Ratt formed in San Diego, California, in 1977, when vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stephen Pearcy started a band called Mickey Ratt with lead guitarist Chris Hager, bassist Tim Garcia and drummer Bob Eisenberg . In 1980, the band moved to Los Angeles to increase their chances of signing a recording contract with a major label, and later that year guitarist Jake E. Lee joined and the band recorded a single called "Dr. Rock/Drivin' on E," which was given to fans at their early Los Angeles club shows . By 1982 the group had shortened its name to Ratt and locked in the lineup that would carry them to stardom, with guitarist Warren DeMartini, guitarist Robbin Crosby, bassist Juan Croucier and drummer Bobby Blotzer joining Pearcy to form what became known as the "classic lineup," honing a sound built on 1970s hard rock and glam rock influences such as Aerosmith, Sweet, Van Halen and Kiss, fused with heavier touches from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest .
The band's true breakthrough came with its debut full length, Out of the Cellar, released in early 1984. Featuring the classic lineup of Pearcy, DeMartini, Crosby, Croucier and Blotzer, Ratt exploded onto the national scene in 1984, with the lead single "Round And Round" hitting No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the album itself reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 and was certified triple platinum . The record's momentum carried the band into a major world tour, and after its release the band went on a world tour, selling out stadiums and arenas worldwide while sharing stages with acts such as Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue and Twisted Sister . Ratt kept the streak going through the mid-1980s, as their commercial success continued with the releases of Invasion of Your Privacy in 1985 and Dancing Undercover in 1986 , cementing them as one of the defining acts of the era's glam metal boom.
Ratt's momentum eventually slowed as musical tastes shifted, but the band pushed forward with new material and shifting personnel. Their 1990 album Detonator marked a notable turn, as it peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 and went gold, becoming the first Ratt album to feature major outside songwriting contributions from Desmond Child and Diane Warren, along with guest appearances from Jon Bon Jovi and Michael Schenker . The band also found their way into film soundtracks, releasing the single "Nobody Rides For Free" from the hit film Point Break, starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, in 1991 . In the decades that followed, the band toured and recorded sporadically from the 1990s to 2021 with many extended breaks and line-up changes, releasing their final studio album, Infestation, in April 2010 . Tragedy struck the classic lineup when guitarist Robbin Crosby, whose struggles were well documented, passed away, as persistent internal conflicts, exacerbated by Crosby's heroin addiction and death from AIDS-related complications in 2002, led to frequent lineup changes and legal disputes over the band name .
Ratt ultimately wound down as an active touring unit in the early 2020s, with the band going on hiatus since 2022, at which point it consisted of Pearcy, Juan Croucier, lead guitarist Jordan Ziff, drummer Pete Holmes and rhythm guitarist Frankie Lindia . Even in retirement, their catalog has found new life; in late 2024, decades after its original release, Ratt's debut album Out of the Cellar reached Billboard's Top Album Sales chart for the first time, forty years after it was first released . The band's legacy as trailblazers of the Sunset Strip sound remains firmly intact, having been recognized, along with friendly rivals Motley Crue, as instrumental in the formation of the early 1980s Los Angeles glam metal scene, also known as "hair metal" or "pop metal" .
For this archive, Ratt occupies a modest but meaningful place in Wayne Dennon's concert photography collection. Wayne photographed the band during a single show in 2008, capturing a moment from their long touring history, and the 22 photographs from that night remain preserved here as part of his ongoing documentation of live rock music. Visitors to the archive have returned to those images time and again, with photos of Ratt viewed 17,681 times, a quiet testament to the enduring pull of a band that helped define an entire era of hard rock.
