Detonator is Ratt's underappreciated MASTERPIECE

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Is it?

I'm listening to it now and it's alright. Sounds good. Nice full sound.

Old friend Bovine Joni doing backing vox. Nice.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

I bet LAGR cranks "Hard Time" when doing his Ogilvie home perms.

[SchenkerFan]

Nah. Sound is great. Probably Warren's best tone. That intro to Shame Shame Shame is amazing. But a few too many generic tracks. Scratch That Itch, Heads I Win Tails You Lose, Can't Wait On Love, ... They're not terrible but they're not exactly essential listening. None of the album tracks really match the level of the singles.

Better than Reach for the Sky, but less good than Dancing Undercover.

[Bono Nettencourt]

^^^^^

They needed this album in 1988... by 1990, it was too late.

[Rocker4Real]

I still like to Rock out to Lovin' You's a Dirty Job.

[skinni]

Detonator is certainly an underappreciated release.

It's a great album that I occasionally play.

[pieceofme]

I like it. Its a fun album. Probably my 3rd favourite ratt release after the first 2 albums. Wouldn't call it a masterpiece though. I don't think any ratt albums can be classified as a masterpiece.

[War_in_D]

Should have been as big as Dr. Feelgood.

[MattleyCrue]

Top Secret should have been a huge hit

[Spongie]

Detonator should’ve been RATT’s comeback album after the career killer that was Reach for the Sky. Unfortunately, and a little bit surprisingly though, Reach had buried them too deep to ever climb out.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Like I said, it was 1990. The bell was tolling.

[Black Stuff]

Good albim. Always gets a spin from.me when i am ratt n rolling

[dmbrocker]

Underappreciated? Hell yes. Masterpiece? Not exactly, as I'd give OOTC and IOYP that honor. Though really, their whole catalog of first five albums is unfuckwithably awesome.

[Ozzy Stradlin]

Every album from the EP -> Dancing Undercover does it far more for me.

I don’t find Detonator to be either under appreciated or a masterpiece. I think that Reach For the Sky mostly blows, also.

The only thing they did that was worthwhile for my ears after that was “Nobody Rides For Free.”

[DangerZone]

Nah. Sound is great. Probably Warren's best tone. That intro to Shame Shame Shame is amazing. But a few too many generic tracks. Scratch That Itch, Heads I Win Tails You Lose, Can't Wait On Love, ... They're not terrible but they're not exactly essential listening. None of the album tracks really match the level of the singles.

Better than Reach for the Sky, but less good than Dancing Undercover.

I agree with this except I don’t like Warren’s cleaner strat tone.
The early version of ‘top secret’ was much better

Shame, hard time and giving yourself away were good

[windycitycane]

Didn’t Desmond Child have complete control over this?

Wrote all the songs, brought in heavy hitters like Jon BonJovi and Dianne Warren.

He was probably getting a lions share of the publishing too.

Good album!

[Kid-Wicked]

i think it's their best album. desmond child strikes again.

[HottKarl777]

Dope boy only cowrote one song on it. Shit sandwich.

[Van Ailin']

Not a masterpiece, but it was a step up from the two albums before. Shame Shame Shame is among their 10 best songs. Guitar sound it great throughout, and Warren gets a kind of groove to the rhythm playing that he hinted at on Reach FSK but he gets better here. The really obvious Desmond singles don't work, though, in larger part because Stephen isn't that kind of singer. Stephen's voice works better with blues or with 8th-note Schenker-style metal riffs (like Top Secret). I remember hearing it and liking it on first listen but also feeling like it had the air of a band disintegrating. The lack of 8th-note-riff metal stuff already said to me that Robbin must have been fading. Before I even knew, I suspected the exact problem it was.

If they had cut 2-3 tracks and had finished/strong-sounding versions of Steel River, Mother Blues, and Diamond Time Again, this would have challenged to be one of their best albums.

[Hellsinkey]

Probably my 3rd favourite ratt release after the first 2 albums.

Same here.

[Ozzy Stradlin]

I remember hearing it and liking it on first listen but also feeling like it had the air of a band disintegrating. The lack of 8th-note-riff metal stuff already said to me that Robbin must have been fading. Before I even knew, I suspected the exact problem it was.

Robbin’s diminishing involvement in the songwriting with each album resulted in diminished song quality, for my ears.

As I noted before, “Nobody Rides For Free” is an exception, but that was mostly written by someone else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Ri ... prov=sfti1#

[aznsquirt]

My favorite part of this album is the fact that they recorded Top Secret.

But it's also the reason that I found out that Desmond Child demanded writing credits on every song on any album he produced, even if it's a song that was written 10 years ago.

[timstar]

One of my favourite albums of all time.

This album, the 1999 S/T album and the song Nobody Rides For Free are the only RATT I love. The complete opposite to all other RATT fans.

[SW]

Worst RATT album if you count out Collage.

It's a Desmond Child album but without the hooks and choruses he used to deliver in the 80's.

What's funny is that BLOTZ is credited as writer for two of three decents tracks on the album, Can't Wait on Love and One Step Away. Giving Yourself Away is third good song and it doesn't sound like RATT at all.

[pieceofme]

One of my favourite albums of all time.

This album, the 1999 S/T album and the song Nobody Rides For Free are the only RATT I love. The complete opposite to all other RATT fans.

Everybody likes nobody rides for free. And detonator is a fairly popular album as you can see by most of the posts here.

[LurkingAtWork]

I always thought Nobody Rides for Free was pretty forgettable.

As for Detonator, I like it quite a lot. Much better than Reach but OOTC thru Dancing is as good a 3 album run as almost anyone.

[Nobodyspecial]

I love One step away

[Indy_Rob]

i think it's their best album. desmond child strikes again.

Same. It's the only RATT album I like.

[Van Ailin']

Worst RATT album if you count out Collage.

It's a Desmond Child album but without the hooks and choruses he used to deliver in the 80's.

What's funny is that BLOTZ is credited as writer for two of three decents tracks on the album, Can't Wait on Love and One Step Away. Giving Yourself Away is third good song and it doesn't sound like RATT at all.

One Step Away and Giving Yourself Away are the WORST songs on the album.

[Domino]

Love it, much much better than Reach for the sky. Sure one of my favorite from late 80's era.