Battle of the Bands Round #8 Guns VS Ratt

[TVvoodoo]

OK, well that was an absolute ROUT! Another unanimous decision,
a Cinderella story, I tell ya! Total 1st round KO against Winger like it was nothin'

Now the matchup many have been waiting for... Welcome to the Jungle....
Guns 'n Roses vs Ratt

Izzy, Duff, Axl, Stephen and that other feller... total Hollywood sleaze and bad boy excess,

vs Warren, Robbin, Stephen, Crouzier and Blotzer, some of whom ended up having
their own OG problems with the rock/ roll lifestyle, well before even the boys in G'nR,

Lets see more videos, hear about more experiences, and how 'bout that Tawny Kitaen?
Take your vote, TTR and Lay it Down!

 

[Thatbastarddon]

Frank Zappa listed Warren DeMartini as an interesting guitarist…works for me.

 

[LiveeviL2000]

GnR – Could have been the GREATEST, but then Axel happens. Appetite was one of those albums I didn’t skip any songs when listening to it. I was sold on GnR … then I saw them live … twice! Axel let me down … twice!
Should I make this about 1 a-hole killing 2 concert experiences I went to or should I go by what the band did? Lets skip the bad experiences. After Appetite, they had GNR Lies, I didn’t have patience for it (see what I did there!!). Then Use Your Illusion 1 & 2 which combined had some good material between them. That’s all I got for GnR

Now lets get Out of the Cellar, go Round and Round and Lay it Down with RATT!! Wanted Man, You’re in Love, Dance … all you need is the opening riff of any of those song and you know the song instantly. Stephen Pearcy’s vocals were perfect with Warren DeMartini’s playing… and their logo was cool and easy to draw!

Axel soured my view of any accomplishments GnR had.

RATT by more than a whisker on this one.

 

[fitz]

I have nothing bad to say about Saul Hudson, he is undoubtedly an amazing guitarist - but Axe-hole just gets on my nerves.
Ratt has always been a fav of mine.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Ratt wins.
Simply because of who the competition is.
GnR has Axel who is horrid. Wlash is a ho hum plays pentatonic no better than anyone else.
Very few bands I will switch away faster than GnR.
Loser Axel douchebag loses out.

 

[Clockworkmike]

Alright this is a better fight, unfortunately, I've already seen the results by voting and it's completely different than what I would've thought lol

On one hand there is RATT, who was one of the best bands out of the glam era and that's due to the fact they actually kept a harder edge instead of pop. Of course you have the legendary Warren DeMartini and Stephen Percy was a good vocalist in his prime. RATT and Roll Is cool by me.

But in the other hand, there is the titan, GNR. I remember watching Welcome To The Jungle on MTV when it debuted on MTV. I was like 4 years old? And I was gob smacked. They were a breath of fresh air and didn't sound like ANYTHING from the hair metal guys. These dudes were down and dirty, street people. Drunk and junkies, playing what would have been the evolution to Aerosmith had they not gone pop by the early 80s. Appetite for Destruction is STILL the greatest selling debut of all time and Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 are epics.

I love both, but I'm going with GNR


In respect to RATT? One of their best and it was on one of the coolest movies ever: Point Break! I watch this every summer before I go to the beach and debate becoming a bank robber who rides boogie boards instead of surfing lmao

And one of GNRs finest works

 

[CoyotesGator]

On December 5, 1987 I went to see Alice Cooper at the old Coliseum in Houston. I had never heard of the opening band and didn't care who they were either. Or so I thought.

GnR was fantastically tight and full of energy. I was witnessing the coming out party of superstars. I have never seen anyone rock harder than that night.

A-hole Rose or not, they were that good, that night.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

To be fair Stephen Pearcy can't sing that well either. Just listen to the ends of each line. He almost always falls them off, notes dropping in pitch. Rarely does he ever carry a note at the end of a line.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

I seen GnR at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma Washington. Skid Row opened the show.Was the next concert stop after the St Lious riots were people tore tge stadium to pieces. Cops were everywhere.Was a great show. I didnt vote cause i like Ratt to.

 

[Clockworkmike]

To be fair Stephen Peacry can't sing that well either. Just listen to the ends of each line. He almost always falls them off, notes dropping in pitch. Rarely does he ever carry a note at the end of a line.

