Riki Rachtman knows what music history feels, looks and sounds like because he’s been in it.

In 1980s Hollywood, California, he and roommate Taime Downe, frontman of now-iconic glam-rockers Faster Pussycat, cofounded the club Cathouse.

The Cathouse was both a decadent playground for rock stars (and those in their orbit or wanting to be), and a music venue. Cathouse hosted shows by quintessential Los Angeles rock groups like Guns N’ Roses and L.A. Guns, as well as up-and-coming out-of-town rockers like Black Crowes and Pearl Jam.

Rachtman later became the host of popular MTV show “Headbangers Ball.” It didn’t hurt his chances when he showed up for his audition with GN’R singer Axl Rose in tow.

As Rachtman told me in our 2016 interview for an LA Weekly retrospective on the Cathouse, “[Axl] was a really, really big part of me getting the [MTV] job.” But, he added, “I wouldn’t have met Axl if it wasn’t for Cathouse.”

On “Headbangers Ball,” Rachtman did everything from introing the latest Mötley Crüe and Metallica videos to skydiving with Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine to interviewing a dress-wearing Kurt Cobain of Nirvana to going to a New Jersey waterpark with Alice in Chains.

Last week, Rachtman experienced a different chapter of music history in Alabama. His annual fundraising cross-country motorcycle ride, Riki’s Ride, brought him to Muscle Shoals.

Muscle Shoals is the north Alabama area famous for being a ‘60s and ‘70s recording epicenter for classic tracks by artists ranging from Aretha Franklin and Etta James to Rolling Stones and Staple Singers. “This place is rock and roll holy land,” Rachtman wrote on social media.

During a 13,000-mile ride from Key West, Florida to Glacier View, Alaska, Rachtman is raising money for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, via his Heavy Mental Foundation. All funds go to that, and you can donate via lostramblers.com.

Riding a Harley-Davidson with wife Lea Vendetta, known for her work on reality show “Ink Masters,” Rachtman is almost $10,000 toward a $30,000 goal for this year’s Riki’s Ride, which started June 7.

Post Shoals, the fundraising ride has taken them to Southern music must-dos like New Orleans and Austin, Texas, through rain and heat.

Previous Riki’s Rides have raised more than $50,000, according to Rachtman, and have included guests like “Use Your Illusion” era GN’R guitarist Gilby Clarke and The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy.

Rachtman and Vendetta rode around 300 miles to get to Muscle Shoals, from North Carolina, where Rachtman has resided from for years and has worked as NASCAR on-air talent, to Tennessee to Georgia to Tennessee again.

On June 10, Rachtman visited FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. He posted on social media, “The music that came from Muscle Shoals, watch the doc if you never saw it.”

In his post, Rachtman also mused on classic recordings at FAME by Little Richard and more recent tracking by Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. He added, “Duane Allman slept in the parking lot before he rose to fame.”

That same day, Rachtman stopped by Muscle Shoals fried chicken spot Champy’s, where he met with fans.

Next, Rachtman stopped by Muscle Shoals Sound, the legendary recording studio in Sheffield founded by FAME expatriate studio musicians the Swampers and stars like Lana Del Rey have recorded in recent years.

“In this bathroom Keith Richards,” Rachtman posted online, “worked on the final details of [classic Stones ballad] ‘Wild Horses’ recorded the song and [Stones hit] ‘Brown Sugar’ in the studio where this bathroom is. Muscle Shoals Sound it was an honor, and I seriously got goosebumps.”