Ratt were among the founding bands of the Sunset Strip glam metal scene, racking up a string of platinum albums during the 1980s before grunge and years of internal conflict brought their success to an abrupt halt. A 2005 interview with singer Stephen Pearcy, drummer Bobby Blotzer, guitarist Warren DeMartini and bassist Juan Croucier traced the band's dramatic rise, its later decline, and the acrimony that continued to define its legacy long after their commercial peak had passed.

By 2005 the band had splintered into rival factions, with Pearcy touring separately as Stephen Pearcy & The Rat Bastards while DeMartini and Blotzer performed under the Ratt name with new, non-original members, leaving genuine ambiguity over who held the rights to the band's identity. The dispute was compounded by the death of guitarist Robbin Crosby in 2002, one of the group's most recognisable figures, underscoring how the excesses and infighting that once fuelled their success had also hastened their fragmentation.