Lol I guess I like the screechy vocals. Going back as far as Nazareth

 

[TVvoodoo]

Both bands made songs I put in some effort to learn to play. I thought covering Live and Let Die was frickin' genius!
Wanted Man, Lay it Down, You're in love have made many an appearance on many a mix tape/mp3 burn, as has Brownstone, Its' So Easy and Jungle.
However, simp songs Patience, September Rain, Don't Cry cancel out Jungle, Sweet, Night Train.

I can't think of any Ratt songs bad enough that cancel out any of Ratts best. But I admit I know less of them after the first two records. No airplay!
I did buy two Ratt albums, only one GnR. I recall always with my guitar playing brother arguing how I liked Robbin, he dug DeMartini or soul vs flash
the Sweet Child intro has become one of the most-hated AND most learned guitar riffs of all time. That's something, I guess. I never quite mastered it
but it didn't matter enough for me to do so.

As singers, I'd give Axl the edge, for all his ego and faults he filled in for AC/DC. I always thought Izzy was the coolest member of GnR, and his
solo work was pretty great too.

There is no doubt that GnR rocked the establishment, and the charts way more, but then axl kicks throws his tantrums, takes eight years
to make a rather milketoast record. That is unforgivable, particularly after how he treated his bandmates that he came up with, and the fans.
Don't care if he's getting the old band back together. But, the overall legacy is stronger, and they are in the R&R hall of fame, FWIW

VERY reluctantly, GnR

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Lol I guess I like the screechy vocals. Going back as far as Nazareth

Nazareth absolutely!!
Axl no....

 

[SG John]

Honestly, every band except Scorpions and Dio (Rainbow and Sabbath only) are bands I really couldn’t stand when they came out. In the eighties, I was listening to Motörhead, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Bullet LaVolta, Blackjacks, Radio Birdman, and a lot of older stuff then. It took several more years for people to tune into that after Nirvana made it big. There were soooo many better bands that should have made it first.

The L.A. Glam and wannabes did nothing for me. Glam died for me when Marc Bolan got killed. Like Lemmy said, “We waved at a bunch of chicks, and then found out it was Motley Crüe.“

But there was the sleaze element of G‘nR that I liked. Granted when Izzy left, all of their credibility left too. I voted for them because to me, they were slightly less annoying.

 

[Thatbastarddon]

Honestly, every band except Scorpions and Dio (Rainbow and Sabbath only) are bands I really couldn’t stand when they came out. In the eighties, I was listening to Motörhead, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Bullet LaVolta, Blackjacks, Radio Birdman, and a lot of older stuff then. It took several more years for people to tune into that after Nirvana made it big. There were soooo many better bands that should have made it first.

The L.A. Glam and wannabes did nothing for me. Glam died for me when Marc Bolan got killed. Like Lemmy said, “We waved at a bunch of chicks, and then found out it was Motley Crüe.“

But there was the sleaze element of G‘nR that I liked. Granted when Izzy left, all of their credibility left too. I voted for them because to me, they were slightly less annoying.

Pretty much sums it up….I went the other way with my vote….but yeah….

 

[Sapient]

Ratt is a near '80s phenomenon to me and I still roll them to this day. I remember being at a buddies house as a teen and "Welcome to the Jungle" was on MTV in what had to be within its first actual airplays. I said to my friend "Here's a perfect example of a band that are complete idiots that will never make it". Man was I wrong being that they became one of my favorite bands of all time.

Steven Pearcy and Vince Neil are my all time favorite voices in rock/metal. It's NOT about their talent or what some may see as lack there of it. It's about the very voice timbre they were given. They sound like no one else out there and there will never be anyone that quite does again. Axl's is a phenomenon as a vocalist though he killed it eventually. Even more unique he is though unlike Vince and Steve he can be summed up to be sort of a Steve Mariotte or Janice Joplin take to a degree. His vocal ability was like no other and he had a range that I believe was the widest known in the music biz. I feel bad for the he has to go through personally with people hating him because if it was someone else they just chalk it up to be rock-n-roll or at least wouldn't hold some sort of weird grudge anyway. Strange.

