We mostly associate glam metal, also known as hair metal, with the latter half of the 80s. But a Los Angeles band named Ratt helped to kick off the craze a little bit earlier than that. Their single \u201cRound And Round\u201d brought the sound to the mainstream in 1984.<\/p>\n
The song highlighted the band\u2019s combination of vocal power, guitar pyrotechnics, and swaggering attitude. In many ways, it set the template for the huge musical trend to come.<\/p>\n
LA Heroes<\/p>\n
If you were going to make it in the hard rock\/heavy metal genre in the 80s, it certainly helped if you were from Los Angeles. A preponderance of the groups that dominated the charts and MTV in the latter half of the decade hailed from Southern California. That included Ratt, headquartered on the Sunset Strip during their heyday.<\/p>\n
To their credit, however, this was not a band that latched onto a craze. Rather, they helped to start it. After all, the origins of the band began with Stephen Pearcy, the lead singer, forming bands with various names in the mid-70s. At some point, one of those outfits was called Crystal Ratt, shortened to just Ratt circa 1977.<\/p>\n
Jake E. Lee, who\u2019d go on to become Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s lead guitarist, was briefly a part of the band. The classic lineup of Ratt began to materialize with the addition of guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini in the early 80s. A 1983 EP initiated a major label deal, which led to their debut album, Out Of The Cellar, in 1984.<\/p>\n
A \u201cRound\u201d Number<\/p>\n
Ratt actually had \u201cRound And Round\u201d in the hopper when they made their EP. But they didn\u2019t think highly enough of it to include it. When Beau Hill, who was producing Out Of The Cellar, heard it, he insisted it had hit potential.<\/p>\n
The song came from guitarists DeMartini and Crosby trading guitar and melodic ideas via cassettes, with Pearcy overseeing it all. As for the lyrics, Pearce based them on the band\u2019s activities on the streets of LA. He added a romantic element to tie things together.<\/p>\n
A video of the song grabbed some attention for starring television legend Milton Berle, uncle of the band\u2019s manager, along with a lot of rampaging rodents. \u201cRound And Round\u201d was one of the first songs with the glam metal vibe to break down the doors at radio, landing at No. 12 in 1984.<\/p>\n
Exploring the Lyrics of \u201cRound And Round\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of \u201cRound And Round\u201d is devoted to detailing the excitement and recklessness of the nightlife. \u201cTighten up belts, abuse ourselves,\u201d Pearce sneers. \u201cGet in our way, we\u2019ll put you on your shelf.\u201d \u201cThe neon lights are on me tonight,\u201d he beams.<\/p>\n
In the bridge and the chorus, Pearce focuses on a volatile relationship. \u201cI knew right from the start,\u201d he sings. \u201cYou\u2019d put an arrow through my heart.\u201d He holds out hope for a happy ending. \u201c\u2019Round and \u2018round, we\u2019ll all find a way, just give it time,\u201d he promises.<\/p>\n
Even though Ratt enjoyed a highly successful stretch throughout the 80s, their first hit was by far their biggest. \u201cRound And Round\u201d paved the way for all that was to come in the genre Ratt helped to initiate.<\/p>\n
Photo by Ray Garbo\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We mostly associate glam metal, also known as hair metal, with the latter half of the 80s. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,246413,2156],"class_list":["post-554330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-ratt","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}