Songfacts®:

• Ratt invoke the Old West in "Wanted Man," where the become "The Ratt Gang," wanted dead or alive. It's all good fun. "Everybody wants to be a cowboy, right?" lead singer Stephen Pearcy told Songfacts. "That's the whole premise of that."
• "Wanted Man," released on Ratt's debut album, Out Of The Cellar, was the follow-up to their hit "Round And Round." By the end of 1984, the album had sold over 2 million copies, eventually selling 3 million. Hair metal was starting to get big, with Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard on the front lines. Ratt didn't much play on pop radio, but they were big on MTV and became a very popular live act.
• Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby and lead singer Stephen Pearcy wrote this song with Joey Cristofanilli, a bass player who was in a band called Rough Cutt. Cristofanilli was living with Ratt's other guitarist, Warren DeMartini, in an abandoned building. "I came over one time with Robbin, and we're starting to write, and Joey gives us this riff," Pearcy explained to Songfacts. "We're like, 'Whoa! What is this? We've got to put this in the set.' So, Robbin, myself, and Joey Cristofanilli wrote 'Wanted Man.' It was put together in this abandoned building on Sunset."
• In the music video, Ratt does some time traveling when their tour bus ends up in the Old West. Of course, they head straight for the saloon. It was directed by Mark Rezyka, who also worked on Ratt's video for "Back For More" and Quiet Riot's "Metal Health."
  
  Ratt was managed by Marshall Berle, who uncle Milton Berle was a very popular entertainer, crossing over from radio to TV in the 1950s. Marshall made sure Ratt kept their videos fun and entertaining, which meant costumes and early call times, but the band loved the results. Thanks to Marshall, Milton Berle appeared in two Ratt videos: "Back For More" and "Round And Round."
• The song isn't nearly as earnest as "Wanted Dead Or Alive," which Bon Jovi released in 1986, but both songs have a cowboy theme. Bon Jovi opened for Ratt in 1985, and Jon Bon Jovi sang on Ratt's 1990 song "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose."
• Ratt recorded the album at Sound City Studios and Village Recorders, both famous studios in Los Angeles. Along with "Round And Round," "Wanted Man" plays in the 2013 documentary Sound City, directed by Dave Grohl. Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini are both in the film.