The two bands just happen to have albums that I see to be at par with one another: "Invasion of your Privacy" and "Appetite". They both accomplished the same with these two in my eyes with absolute exceptional full-play albums. G&R, who was Izzy to begin with as a composer fell apart when he left the band. They had a few decent things after "Appetite" but sold out SO damn quick after it!! Ratt really went to going in to the "blues" zone and I don't think it was received very well at all. Also, Ratt never had a real spokesman for the band which doesn't seem to work well long term. Steve was more introverted and lacked the social skills to carry the band on a continuing large level.

My vote is for Ratt for at least not selling out after their first release like G&R did, or for that matter at all.

 

[ibmorjamn]

GnR – Could have been the GREATEST, but then Axel happens. Appetite was one of those albums I didn’t skip any songs when listening to it. I was sold on GnR … then I saw them live … twice! Axel let me down … twice!
Should I make this about 1 a-hole killing 2 concert experiences I went to or should I go by what the band did? Lets skip the bad experiences. After Appetite, they had GNR Lies, I didn’t have patience for it (see what I did there!!). Then Use Your Illusion 1 & 2 which combined had some good material between them. That’s all I got for GnR

Now lets get Out of the Cellar, go Round and Round and Lay it Down with RATT!! Wanted Man, You’re in Love, Dance … all you need is the opening riff of any of those song and you know the song instantly. Stephen Pearcy’s vocals were perfect with Warren DeMartini’s playing… and their logo was cool and easy to draw!

Axel soured my view of any accomplishments GnR had.

RATT by more than a whisker on this one.

I get it but I disagree, I was never in to Ratt as a whole band, to me they like many others on the list are formula ala what sells. That is an objective I get. Some bands just stick to their GUNs and play rock. Axel had attitude , more bad than good.

In 1987 I was not analyzing people in bands, only the music I hear. Sadly they died after birth so to speak. Still most albums song for song, don’t hold up to Appetite. They were a band, not just Axel or Slash.

 

[smitty_p]

I knew this would be a tough one. I've gone back and forth in my mind as to who I'd prefer. There are always going to be strong opinions based on various factors - many of which have already been highlighted in this thread. But, the one thing I can't get past is that GnR totally dominated when they came out. It seemed like the only band anyone could talk about for awhile.

The album sales back that up. Guns 'n Roses sold over 100 million. Ratt sold just over 8 million. I realize that there is more to consider than that, but that is a pretty glaring disparity.

Another thing I think about is the pervasiveness of their music. Covering Welcome to the Jungle is one of the songs that propelled 2 Cellos to popularity.

I certainly mean no disrespect to the rodentine contender, and I certainly do not mean to justify the antics of the GnR vocalist, but I'm going to have to go with Guns 'N Roses on this one.

 

[ibmorjamn]

It’s all subjective. I like what I like, probably based on where I was and what I was doing at the time. No wrong answer.
Life was pretty good.

 

[smitty_p]

I knew this would be a tough one. I've gone back and forth in my mind as to who I'd prefer. There are always going to be strong opinions based on various factors - many of which have already been highlighted in this thread. But, the one thing I can't get past is that GnR totally dominated when they came out. It seemed like the only band anyone could talk about for awhile.

The album sales back that up. Guns 'n Roses sold over 100 million. Ratt sold just over 8 million. I realize that there is more to consider than that, but that is a pretty glaring disparity.

Another thing I think about is the pervasiveness of their music. Covering Welcome to the Jungle is one of the songs that brought 2 Cellos to many people's attention.

I certainly mean no disrespect to the rodentine contender, and I certainly do not mean to justify the antics of the GnR vocalist, but I'm going to have to go with Guns 'N Roses on this one.

Although I'm going to keep my vote as is, I do want to say something in Ratt's defense. When Ratt was doing their thing, they were but one of several bands who were lumped into the hair band box. GnR was a return to hard rock, in a way, so they were something new in comparison to what had dominated the '80s thus far.

So, while there is a wide disparity in album sales, it doesn't tell the whole story. By virtue of the crowded field Ratt was playing in, I think it was probably harder for Ratt to distinguish themselves. It's just speculation, but GnR may not have done as well had they come on the scene just a few years earlier. I don't know. But, the market was ripe for a sea change in the late '80s when Guns 'n Roses did burst onto the scene. Again, just speculation.

The point is, Ratt does have some well-earned popularity.

 

[gball]

Ratt, easily
I always hated GnR and still do, maybe the most over-celebrated band I can think of.