Juan Croucier: "Nobody Rides for Free"

[A.K.]

I've been listening to Ratt all morning. Juan is one of my favorite '80s hair bassists. This is one of my favorite Juan tracks--great tone, a prominent place in the arrangement, some cool fills, and excellent backing vocals from the man himself.

His bass playing here adds a lot to an already excellent song.

 

[Qlanq]

Love Ratt. Lets have some more.

 

[A.K.]

Some excellent, old-school rock bass playing on "Dance."

Here's another Juan classic.

 

[AaronVonRock]

I really liked Ratt back in the day. The only pick I ever caught at a concert was from Juan when Ratt opened up for Billy Squier. I saw Ratt on their next tour when Bon Jovi opened for them. I remember not being into Ratt's third album and stopped paying attention to them at that point.

I haven't seen the Wanted Man video in probably 30 years. Good memories. Thanks.

 

[Kevnn4]

Here is Juan fronting his version of RATT. Singing LEAD no less!

 

[A.K.]

Cool as hell!

 

[esa372]

Cool as hell!

 

[Onward]

I am on my mobile and am having a problem embedding. But i always loved the bass work in this song. Juan seems like he would be a cool dude in real life, especially seeing how laid back he was in the Vh-1 "behind the scenes" documentry.

 

[A.K.]

I said "cool as hell," not "good."

 

[almost human]

Juan and Jeff Pilson were definitely my favorites of the hair metal bassists. Juan was always a much better singer than Pearcy.
How many versions of RATT are there now lol?
You got Bobby Blotzer's RATT
Pearcy's version
And now Juan's version.
Does DeMartini have his own version yet?

 

[A.K.]

Juan and Jeff Pilson were definitely my favorites of the hair metal bassists. Juan was always a much better singer than Pearcy.
How many versions of RATT are there now lol?
You got Bobby Blotzer's RATT
Pearcy's version
And now Juan's version.
Does DeMartini have his own version yet?

Pilson is my other favorite hair metal bass player. "Beast from the East" is a hard-rock bass masterclass, and one of the great live albums of the '80s. Bass players who don't own it don't know what they're missing!

 

[jaywa]

I really like his line in Round and Round and I love his line on Lay It Down. Root notes only but that rhythm is just so unique it drives the whole song. I've always wondered if he came up with his own bass lines or was basically told what to play by Crosby and/or Beau Hill.

Saw them back in the mid 80s when Bon Jovi opened for them (!) and remember being disappointed that I could not hear Juan in the mix AT ALL but then that was par for the course with hair bands back then.

 

[DerekW]

I really like his line in Round and Round and I love his line on Lay It Down. Root notes only but that rhythm is just so unique it drives the whole song. I've always wondered if he came up with his own bass lines or was basically told what to play by Crosby and/or Beau Hill.

Saw them back in the mid 80s when Bon Jovi opened for them (!) and remember being disappointed that I could not hear Juan in the mix AT ALL but then that was par for the course with hair bands back then.

I got stoned with Juan backstage in Port Huron Michigan on that tour.
Met Jon and hung out in the tour bus. ( my cousin from LA was in town for a visit, and her older brother was in a band with Juan previously, she got us backstage passes)

I was 17, and was a rockstar at school the next week.

My 15 minutes of fame.. I peaked early in life.

On another note, Bon Jovi blew them away. I knew then they were going to be huge.

But Juan was an absolutely nice guy, very cool to me and her. Made a lasting impression on me.

 

[A.K.]

I really like his line in Round and Round and I love his line on Lay It Down. Root notes only but that rhythm is just so unique it drives the whole song. I've always wondered if he came up with his own bass lines or was basically told what to play by Crosby and/or Beau Hill.

Saw them back in the mid 80s when Bon Jovi opened for them (!) and remember being disappointed that I could not hear Juan in the mix AT ALL but then that was par for the course with hair bands back then.

Juan himself has been very critical of Ratt's live performances (mostly because of Maestro Pearcy), and says they mostly sucked.