L.A.

pop-metal merchants Ratt thought they were being wise by knowing that they shouldn't mess with a successful formula, so after scoring multi-platinum sales with their first two albums, they decided to reprise most all of their attributes for their third, 1986's Dancing Undercover.

Unfortunately, times were quickly changing and a second generation of younger, prettier pop-metal bands was rising up to challenge them (Poison, Cinderella, et al.), so as they trotted out their latest batch of soon-to-be-platinum-selling hits, Ratt had no way of knowing it would be their last brush with the top.

Dancing Undercover's slightly disappointing chart peak of number 26 provided an early indication that things were not as they had once been (both of its predecessors had gone Top Ten), and when followed by similarly under-performing new singles "Dance," "Slip of the Lip," and "Body Talk," the decadence die was undoubtedly cast.

Increasingly sluggish business on tour would come next (the band first fired, then rehired opening act Poison when it became obvious they were moving more tickets), and despite the presence of a few more perfectly decent album cuts like "One Good Lover," "Drive Me Crazy," and "Looking for Love," Dancing Undercover simply failed to connect with consumers like previous efforts.

As for Ratt, they were about to find themselves facing possible "extermination," after fading inspiration and increasing personal strife contributed to the near-career-killing debacle that was their fourth album, 1988's Reach for the Sky.