Man, Ratt was well ahead of their time!!. The lack of communication between people was the theme and with kids today stuck with their noses in their phone they are truly not communicated. The song is one of the few they have that actually gives some social commentary which really could be talking about teens today. The vibe and style of the song was a little different as there is a techno feel to give it a futuristic sound at least I think that is what they were going for with the sound. The opening guitar riff is awesome and sets the tone. The opening track to Side Two and the third single is the killer “Lack of Communication”. The nice thing about the album is everyone had some part in writing, but Crosby appears to be the main songwriter as he is credited on 7 tracks. It is the only song on the album solely written by Juan Croucier. It is better than the previous song, but still not quite up to snuff with the best tracks on the album. “She Wants Money” is more fun and upbeat with some very fast pacing. The next track and final track on Side One picks things back up. What it does have is more rocking solos by the dynamic duo which helps saves the song. It is not a bad song, but tends to drag a little and doesn’t have the greatest chorus. The song was one he had written back when the band was known as Mickey Ratt. The only song solely written by Stephen Pearcy is up next called “In Your Direction”. It was a strong opening track that gave you a peak into what to expect for the album. In listening to the song you can assume the dual guitars are doing a gun fight so to speak (okay that was cheesy…sorry). The song opens with some heavy drums and although is a rock song, you feel it is a western and the video for the song went with that theme.

The song was the second single for the band and reached #87 on the Hot 100 and #38 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The album kicks off with “Wanted Man” written by Crosby, Pearcy and Joey Cristofanilli who briefly was the bass player for the band before Juan came back into the fold. Thankfully Beau was the producer as who knows how it would’ve turned out with anyone else as what was released was one of the best hard rock albums of the early 80’s. Tom is best know for producing Judas Priest and even Def Leppard’s debut album. According to Beau Hill, famed English producer Tom Allom was supposed to record the album. The album was produced by Beau Hill who has produced albums by Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger and even Europe however, this was one of his first production gigs. For those that didn’t know, Tawny is the video vixen that was dancing on the pair of Jaguars in the Whitesnake videos in the late 80’s when she was dating David Coverdale. Tawny Kitaen graced the cover of the debut album as she was the then girlfriend of Robin Crosby. Take that and add a beautiful woman on the cover your album and there was denying this band. It also didn’t hurt that they looked the part which was crucial for the MTV world that was exploding on the scene at the time. With the incredible dual guitar combo of Crosby & DeMartini and the bluesy, raspiness of Pearcy’s vocals, the band had an arsenal of great songs that took them to the pinnacle of rock and selling millions and millions of records. The band’s line-up was unchanged from the E.P, consisting of the following members: On March 27th, 1984, the album was released and thanks to MTV, the band became a huge sensation. After the success of their self-titled E.P., Ratt signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and that deal brought us the incredible debut album ‘Out of the Cellar’.

Out of the cellar