Songfacts®:

• Ratt recorded this song for the 1991 movie Point Break, a crime drama with a surfing backdrop starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. It plays early in the film and is the first song on the soundtrack, which also includes songs by Concrete Blonde, Sheryl Crow and another glam rock band, L.A. Guns.
• The song was written by Steve Caton, a guitarist who was in a band called Climate Of Crisis when he wrote it. One of Tori Amos' first gigs was as a backing singer for the band; when she launched a solo career, Caton joined her band.
  
  In 1999, he told Virtual Guitar: "'Nobody Rides For Free' was a personal song that I had written a few years before it landed in Point Break and, ironically, had absolutely nothing to do with surfing. Strange, considering my history. I might add that my recorded version sounds nothing like the Ratt version."
• This was the first song Ratt recorded as a four-piece, as guitarist Robbin Crosby had left the band due to failing health (he died in 2002). Their lineup was lead singer Stephen Pearcy, guitarist Warren DeMartini, bass player Juan Croucier and drummer Bobby Blotzer. Speaking with Songfacts, Pearcy explained how they ended up recording this song: "We were approached to be in Point Break, and we were like, 'Yeah. We're surfers, San Diego, let's go.' This guy gave us this song, and Warren, Croucier, and myself listened to it and went, 'Y'know, that's not Ratt. At all.' And the guy was relentless in not wanting to give anybody credit. We were like, 'Wait a minute dude. You're talking about a multi-Platinum act. We wrote our own hits – you're not doing us a favor.' So, we kind of adapted to the song. We changed all sorts of stuff around in it and it became this way cool song."
• This was Ratt's last release before their breakup in 1992. They had four Platinum albums in the '80s and had a big hit with "Round And Round," but fell into turmoil in the '90s, particularly with Robbin Crosby. They got back together in 1996 but lead singer Pearcy left again in 2000. He returned to the fold in 2007.