Stephen Pearcy talks about his Top 10 albums of all time!

Pearcy Parties with some of the Riot Brides!!

 

Stephen Pearcy of Ratt Shares His Favorite Albums of all time!

Stephen Pearcy RoadRunner Ratt lead vocalist Stephen Pearcy is today’s guest blogger for AOL Radio, sharing his favorite albums. The hard rock band released their seventh studio album ‘Infestation’ today, April 20. It is the band’s first effort since their self-titled album in 1999 and also their first album with guitarist Carlos Cavazo.

Check out Pearcy’s list below, covering albums by metal gods and rock legends Black Sabbath, Bowie, Judas Priest and more!

Van Halen Van Halen 10) Van Halen: ‘Van Halen’

A friend of mine told me to see the band at a club in L.A., I went to the Whisky A Go Go to try and meet the band. Driving up from San Diego I did just that.

I met Dave first, had some smoke, then met Eddie that day at their sound check. At the time I was playing guitar and singing and had some great gear. Ed was using a Vox combination and needed another Vox 30 head to complete his stage gear. Well I had one! Next thing I know I’d be trading gear and seeing the band play all the time. I’d sit on stage and freak at how insane the band was. I’d go back down to San Diego and tell everyone about them, and all I’d hear was, yeh, who?

Next thing you know you have Van Halen and the world of guitars was a different place.

Robbin and I would help Ed out and make sure he had enough marshall heads and cabinets for shows when near by. He used as many as he could put on stage and we would happily oblige.

Great band, and an amazing debut. Next thing you know a few years and their headlining the U.S. Festival, mutha f—-rs!!

Great to be a part of that and learn from them about their presentation of rock.

Now it was our turn to Ratt & Roll!!!!

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath 9) Black Sabbath: ‘Black Sabbath’

Now I saw Black Sabbath back in the day and Ratt has opened for Ozzy and Black Sabbath, little did I know when this record came out I’d be associated with that mad man Ozzy. I’d put the headphones on and start trippin’ and completely lose it. Every song was amazing, goes to show you don’t have to spend months in the studio getting the point across. Heavy metal as it get’s. And some of those songs did freak us out when we were that young, doing things to expand your mind also didn’t help the circumstances. But I’d put that record on over and over, less tripping more listening as I went. Love that record still. And uncle Ozzy! To think we would actually one day be partying with Ozzy is even stranger. We learned a lot opening for Ozzy, of what to do and not do to survive on the road when we first got a taste of arena touring.

It’s called, hang on to your seat, take a ride on that crazy train!!!!!!

Give Us a Wink 8) Sweet: ‘Give Us a Wink’

Another record I use to practice to a lot back in the Mickey Ratt days. I think their songs rubbed off on me, I loved their rhythms and how simplified their chords were and weren’t. The vocals on this record also kicked ass! They all sang and very well and their range was incredible. A motley bunch and a very good band. This record I loved from the get go. I still listen and practice to it to this day. Sweet was a great band with a hell of a lot of talent going on there.

Ziggy Stardust David Bowie 7) David Bowie: ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’

My sister turned me on to this record, When I did get into it I was way into it. Hard to describe Ziggy, but another story being told here. A lot of that was happening in the ’70s. Got to have a story, but Ziggy and the Spiders wanted to rule the world or something. I just loved the music, plenty of great Bowie records, I also liked ‘Pin Ups.’ And Mick Ronson kicked ass on guitars!

Golden Earring Moontan 6) Golden Earring: ‘Moontan’

People only know this band from the song ‘Radar Love'; fact is they have plenty of great songs. I like the record because of the songs on this record and how they were structured together. There are (five) songs on this record but a lot of music. Kinda of a story in there somewhere.

I love the song ‘Candy’s Going Bad.’ I can practice to this record top to bottom, and can play it by the way, lol.

Blue Oyster Cult Career of Evil The Metal Years 5) Blue Oyster Cult: ‘Career of Evil: The Metal Years’

I was very influenced by Blue Oyster back in the day. This is one of my favorite records and still is. My band Mickey Ratt (1978-1980) use to play this song in our set, and people use to think it was our tune. We never played the singles and when we did covers this song was always in our set.

I had the pleasure years later to sit in with the band, when my solo band opened up for them couple years back. Talk about a flash back!

Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma (insane guitar player to say the least) asked me what song? I said ‘Dominance and Submission,’ and preceded to lose my mind.

Great band and great music. Ratt recently did Sweden Rock with them in ’08; huge festival, and of course I was standing on the side of the stage, stairway to the stars!!

Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance 4) Judas Priest: ‘Screaming for Vengeance’

When Robbin (Ratt guitarist) turned me onto the Priest I almost lost my mind. What the hell is this? Talk about metal in your face, this record was intense and I’m sure the band were just getting started when I heard ‘Sin after Sin,’ but ‘Screaming’ is total Metal with a capital M!!! The metal gods, Priest set the standard after this record that no one could touch or get close to.

My favorite band, I still play a Priest song when doing a solo show, I’m a big fan to this day and can never get enough of the metal gods.

Great record, stamp of the Priest!

Alice Cooper Love It to Death 3) Alice Cooper: ‘Love It to Death’

Alice had it together and this record was the tip of the top for me. ‘Killer’ was and is another great record. Easy straight ahead rock, “THE” true showman in all respects. Used to scare the shit out of us back then, snakes, hangings, chopping his head off, when you saw Alice you got a show! I loved this record back then, very influenced by Alice also.

Aerosmith Rocks 2) Aerosmith: ‘Rocks’

Rocks has to be the best Aerosmith record ever. I’d seen the band back in the day and loved them since day one. Sleazy guitars, great leads, great rhythm section — Steven, Joe, Brad, what more can you say? This record kicked my ass and I took a lot from it. Back in the Cellar, Out of the Cellar, Ratt’s!

My band back in the day, Mickey Ratt used to cover songs from the record, but not the single. I got my wings from this record, Love the band to this day.

Led Zeppelin Presence 1) Led Zeppelin: ‘Presence’

I love any and all Zeppelin, but ‘Presence’ just moved me in every which way, before I even got into music. The thing about Zeppelin, is live they would take the songs all over the place and jam per say, so when I hear these songs from the record I appreciate them even more. Having collected every bootleg (sorry guys, I buy a lot also!) from the band since I first heard them back in 1970, and still do to this day. It’s great that Page has been letting us hear the live re-mastered recordings, they are gems.

I was lucky enough to see the band a few times in 1973-75 and they changed my life forever.

 

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