Watched an early screener of an upcoming new documentary on Quiet Riot called “Now Your Here There’s No Way Back”. Found it to be really good. It was sad, funny, and very honest in what they showed and how it was dealt with. Cameras followed them around and captured some amazing and at times pretty raw moments. There is some footage from the early Randy years and tells the story of the bands many lineups, how they evolved, and how they seemingly overnight became massive. I think the importance of Metal Health is often overlooked. It was a HUGE album and in many ways a gateway to the 80’s metal explosion. Both Dee Snider and Glenn Hughes (very close friend of Kevin DuBrow’s) offer some great commentary. But the story also revolves greatly around Frankie Banali, his friendship with Kevin, his life now, and his attempts to keep the band going for better or worse. Loved the honesty and how transparent and tough things can be for a band from the 80’s now, especially lacking a key member. How Frankie deals with Kevin’s death is also dealt with. Really recommend the film and I’ll keep you posted as to when and where you can see it once it is released.
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Has anyone seen the Alice Cooper Doc? And, I am, of course very interested in the KISS Doc, since there are only older interviews with Ace & Peter…wonder when that comes out?
Have the Super Duper Alice Cooper Blu-ray. Worth every penny.
DuBrow was the template of the new guard metal singer for the 80s…even Axl was influenced by DuBrow. Banali is another drummer who has mastered the art of catchy drumming. Their debut was bruising riffs set against a backdrop of New Wave clean signaled chording. “Love’s a Bitch” is my all time favorite Quiet Riot song. I met Frankie in 1986, and he was one of the greatest people I’ve ever met…super cool.
Quiet Riot and Metal Health were IMO the pivotal moment for the whole 80’s explosion.
Keep in mind…with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal starting a few years earlier…bands like Maiden, Leppard, Priest…even Ozzy were the back bone or rock at the time. From the American side you some older bands like Kiss and Aerosmith hanging on. Van Halen was the top US band and although contemporaries of many of the bands that followed years later…as they all played the same circuits at the same time, VH kinda stood alone. By this time the 80’s thing exploded, VH were 4-5 years in to their career.
The US Festival really opened a lot of eyes as the Heavy Metal Day’s number dominated the festival…on the bill Quiet Riot and Motley. However it was QR that would break big first…displacing Thriller from the number one spot…the rest was his tory as Motley and the whole LA Metal scene…which defined the 80’s exploded.
Any number of US bands could have broke first…but for whatever reason the band that did was QR…they opened the doors without a doubt. Looking forward to this Documentary and also looking forward the Inside LA Metal: Documentary that will focus on how that scene got started and a lot of players that went on to be famous.
Some guy just screaming ….but in key.
I Remeber well how big they were when they first hit big and I got the privilege of working with both Frankie and Chuck from the band on my own music and I will say not only are they very talented but there also very down to earth and genuine. I wish the band band the very best on there new album and will always be a huge fan of the past and present QR.