REISSUES
We’re all familiar with the Big Four of the 1980s thrash metal scene: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth. (Wot, no Exodus? – Ed.) Less lauded are the Big Four of the 1980s hair-metal ruckus. Maybe that’s because there were – and in many cases still are – so many of these Aqua Net-ed ne’er-do-wells, and they all looked, to cop a few words from Squeeze, the bleedin’ same. With (no) apologies to Kix and Slaughter, Warrant and Cinderella, this writer’s top-of-the-hirsute-pops would be: Mötley Crüe, Poison, Britny Fox – because they had the highest alleged hair of anyone – and Ratt. (Wot, no D’Molls? – Ed.)
For a while there, with the classic roster of frontman Stephen Pearcy, guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini, bassist Juan Croucier and drummer Bobby Blotzer, Ratt were untouchable. (Isn’t Bobby Blotzer the greatest name for a drummer, ever? Closely followed by Les Binks.) Ratt’s razor-toothed peak arrived in July 1985, with second album It still sounds tremendous today. As the Editor of at the time, I remember rarely leaving the office stereo. It was the soundtrack to our summerand while beneath our windows the tourists were running for
