Ratt's 'Out of the Cellar' Revisited

"I'm all the trouble you need," sings Stephen Pearcy on "I'm Insane," a standout track from Ratt's Out of the Cellar. A runaway train of a song, it radiates danger and desperation, elements in full display throughout this 1984 studio debut. In other words, all the things that made '80s hard rock and metal so great.

Speaking of, danger is a rare commodity in rock now. Ratt's attitude and storylines supplied plenty of it on Out of the Cellar, setting the table for later bands who had an appetite for destruction or fancied themselves "wanted dead or alive." Listening back to this album 41 years later, it reveals itself as Ratt's indisputable masterpiece — a combustible slice of L.A. noir where the stakes are high, the stares are cold and you're in trouble. Out of the Cellar was also a road map for later, starry-eyed Sunset Strip rockers who posed as badasses, but often had more hair than sense. 

Historically, Ratt has been thrown into the "hair metal" pile, but that's just a symptom of the hive mind that thwarts deeper examination and deters people from admitting they like the music. The chart positions and MTV airplay of this flashy brand of rock and roll have disappeared, but there's no denying Gen X's nostalgic grip on the music that soundtracked their youth. Bonfire-lit keggers, school dances, basement parties... these songs time-warp an entire generation back to a time of rebellion and bad decisions. Anyone that considers this music dead in 2025 isn't paying attention to the annual glut of tours, Vegas residencies, festivals, and cruises that promise nothin' but a good time. 

On a similar note, Ratt's songbook has shown impressive durability, so the phrase "last laugh" comes to mind. Most rock fans can't go a day or two without hearing "Round and Round" on the FM airwaves, or even during an insurance commercial. Meanwhile, SiriusXM's "Hair Nation" channel keeps the band's tunes in regular rotation, from "Dance" to "Slip of the Lip" to "Lay It Down." Against all odds, Ratt persists. You're driving, going over the speed limit, hearing these down-and-dirty songs, and they always sound better than you remember. "You're feelin' so young..."

It's unclear whether Pearcy (lead vocals), the late Robbin Crosby (guitar), Warren DeMartini (guitar), Bobby Blotzer (drums), and Juan Croucier (bass) expected their self-branded "Ratt N Roll" to still be a thing four decades later, but here we are. "Goddamn, they don't make'em like they used to," says Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson in the 2008 movie "The Wrestler," dancing in a dive bar to "Round and Round." His companion Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), quickly agrees: "Fuckin' '80s man, best shit ever!" Trust and believe: Some version of this scene plays out daily in real life.

Ratt's career trajectory was different than that of Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses — fellow Sunset Strip hellions that shrieked, riffed and crashed into outrageous fame and fortune — but their mindset, gunslinger narratives and fierce musical synthesis has been emulated more than they're given credit for. The group's aesthetics (Pearcy's eyeliner and pirate chic, cribbed from Adam Ant), pop hooks, and Thin Lizzy-style two-guitar attack also set them apart. This gang of five got in your face, switchblade brothers singing the city boy blues. 

Given the reckless, "no tomorrow" lifestyles embodied by so many bands on the '80s Sunset Strip scene, longevity was the last thing to expect. Upon repeated listens, it seems that time has not diminished Out of the Cellar one bit. Forty-one years later, this Beau Hill-produced LP remains lethal and cinematic. You think Ratt's kidding? You want a piece of this? Wanna step outside? Not advisable. "I live in jungles and live with knives," Pearcy warns on "You're in Trouble." On the band's legendary hit single "Round and Round," the threat is real, and the business is risky: "Get in our way, we'll put you on your shelf."

