Quiet Riot

Biography

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Quiet Riot (1973-1980, 1982-1989, 1993-2007, 2010-present): a Glam Metal band from Los Angeles, California, USA.

ounded in 1973 Quiet Riot was started by Kevin DuBrow (vocals), Randy Rhodes (guitar), Drew Forsyth (drums) and Kelly Garni (bass). They took their name from a suggestion made by Rick Parfitt of Status Quo. With this line-up, though, they only recorded two albums that were released only in Japan titled Quiet Riot (1977) and Quiet Riot II (1978), on the 'Columbia' label. Rudy Sarzo then stepped in to replace Garni. Rhodes also later left, in 1979, to join Ozzy Osbourne; he would die in a plane crash in 1982. When Rhodes left there was a brief separation of the band, but they would soon regroup with the line-up of DuBrow, Sarzo, Carlos Cavazo (guitar) and Frankie Banali (drums). With this line-up they would be signed to the 'Pasha' label in 1983 for their breakthrough period.

They met their biggest success in 1983 with a redo of Slade's Cum On Feel The Noize. They were avid Slade fans and would re-record many Slade tracks over their career. Quiet Riot modeled themselves after the '70s Glam acts, including Slade, so the incorporation of their music with that look made sense.

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They got the status of being the first metal band to debut at #1 on the US charts with an album and accompanying single titled Metal Health; that same album sold a total of 5 million copies. Unfortunately, this success was to prove brief for only one other album offered them acclaim, that being Condition Critical, hitting #15 in 1984. After the QRIII album in 1986 it was clear that the band had said all they had to say. The failure of their self-abbreviated album QR (a.k.a. Power And Groove in some parts of the world) in 1988 would see DeBrow ejected with Paul Shortino (ex-Rough Cut) taking his place, while Sean McNabb took over on bass duties.

Their early years were chronicled in a special compilation titled The Randy Rhodes Years in 1993. This album marked a rebirth for the band that had broken up back in 1988. Most of the line-up returned (including the ejected DuBrow), with the exception of Kenny Hillary now on bass, for their next studio release, Terrified (1993); their sound now mellowed considerably from their speed laden and exciting musical past. Down to the Bone (1995) was a second attempt to come back that received only small notice by comparison to the mega-hits swamping Metaldomin the early 1990s. The Greatest Hits "best of..." compilation followed in 1996.

Since then, most of the Metal Health era line-up returned featuring Kevin DuBrow (vocals), Carlos Cavaso (guitar), Rudy Sarzo (ex-Ozzy Osbourne; bass) and Frankie Banali (drums). They toured together then released the appropriately titled Alive And Well in 1999, along with Guilty Pleasures in 2001. Since the late 1980s they were an on-again, off-again affair but announced another break-up in September 2003 only to re-unite after legal hassles in mid 2004 to release an expected live album (their first) Live & Rare Vol. 1 in early 2005 and Rehab (2006). Things were more or less on the level again until On November 25, 2007, Kevin DuBrow was found dead in his Las Vegas apartment of a cocaine overdose. Since then, the band has bounced around from vocalist to vocalist, eventually to settle on Frankie Banali (drums), Jizzy Pearl (vocals), Chuck Wright (bass) and Alex Grossi (guitars), with no founding members remaining, to release Quiet Riot 10 (2014), Road Rage (2017) and Hollywood Cowboys (2019).