This is an album I'm sure my handful of readers out there weren't expecting, and in fairness, it wasn't even on my radar until very recently. To go a step further, I have a list of 30 albums from 1984 from which I'm working, and Out of the Cellar isn't on that list.
So, why, you may be asking, am I writing about Out of the Cellar? The reasons are as follows:
Several years ago, after dropping my older son off at his fencing class, I had the radio on and Ratt's big hit "Round and Round" came on. I was surprised that not only did I know all (or most) of the lyrics, but I was actually enjoying the song.
"Round and Round" came up in a conversation I had and I was happy to learn the person I was talking to also a champion of "Round and Round." Underneath the glam metal dressing, the song is simply a killer pop tune with a catchy chorus. If you hear this song on the radio, it's an immediate earworm.
The third reason I decided to discuss this album is that glam metal was enormous in the '80s, and though I think a lot of it is crap, there are a few albums that have held up (at least to some degree) over the years. Out of the Cellar is one of those records.
Okay, now here's where I talk about ways in which the album has not aged well. Would you like a side order of misogyny with your serving of shredding guitar solos and pop metal choruses? Comin' right up! "She Wants Money" finds our horndog protagonist bringing home a young hottie only to discover she's a...sex worker, perhaps? Or maybe she's just a "material girl" who is not willing to hook up with this guy unless he has some dough, and as he explains to the listener, he has none. So the girl is gone for greener pastures.
In "Scene of the Crime," our guy arrives at his girlfriend's house only to discover the "cold-hearted [b-word]" is cheating on him. Needless to say, he is none too thrilled about this development and there is a threat of violence. So, yeah, a bit problematic.
What saves these songs is they are catchy as all get out and one can easily listen to them and enjoy them without paying any attention to the lyrics...but maybe this is only the case if one is a slightly nostalgic Gen Xer and not someone younger. I'm not sure how millennials or Gen Zers would respond to Ratt. I suspect they'd find the music anachronistic.
So I'm talking about feeling nostalgic about this album. The truth is, I didn't like Ratt back in the '80s. I thought they were hopelessly cheesy, though clearly "Round and Round" burrowed into my brain and never left. After the dust has settled forty years later, I have an oddly warm feeling for the era of '80s glam metal and I find this album to be the best and most enduring representation of that musical niche.
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