Metal Health (Remastered) Quiet Riot

• 1 Metal Health (Bang Your Head) 05:16
• 2 Cum on Feel the Noize 04:47
• 3 Don't Wanna Let You Go 04:40
• 4 Slick Black Cadillac 04:12
• 5 Love's a Bitch 04:11
• 6 Breathless 03:51
• 7 Run for Cover 03:38
• 8 Battle Axe 01:38
• 9 Let's Get Crazy 04:08
• 10 Thunderbird 04:43
• Total Runtime 41:04

Info for Metal Health (Remastered)

Quiet Riot broke a lot of rock and roll history book records and made quite a bit of Noize with their mega-platinum smash Metal Health album in 1983. This hard working Los Angeles power quartet featured the great vocals and writing of front man Kevin Dubrow, bassist extraordinaire Rudy Sarzo, power drummer Frank Banali and guitar shredder Carlos Cavazo. Together, they delivered the goods in a big way, making Metal Health one of the first ever multi-platinum heavy metal albums to go number one. Thanks in part to the amazing smash cover version of Slade's Cum On Feel The Noize, Metal Health was and still is a fixture at radio and retail.

"Quiet Riot seemingly came out of nowhere in 1983, racing up the singles charts with their over-the-top cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel the Noize" and crashing the Billboard album chart's number one spot with their multi-million-selling Metal Health LP -- the first heavy metal record to ever do so. Prior to their "overnight success," QR had been toiling in relative obscurity for years, so that by the time they finally turned the corner, Metal Health's meteoric success must have surprised the band even more than it did their critics and newfound fans. Though it has received its fair share of criticism, Metal Health isn't nearly as average as some would have you believe. Say what you will, but the album's title track continues to deliver after all these years. With its crushing guitar riff, inane lyrics, and goofy bravado, it's heavy metal personified in all its glorious, ridiculous excess. The surprisingly laid-back groove of "Don't Wanna Let You Go" follows the storming "Cum On Feel the Noize," which leads into the slightly '50s-ish "Slick Black Cadillac," a rehashed early band favorite. "Love's a Bitch" closes side one with plenty of venom and attitude, but despite a valiant attempt by the driving coulda-been-a-hit "Breathless," side two falls way short of the mark. Even though "Run for Cover" is quite a stomper, the closing triplet of "Battle Axe" (Carlos Cavazo's half-assed guitar showcase), "Let's Get Crazy" (downright embarrassing jock rock), and "Thunderbird" (painful sub-Journey balladry) tend to understate the hugeness of the occasion. Still unquestionably the band's best effort, Metal Health would eventually earn one-hit wonder status thanks to Quiet Riot's inability to deliver anything resembling a decent follow-up." (Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG)

Kevin DuBrow, vocals
Carlos Cavazo, guitars, backing vocals
Rudy Sarzo, bass, synthesizer
Frankie Banali, drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians:
Chuck Wright, bass (on Metal Health, Don't Wanna Let You Go)
Riot Squad, backing vocals
Tuesday Knight, backing vocals
Spencer Proffer, backing vocals
Donna Slattery, backing vocals

Recorded 1982 at The Pasha Music House, Hollywood, California
Recorded and mixed by Duane Baron at The Pasha Music House
Produced by Spencer Proffer

Digitally remastered

Quiet Riot
For a very brief moment, Quiet Riot was a rock & roll phenomenon. Famously described as the first heavy metal band to top the pop chart (a claim that greatly depends on one's exact definition of heavy metal), the Los Angeles quartet became an overnight sensation thanks to their monster 1983 smash album Metal Health. But Quiet Riot's road to success had in fact been long and arduous, and when their star power subsequently began to fade, their fall from grace was ironically accelerated by the man who was most responsible for taking them to the top: singer Kevin DuBrow. Unable to suppress his infamous motor mouth from assaulting many of Quiet Riot's peers, DuBrow gradually alienated his fans and fellow musicians, and in the face of plummeting record sales, faced the iniquity of being fired from his own band. The dust eventually settled and DuBrow was able to resurrect Quiet Riot in the '90s, but despite their best efforts, the once chart-topping band would remain forever exiled to the fringes of pop conscience, and what might once have been a full chapter in rock history has instead become little more than a footnote.

The story of Quiet Riot began with vocalist Kevin DuBrow and guitarist Randy Rhoads, who started the band in 1975 after disbanding an earlier project named Violet Fox, and completed their first lineup with bassist Kelli Garni and drummer Drew Forsyth. Along with local scene contemporaries like Van Halen, Xciter, and London, the band thrilled audiences packing the L.A. nightclubs, but found it difficult to land a record deal during the disco-dominated late '70s. Eventually securing a contract with Columbia Records in Japan, they recorded two moderately successful albums -- a 1978 eponymous debut and 1979's Quiet Riot II, featuring new bassist Rudy Sarzo -- before losing Rhoads (and later Sarzo) to Ozzy Osbourne's band (and later a tragic plane accident, rock & roll martyrdom, immortality, etc.).

