Quiet Riot

QUIET RIOT
Formed 1975, U.S.A.

Albums:
1978 Quiet Riot
1979 Quiet Riot II
1983 Metal Health
1984 Condition Critical
1986 QR III
1988 Quiet Riot
1990 Winners Take All
1993 Terrified
1993 The Randy Rhoads Years
1995 Down To The Bone
1996 Greatest Hits
1999 Super Hits
1999 Alive And Well
2000 The Collection
2001 Guilty Pleasures
2005 Live & Rare Volume 1
2006 Rehab


History:
Quiet Riot helped usher in the return of heavy metal to the music mainstream in the mid 1980's, and enjoyed slightly more than fifteen minutes of fame. The group became the first metal band to hit #1 on the Billboard charts, but things went downhill from their initial success.
Quiet Riot was formed in Burbank, California, and were a bigger draw than Van Halen during the mid seventies Hollywood club scene. However the band, Kevin DuBrow (vocals), Randy Rhoads (guitar), Kelly Garni (bass) and Drew Forsythe (drums), had trouble getting signed to a major label and their first two albums were only released in Japan only. This version of the band fell apart, with Rhoads going on to become a legend with Ozzy Osbourne (before his untimely death in 1982), and DuBrow left to pick up the pieces and start again.
For their smash 1983 album, DuBrow had recruited Carlos Cavazo (guitar), Rudy Sarzo (bass) and Frankie Banali (drums). Metal Health became a monster success, topping the pop charts and spawning a top five single in their cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize", on its way to selling over five million copies. But success was short lived; due in part to DuBrow's outspokenness and verbal attacks on other bands of the genre, and public disdain for the band grew. Sarzo left (to later join Whitesnake) and was replaced by Chuck Wright for QR III, but by then few people cared anymore.
The final nail was driven into the coffin when the band fired DuBrow from his own band before recording the self-titled 1988 album. The new front man was Rough Cutt vocalist Paul Shortino with Sean McNabb replacing Wright on bass, but the album stiffed and the band just faded away. In 1990 DuBrow, Cavazo and Banali (who had played with W.A.S.P. and Heavy Bones) regrouped with Kenny Hillery for the ignored Terrified. Hillery would later commit suicide, and it wasn't until the return of Sarzo in the late 90's that a full reunion occurred. The band continued to tour and record on a much smaller scale, even despite DuBrow claiming bankruptcy in 1999, until the band's split in late 2003. DuBrow and Banali resurrected the name for a new album called Rehab in 2006 with Neil Citron (who replaced Tracii Guns who had joined on guitar for a brief time) and Tony Franklin (bass). On November 25th, 2007, lead-singer Kevin DuBrow was found dead in his home in Las Vegas, thus leaving behind a legacy that helped bring 80s hard rock to millions of fans.

Links:
The Official Frankie Banali Pag