After having done session work for various musicians including Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock and Edgar Winter, Montrose was Ronnie Montrose's first record leading his own band which featured Denny Carmassi on drums, Bill Church on bass, and a then-unknown Sammy Hagar on vocals. While considered a classic by many hard rock fans, the album's reputation has grown over time. In 1989, Hit Parader named it within the Top 100 Heavy Metal albums of all time. Tracks from the album received scant radio airplay, with "Rock Candy" and "Bad Motor Scooter" being notable exceptions. It has been reported that the band's label, Warner Bros., did not know how to market Montrose, and, already having the Doobie Brothers and Deep Purple to cover the rock and hard rock genres, saw the band as something of a redundancy on their roster of artists. Though the album was not a big seller upon its initial release, peaking at No. 133 on the US Billboard200, it eventually proved to be an international sleeper hit which over a period of several decades has sold in excess of one million copies, attaining platinum status. Some critics have arguably labeled it the "first American heavy metal album". Often cited as 'America's answer to Led Zeppelin', it is held to be influential among hard rock/heavy metal musicians. Ronnie Montrose chiefly used a Gibson Les Paul, a Fender Bandmaster amp, and a Big Mufffuzzbox by Electro-Harmonix to record the Montrose album. The album was voted as the 4th best Metal Album of All Time by Kerrang! magazine in 1989.
"Make It Last" was covered by Van Halen in their early club days.
Mötley Crüe used the "Bad Motor Scooter" intro riff for their own intro to Kickstart My Heart.
Punk bandStiff Little Fingers used the riff from the "Space Station #5" for the introduction on their single "Suspect Device".
European release
In 1974, the album was released in Europe via Germany under the title Rock the Nation. This version featured a track listing which duplicated the U.S. release but featured a different front sleeve image that replaced the band's photo with that of a large-busted blonde girl sporting a pink see-through blouse.