Quiet Riot disbanded and DuBrow formed a new band under his own name, working with several musicians over the next few years before signing with independent Pasha Records, reverting to the Quiet Riot moniker, and entering the studio with new guitarist Carlos Cavazo and bassist Chuck Wright to start work on a new album. The year was 1982, and, following Randy Rhoads' well-documented demise, former henchman Sarzo quit Ozzy, pushed Wright out of the way, and brought friend and drummer Frankie Banali into the fold to complete the lineup and sessions for what would become 1983's Metal Health. Driven by the irresistible double whammy of the title track's muscular bassline (reputedly played by Wright before his dismissal) and a raucous rendition of the old Slade chestnut "Cum on Feel the Noize," the album stormed up the U.S. charts, duly reaching the number one spot and going platinum five times over in the process. Their unexpected success shocked everyone, not least the bandmembers, who found it pretty hard to cope with sudden stardom and the pitfalls that came with it.

Condition Critical Pressured to capitalize on their hot streak, Quiet Riot was rushed back into the studio to whip together 1984's Condition Critical, but unsurprisingly, the album was little more than a weak carbon copy of Metal Health -- even sinking so low as to include another chart-ready Slade cover in "Mama Weer All Crazee Now." Fans were unimpressed, and panic set in as the band watched the record quickly sliding off the charts to make way for fresher, up-and-coming L.A. glam metal contenders like Mötley Crüe and Ratt. An incensed DuBrow went on a rampage, incessantly slagging fellow metal bands, members of the press, and his own record company, in the process quite literally burning most every bridge he'd worked so hard to build. The abusive behavior also began wearing on his bandmates, and by the time they re-grouped to launch a comeback with 1986's QR III, Sarzo was long gone (later joining Whitesnake) and had been replaced by former bassist Chuck Wright, most recently working with Giuffria.

Hysteria A failed experiment in ultra-glossy '80s metal, QR III was a third-rate Hysteria possessing none of its predecessor's blue-collar grit and became an even bigger flop, sending Quiet Riot into an irreversible tailspin. Mounting tension resulted in an all-out band mutiny at tour's end, with DuBrow finding himself abandoned at a hotel in Hawaii, while the remaining musicians and crew left on an earlier flight back to L.A. Furious, he watched in disbelief from the sidelines as Rough Cutt vocalist Paul Shortino stepped into his shoes and recorded 1988's simply named Quiet Riot with Cavazo, Banali, and new bassist Sean McNabb. The album's absolutely abysmal sales offered little consolation, and DuBrow finally gave up on diplomacy and filed an injunction against his former colleagues (apparently he still owned rights to the name), successfully bringing Quiet Riot to a stuttering halt. Frankie Banali said "good riddance" and jumped ship to join L.A. shock-metal kings W.A.S.P., while the remaining bandmembers went to ground.

Terrified Then, come 1991, DuBrow and Cavazo began working together once again in a band called Heat. In time, they began using the Quiet Riot name once again, eventually recording 1993's Terrified with bassist Kenny Hillery and a returning Banali. Down to the Bone followed two years later, and in 1997, a one-off performance at a party hosted by industrial shock rocker Marilyn Manson lured bassist Rudy Sarzo back to the fold. With their classic lineup intact once again, a re-energized Quiet Riot hit the road playing clubs across America. Public response was less than enthusiastic, however, and the band usually couldn't get arrested -- except for DuBrow, who spent a night in jail after a tour stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, where an irate fan had sued him for injuries sustained at a previous show. This and other roadside misadventures were captured on 1999's optimistically named Alive and Well live album, and 2001 saw the release of Guilty Pleasures, the first recording by the band's classic lineup in 17 years. Unfortunately, said album wasn't able to capture lightning in a bottle for a second time, and Quiet Riot quietly broke up shortly thereafter.

Rehab Unwilling to put the band to rest, DuBrow and Banali recruited guitarist Neil Citron and bassist Tony Franklin for the recording of Rehab in 2006. Sadly, at age 52, DuBrow's singing career was cut short from a cocaine overdose. His body was found in his Las Vegas apartment on November 25, 2007. In 2010, Banali revived the band alongside lead vocalist Mark Huff, bassist Chuck Wright, and guitarist Alex Grossi. Love/Hate vocalist Jizzy Pearl joined the lineup in 2013, and the following year the group released Quiet Riot 10, a new studio album that included four live tracks that had been recorded during Dubrow's final stretch of performances with the group. Road Rage, the band's 13th long-player and first outing for new vocalist and former American Idol contestant James Durbin and Frontiers Records, followed in 2017. (Source: Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.