Guy on the late
1980s/early
1990s heavy metal scene. He was originally a
singer but none of his bands ever went anywhere; while in
Los Angeles, rooming with Taime Downe of
Faster Pussycat the two started a
club, the
Cathouse, about which Rachtman says, "We did for rock and roll what
Studio 54 did for
cocaine." It was quite successful while the metal scene was popular, and after appearing in
Penelope Spheeris' movie "The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years" was asked to host
MTV's "
Headbangers' Ball" show on
Saturday nights. (He fit in much better than its former host,
Adam Curry, who looked completely
fake when he put on a
leather jacket to do the show.)
Riki did this for about five years, but the show was canceled when heavy metal's popularity went down. He has hosted Loveline since, and now he describes his current activities as: "I work for WCW. I do some wrestling interviews, etc. I do some NASCAR reporting, which is a true love for me. I'm actually working on a new NASCAR show that I created. It's like all those Skate/Surf shows, but this one deals with NASCAR. I also plan to get back on the radio soon; I really miss it. I own a skateboard company called POOLSCHOOL. We also have a site WWW.POOLSCHOOL.NET. We sell old school Skate stuff, Punk rock, etc." (Quotes from September 1999 interview at www.metal-sludge.com)