Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Good Rats

The list of coulda, woulda, shoulda been big stars would have to have the Good Rats near the top. Never heard of them? Well, there you go.

The Good Rats came from the same Long Island that spawned Billy Joel, Twisted Sister and Blue Oyster Cult, and, if there was any justice in this world, would have been as popular as any of them. Powered by intricate, twin guitar lines by Mickey Marchello and John "The Cat" Gatto, and fronted by Mickey's brother Peppi, who sang like Burton Cummings (Guess Who) would if he had balls, the band played many big venues (generally as a warm-up act), but never made it big.

Drummer Joe Franco later played with Twisted Sister and on a Leslie West (Mountain) solo album. Peppi still fronts a band named the Good Rats, but with himself as the only original member, the band is a shadow of its former self.

Blistering, double time interwoven twin guitar leads, anchored by a drummer who did his best to channel his Inner Keith Moon (as if!), the band could rock as hard as anyone, and then throw in jazz chords and minor-key harmonies with dizzying speed.

Peppi, who has turned out to be a right-wing reactionary, at one point wrote about slashers and stalkers, fascists and dictators, and Walter Cronkite. That's rock and roll, baby!

If you ever stumble across a Good Rats CD in a remainder bin somewhere, buy it. If you don't like it, email me and I'll buy it from you for what you paid. Yes, the Good Rats were that good.

I don't expect to get too many CDs.

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