Rats

Few people have heard of the Rats, and awareness of the group almost always stems from Mick Ronson's brief membership before he contributed to David Bowie's landmark early-1970s albums. The band originated in Hull, England, and its earliest lineup, which did not yet include Ronson, issued two singles on Columbia U.K. in 1965. One of these was a forceful version of "Spoonful" that, contrary to the liner notes of Pebbles, Vol. 6, featured no participation from Ronson. A capable yet ordinary R&B/rock outfit, the Rats kept performing locally in Hull over the following years, Ronson finally joining them in 1966.

Although the group continued with changing personnel through the remainder of the 1960s, no additional records appeared, aside from a handful of unreleased tracks that surfaced in the 1990s. Their music gradually shifted toward heavier blues-rock, with Ronson in particular absorbing the approach of Jeff Beck; the Rats opened for Beck's band at a March 1968 concert. By 1969, ex-Rats drummer John Cambridge had moved to Junior's Eyes, which served for a short time as Bowie's backing band. Cambridge recommended Ronson to Bowie as lead guitarist, and Ronson's biting tone became a central element on Bowie's 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World. Woody Woodmansey, who had taken over the drum chair from Cambridge in the Rats in 1969, also appeared on that release.

The Rats' tangled timeline, odd given that they produced only two singles, included one last development in the gap between The Man Who Sold the World in 1970 and Bowie's full ascent. While Bowie spent the early 1970s refining his songwriting, Ronson, Woodmansey, early Bowie producer and bassist Tony Visconti, and Rats vocalist Benny Marshall formed the short-lived Ronno. The project yielded a single on Vertigo before ending when Ronson, Woodmansey, and Trevor Bolder, who had replaced Visconti in Ronno, became Bowie's Spiders from Mars. The Spiders supported Bowie on his best-known early-1970s albums, among them Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, until the singer disbanded them in mid-1973, though Ronson continued working with Bowie for some time afterward. A Rats CD drawn from the original singles, unreleased 1960s recordings, and 1990s versions of the band appeared in 1998. Competent without distinction, the Rats chiefly interest British 1960s rock collectors and those tracing Bowie's history who wish to hear the beginnings of Ronson's style.