Synopses & Reviews
Women. Spandex. Drugs. Hair spray. . . . Welcome to heavy metal rock and#8217;nand#8217; roll, circa 1980, when all you needed was the right look, burning ambition, and a chance. Stephen Pearcy and supergroup Ratt hit the bulland#8217;s-eye. What they did with their fame and fortune is a riotous tale of . . .andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;SEX, DRUGS, RATT andlt;bandgt;and andlt;/bandgt;ROLLandlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Pearcy was a scrawny, horny, thrill-seeking teenager with an electric guitar who had graduated from backyard parties in San Diego to half-empty dives in Los Angeles before he and his band broke through at Whiskey a Go Go. Cranking out metal just as metal got hot, Ratt was the perfect band at the perfect time, and their hit single and#8220;Round and Roundand#8221; became a top-selling anthem. The bigger Ratt got, the more excessive Pearcy and his and#8220;pussy piratesand#8221; became. There was nothing these guys wouldnand#8217;t snort, drink, bed, or break. And the fans were just as bad, as husbands and mothers offered up nubile wives and daughters as tribute to their rock and#8217;nand#8217; roll idols.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;On a journey that could happen only in America, Pearcy met everyone from Michael Jackson to Drew Barrymore (at age twelve, at a New York nightclub, at 2 a.m.) to Rodney Dangerfield. His infamous partner-in-crime, Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby, a blond Viking with an unsurpassed appetite for drugs and women, cuts a towering and tragic figure throughout.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;As Ratt scrambled up a wall of fame and wealth, so they experienced the gut-wrenching free fall, after too many hours in buses, planes, and limos; too many women; too many drugs; and all the personality clashes and ego trips that marked the beginning of the end. Pearcy offers a stunningly honest selfportrait of a man running on the fumes of ambition and loneliness as the party crashed. His rock and#8217;nand#8217; roll confessional, by turns incredible, hilarious, and lyrical, is a story of survivaland#8212;and a search for the things that matter most.
Review
"Very funny and loaded with tales of [Stephen's] many sexual conquests, funny stories about his bandmates, other musical contemporaries of his era and some very unusual first encounters with many of them."
Synopsis
A jaw-dropping tell-all from the lead singer of the 1980s supergroup Ratt: the groupies, the trashed hotel rooms, the drugs—and just how much you can get away with when you’re one of the biggest hair metal stars of all time.In the mid-1980s, Ratt, alongside Motley Crüe, Poison, and Quiet Riot, were laying down the riffs and unleashing the scissor kicks that would herald the arrival of music’s most flamboyantly debauched era. Now with Sex, Drugs, Ratt and Roll, Ratt frontman and chief rabble-rouser Stephen Pearcy divulges all the dirty details of the era when big-haired bands ruled the world.
Stephen was primed for a life of excess from an early age—his father died of a heroin overdose when he was twelve, and by the age of fifteen, Stephen was himself a drug addict. When Stephen met the thrill-seeking Robbin Crosby, he knew he’d found his perfect partner in crime—both in music and partying. Ratt’s 1984 debut single, “Round and Round,” became one of the top-selling metal songs of all time, but it was the band’s off-stage escapades that were the stuff of legend. “Our tour bus is like our pirate ship, it’s where we rape and pillage,” said Pearcy in 1987. Now Pearcy’s memoir reveals all the rock star excess—the partying, the women, the $2,000-a-day drug habits—letting fans see into this harrowing hair-metal lifestyle and what it’s really like behind the scenes when you’re a rock star.
About the Author
Stephen Pearcy, founder, lead singer and songwriter of the popular rock band Ratt, led his band to critical praise and multi-platinum success. Formed in Los Angeles in 1982 from the remains of his band Mickey Ratt, Ratt was known for their flamboyant appearance and rebellious attitude. Pearcy currently lives in Los Angeles.