

Now there is also a possibility this song is about Elvis as he came from Memphis and was really cool guy hanging with the blues crowd that is where he got that sound. He is good-looking and the women love him. Either way, it is pretty cool.

Musically, the song is pure blues rock and roll from the gritty slide guitars by Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby and Bobby Blotzer playing the harmonica and cleaning things with his washboard. Juan Croucier is laying down a funky rhythm on bass and Steven Pearcy struts around on the vocals laying out his coolness for the world to hear. It is a cheesy, over the top song and for me this wasn’t your typical 80’s glam song, it had a little more style and depth musically.

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My Sunday Song – “Body Talk” by Ratt

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For My Sunday Song #251, we are kicking off a 10 song set of Ratt songs. And to shake it up, I am going to pick one song from each release (they had 9) and soundtrack song not on any studio album. First up will be “Body Talk” off the band’s 1986 album ‘Dancing Undercover’. The song was released as a single in Japan only but it had a video on MTV in the US because it was used in the Eddie Murphy movie ‘Golden Child’ (Note, this is not the soundtrack song I mentioned earlier). I don’t believe the song charted, but it was in very heavy rotation on MTV which was all I was listening to any way at this point in my life.

The song is credited to Warren DeMartini, Stephen Pearcy and Juan Croucier as each had a part to play. Warren had the cool ass riff, Stephen who maybe came up with the title and Juan who really did all the heavy lifting. No one was able to do anything with the song and under a one day turnaround due date, Juan took the song and came up with all the vocal melodies and basically all the lyric as well. I guess he works well under pressure.

The song is about sex, what else, but it is that driving guitar riff by Warren that is killer. It is almost speed metal fast. Bobby Blotzer’s drum beat is super fast and the driving force behind the song. With the dynamic duo of Warren and Robbin Crosby on guitar you get some wonderful guitar work as well. Stephen’s raspy vocals sound great here. He is the emotion and the heart of the song as delivers the lyrics quick and effortlessly. The band captured some massive energy and gave one of their best performances captured on an album.

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Ratt – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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For most of 2018, I have been reviewing all the Ratt albums from the Ratt E.P. in 1983 all the way to 2010’s Infestation. It has been an enjoyable ride walking through the history of the band, all the ups and the downs, the good and the bad and loving every minute of it (wait that is Loverboy)…and loving watching the wax or cd spinning round and round (much better).

Ratt has been a love/hate relationship.  While I love most of what they do, they don’t always deliver the goods and I tried to be as honest as I could be throughout the review processes.  I believe I was brutal where I needed to be and kissed their ass when it deserved it as well.  I hear they band is planning a new album in 2019 and when it comes I will review it in detail like the others and I will update this list and put it where it belongs among the classics or the crap.

You can go back and read each review in detail by just clicking on the album title.  This ranking will be just a summary of the good and bad of each album.  I hope you enjoy.

THE WORST – RATT (1999):

The hardest review of them all to write. I couldn’t connect to this album when it came out or even now.  The production quality was horrible; Stephen’s vocals needed some cleanup and weren’t always up to par; the double guitar of Ratt of old was gone and so the songs were missing that punch; and overall it was just bad.

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Ratt – ‘Collage’ – Album Review

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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.

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Ratt – ‘Detonator’ – Album Review

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The year is 1990 and we are getting to the end of the Hair Metal era, but at the time, no one knew that end was coming.  Ratt released their fifth album in August of 1990 and it brings us to the end the long running stream of Platinum albums.  It is also the last Ratt album with the line-up that has been on all 5 of their albums.

  • Stephen Pearcy – vocals
  • Robbin Crosby – lead guitar
  • Warren DeMartini – lead guitar
  • Juan Croucier – bass guitar
  • Bobby Blotzer – drums

After the disappointing reception for ‘Reach for the Sky’ (although it did go Platinum), the band needed to make a change.  That change was not to use Beau Hill as producer on the next album as he had produced all previous albums to much success.  The band (or label) brought in powerhouse songwriter Desmond Child.  You know Desmond…he had great success writing with Kiss, Aerosmith and a few Bon Jovi classics.

And did he ever get involved in the songwriting as he has writing credits on 10 of the 11 tracks on the album.  Not only did Desmond assist with songwriting, he was also the executive producer along with Sir Arthur Payson.  While Ratt did maintain the classic Ratt sound which was a little bluesy and little sleazy, the songs were much more polished and contained more hooks than a fisherman’s tackle box.  It definitely leaned to a more Glam rock image than prior albums.

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Ratt – ‘Reach For the Sky’ – Album Review

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We are now up to the fourth studio album by Ratt called ‘Reach for the Sky’.  The album was released on November 1, 1988 and as the predecessors, it also reached Platinum status. The only difference was that the critics really did not like this album.  It has been said this was the worst of their albums so far.  I personally disagree.

Yes, the album is a little hit or miss at times, but overall I think the album holds up over time and there are some really great songs on here.  But before we get to the songs, let’s talk about the band and what was going on with them at the time of making this album.

Ratt brought in Mike Stone to produce the album, but due to some sub-standard production work, longtime Ratt producer, Beau Hill, was brought back in to save the day and that is what he did.  This would be the last album the band would do with Beau.

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Ratt – ‘Dancing Undercover’ – Album Review

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Next up in the Ratt album review series is their 3rd studio album, the 1986 album ‘Dancing Undercover’.  The entire band was still in tact and even producer Beau Hill returned for his third album.  The band still consisted of the following:

  • Stephen Pearcy – vocals
  • Robin Crosby – lead guitar
  • Warren DeMartini – lead guitar
  • Juan Croucier – bass
  • Bobby Blotzer – drums

Even though it was the same crew, things were different.  The band decided that they didn’t need a beautiful woman on the cover and opted for pictures of the band members themselves.

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Ratt – Invasion Of Your Privacy – Album Review

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On June 13, 1985, Ratt released their second full length album called ‘Invasion of Your Privacy’.  After the success of their debut ‘Out of the Cellar’, Ratt wasted no time in repeating that formula and delivering another solid album.  The line-up was unchanged.

  • Stephen Pearcy – vocals
  • Robin Crosby – lead guitar
  • Warren DeMartini – lead guitar
  • Juan Croucier – bass
  • Bobby Blotzer – drums

The producer was still Beau Hill. The only thing different was the model on the front cover.  This time around it was Playboy model Marianne Gravatte.  Marianne was Playmate of the Year in 1983 where she was noticed by Stephen Pearcy (and everyone else).  Fun fact…the prior Playmate of the Year was none other than Gene Simmons’ wife, Shannon Tweed.  Marianne also appeared in the video for “Lay It Down” which we will get to later.

The album was not quite as successful as the debut, but it did peak at #7 on the Billboard charts which was the same place ‘Out of the Cellar’ peaked.  The album did go on to sell over 2 million copies.  The album also peaked the interest of the group Parents Music Resource Center which is the Tipper Gore group that looked to censor the music industry.  The group did end up getting Parental Advisory stickers placed on albums with foul language and that contained inappropriate material.

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