Like a shark smelling Aqua Net and spandex in the water, the Reagan-era music industry foisted a lot of questionable, calculated product onto the marketplace. That fact makes the diamonds in the rough worth celebrating and revisiting. In that spirit, here's a song-by-song overview of Out of the Cellar:

1. "Wanted Man"

A statement of purpose and a slow-boiling self-assessment, Ratt frame themselves as Old West vigilantes here, all cowboy hats, bandannas, and cold steel. They're a posse of whiskey-swilling Doc Hollidays, ready to dish out some frontier justice at the O.K. Corral (or maybe at Gazzarri's?). "I've got you / Well in my sights," Pearcy sings as the musical tension builds. The whole deal's a pulse-quickening standoff, with Blotzer's drums galloping along until a rapid drum fill evokes a spray of bullets, and white-hot guitar notes leave a smoking gun.

2. "You're In Trouble"

In the jungle three years before way-cool William Bruce Rose, Jr., Pearcy and gang ooze menace on this second track. "You're In Trouble" slithers in from the shadows with an insistent bassline, not unlike a later track 2: Appetite for Destruction's "It's So Easy." Alas, it's not easy for Ratt's human quarry: "We're gonna get you / What you gonna do?" This one's a lit fuse, heading toward detonation.

3. "Round and Round"

Ratt's biggest hit, "Round and Round" is certainly notable for its main riff and catchy chorus. But under those surfaces resides pragmatism and bruised wisdom. A jaded Romeo and reluctant Juliet dance around the inevitable: "I knew right from the start / You'd put an arrow through my heart." The can-you-dig-it truths ("What comes around, goes around") and life lessons ("Love will find a way, just give it time") suggest a morality and nobility uncommon in this realm. Setting the PMRC aghast, W.A.S.P. set out to "fuck like a beast" and Mötley Crüe wanted "a piece of your action," but here's a squad of ruffians effectively channeling the message of the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love." Any explanation about the success and endurance of this song would have to take those pop instincts into account.   

4. "In Your Direction"

As Out of the Cellar chugs down the tracks, it handles all manner of dangerous curves. On this song (which dates back to Pearcy's earlier, San Diego-based group Mickey Ratt), the narrator's a midnight rider and needs to ramble on, but still can't escape the emotional pull of someone he left behind. The scuff-and-squeal, harmonic-laden interplay of Crosby and DeMartini's guitars deliver an emotional weather report. You can run, but you can't hide.

5. "She Wants Money"

"She's like a razor cuttin' through the air" is a vivid way to describe someone, and it's fair to say that the lyrics, "You wanna play / You gotta pay" aren't about the band-booking policy at the Whisky or Roxy. All that aside, the band pushes the vocal harmonies to 11 here, pouring California pop sugar over a bitter pill. There's a surge of energy at the two minute, 17 second point — a hasty escape in the Ratt-mobile. The band shifts into sixth gear, speeding West on Sunset past Doheny Drive, wind in their hair and occupational hazards on their mind.

6. "Lack of Communication"

A dark horse candidate for Ratt's best song, "Lack of Communication" is an urgent dispatch from young men trying to make sense of the world as they chase their dreams. There's a mix of defiance and social commentary here that still resonates. The line "... no one's gonna change us at all" is totally punk rock, while lyrics like "Too many problems the world can't solve / Too many people, no one wants to be involved" veer into '60s folk territory. And speaking of genres, Ratt's influence apparently extends into "alternative" and one of its key players, Jane's Addiction's Dave Navarro. In 2019, Pearcy and Navarro both appeared on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" show, playing an acoustic version of "Lack of Communication" together. Navarro, posting on Instagram later that day, warmly recalled ditching high school with his buddy Stephen Perkins to go see Ratt, also adding of Pearcy, "This guy was one of our inspirations back in the day!"

7. "Back For More"

Another standout on this LP, "Back for More" starts with some spare guitar, but it's an uneasy vibe that gives way to a Sabbath-heavy sledgehammer riff. The music swings to and fro, a soundtrack to the tug of war going on in a Hollywood love triangle. "You turn him away, girl, you know you're mine," Pearcy sings. She returns to the Sunset Strip, realizing the grass isn't greener. 

8. "The Morning After"

"I'm just what you need / Won't you give it a try?" Their name's on the marquee, and Ratt's embracing their sexual magnetism and one-night-only timetable. There's a "Crazy Train"-like propulsion here, because these Hollywood vampires have no time to lose. They'll be gone by sunrise. 

