Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot was a heavy metal band, one of the first to become a pop sensation in the 1980s. Founded in 1975 by vocalist Kevin DuBrow, the original lineup featured Randy Rhoads (guitar), Kelli Garni (bass guitar) and Drew Forsyth (drums). After failing to break out of the Los Angeles metal scene with a record contract (unlike their contemporaries Van Halen), the group eventually scored a deal with Columbia Records in Japan. After Quiet Riot (1978) and Quiet Riot II (1979), Rhoads left to collaborate with Ozzy Osbourne in the latter's nascent solo career. The band fell apart and Dubrow began a solo career, forming a back-up band of Frankie Banali (drums), Rudy Sarzo (bass guitar, and who was also part of Osbourne's touring ensemble in the early 1980s) and Carlos Cavazo (guitar). DuBrow ultimately christened the new band "Quiet Riot".

This new incarnation of the band signed with Pasha Records and recorded Metal Health (1983). On the strength of two singles, the title track and Cum on Feel the Noize (originally by the English group Slade), the album becam a major hit in the United States. The album's success is widely credited with helping to launch the glam and hair metal revolution of the 1980s, and garnered a reputation as the biggest-selling rock debut album of its time, with over 6 million copies shipped. The group's follow-up, Condition Critical, was a relative disappointment critically and commercially, selling only 2 million units. Reportedly frustrated, DuBrow began making disparaging remarks about newer bands on the L.A. metal scene, his bandmates, fans, reporters and business executives in interviews and in public. Sarzo quit the group in 1985 (eventually going on to Whitesnake) and was replaced by erstwhile collaborator Chuck Wright (of Giuffria), releasing QRIII, another dismal failure. The band fell apart after a tour that ended in Hawaii and DuBrow fought to keep control of the name. By 1991, tempers had cooled enough for the former bandmates to communicate. DuBrow and Cavazo formed Heat, but eventually switched to "Quiet Riot" again and released Terrified (1993) with Banali and Kenny Hillary (bass guitar). That same year DuBrown released The Rhandy Rhoads Years featuring tracks from their Columbia albums and some previously unreleased material. Rudy Sarzo joined up again in 1997, and the band began touring. The tour was not successful, though, and the band was arrested several times; an angry fan sued DuBrow for injuries sustained during a show. After a live album, the group released Guilty Pleasures (2001).