9. "I'm Insane"

If there's one song you'd play for someone who's never heard this album, and it's not "Round and Round," track 9 is a fine Cellar choice. Danger, tension, release — it's all here, courtesy of Crosby, who brought this stick of TNT from his previous band Mac Meda over to Ratt. Press play, and it hurtles toward you like a locomotive. It's one of the band's classic deep cuts, turbulent and theatrical. The situation is dire: "I can't remember my number / I can't remember your name / I can't remember all the trouble I'm in," the straitjacketed narrator confides, eventually accepting his condition: "...there's no helping me." It's Quiet Riot's Metal Health cover art and Christopher Nolan's thriller Memento rolled into one. 

10. "Scene of the Crime"

Even glam-rockers get the blues. In songs ranging from "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" to "Hey Joe" to Robert Cray's "Smoking Gun," a woman's clearly done her man wrong. "Scene of the Crime" mines this familiar territory. "You've been out / And I've been cheated," Pearcy snarls, adding "Well, I've been lied to again and again." Tough news to process, but then again, Out of the Cellar positions Ratt as embedded journalists in an L.A. wasteland, filing after-hours reports from the edge. Their music and narratives would fit right into filmmaker Michael Mann's "Los Angeles at night" criminal universe — the shootouts and desperate men of Heat, and Collateral, where coyotes roam and cold predators lie in wait on Fountain Avenue. 

It's all very Hollywood, so it's fitting, then, that "Scene of the Crime" fades out in its waning seconds. Chiming guitar notes float upward like dying sparks, adding to the drama, but oddly conveying hope, too — a new chapter. Writer David Huron described such song fades as "a gesture toward the infinite." In other words, "Ratt N Roll" is forever.  "We're gonna go / But then we'll see you again..."

Stephen Pearcy will be on tour in 2025, with several shows including original Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini. Pearcy/DeMartini shows are also an "Invasion Celebration," celebrating 40 years of the Ratt album Invasion of Your Privacy.  Dates as follows:

Jun 10
PEARCY / DEMARTINI - Las Vegas VAMP'D / Count's Vamp'd Rock Bar & Grill

Jun 14
Fallsview Casino Resort- Niagara Falls, Canada / Fallsview Casino Resort

Jul 17
California Mid State Fair - Paso Robles, CA / Paso Robles Event Center

Jul 19
Clearfield County Fair- Clearfield, PA / Clearfield County Fair & Park

Jul 24
The Mercury Ballroom - Louisville, KY / Mercury Ballroom

Jul 25
Rock The Block - Wilmington, OH / Wilmington

Jul 26
PEARCY/DEMARTINI at Rock the Dam 8 / Beaver Dam, KY

Aug 01
Iconic Voices of Rock - Boston, MA / MGM Music Hall at Fenway

Aug 02
Iconic Voices of Rock - Bangor, Maine / Maine Savings Amphitheater

Aug 03
Iconic Voices of Rock - Bethal, NY / Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Aug 16
PEARCY/ DEMARTINI- New Buffalo, MI / Four Winds Casino New Buffalo

Aug 17
PEARCY/ DEMARTINI - St Charles, IL / Arcada Theatre

Aug 23
PEARCY / DEMARTINI - 4 Bears Casino, North Dakota / 4 Bears Casino & Lodge

Aug 30
PEARCY /DEMARTINI- Anaheim, CA / Grove of Anaheim

Aug 31
PEARCY / DEMARTINI - Ridgefield, WA / ilani hotel

Sep 12
Rock The Lights Festival - West Fargo, ND / The Lights

Sep 13
Vetter Stone Amphitheater - Mankato, MN / Vetter Stone Amphitheater

Oct 17
PEARCY / DEMARTINI- St. Petersburg, FL / Ferg's Sports Bar & Grill

Nov 03
PEARCY/ DEMARTINI- Cancun, Mexico, The Sands Rocks Festival - Nov 3-8

Out of the Cellar album photo by Barry Levine