The 1986 Listening Post - Quiet Riot - QR III

Quiet Riot - QR III

#283/1408

July 6 1986

Quiet Riot

QR III

Genre: Rock

1.5 out of 5

Highlights:

The Pump

What happens if Kevin DuBrow fronted a Starship cover band and they decided to try to write their own songs? 

They would sound like this. 

Synths? Echo drums? This is every bad idea that the 80s are remembered for. I am struggling to describe just how bad this sounds. They end up falling way short of the Bon Jovi mark, which is what they are aiming for. They try for Motley gold with “Down and Dirty” and that’s just atrocious. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/qr-iii/185992193

The 1984 Listening Post - Quiet Riot - Condition Critical

Quiet Riot - Condition Critical

#190

July 7 1984

Quiet Riot

Condition Critical

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Mama Weer All Crazee Now

Stop Your Hands, Clap Your Feet

Scream and Shout

So…Metal Health II. There’s even a Slide cover. The lead off track sounds more like a Twisted Sister song but maybe Sister sounded like a Riot knockoff but I think they basically came into their own at the same time, no? As long as Slade, the North Star for these guys aren’t going to make too much headway here, might as well mine that sound. 

There is an intersection point where all these bands meet. Not the Icon/Helix/Kick Axe metal. But the Quiet Riot/Motley Crue/Poison glam metal. Which is more accessible to more people and better suited to sales (See:The Sweet, circa 1975). A good example is “Stomp Your Hands, Clap Your Feet”, not just heavy glam but also designed specifically to be played to a stadium of thousands. 

Weird to me that more of these bands didn’t employ Chinn & Chapman songs into their catalog. They would all seem so perfect for updating. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/condition-critical/192486740

The 1983 Listening Post - Quiet Riot - Metal Health

Quiet Riot - Metal Health

March 11, 1983
Quiet Riot
Metal Health
Grade 5

Kevin Dubrow is everything that his obvious hero, Roger Daltrey is not. (He also wanted to have that hair but…male pattern baldness is not a friend to hair metal boys) But it’s through DuBrow that we can hear the connection between Daltrey and Vince Neil and those singers. They were never Queen. They were never Jagger. They were all influenced by The Who.
As much as Def Leppard, this is the record that really pushed the glam rock that would enrich Poison and Motley Crue and the like and fire them into the mainstream. Ratt wished they could be Quiet Riot. Where Leppard were trying to get with your girlfriend, Quiet Riot was trying to get with your girlfriend’s sleazy friend who had daddy issues and smoked Marlboros cuz Benson and Hedges Deluxe Ultra Lights were for Musical Theater assholes. (Guess who used to smoke B&HDUL?…:) )
As evidenced on Run for Cover & Battle Axe the band learned a LOT from ex-member Randy Rhodes, aping his style to great effect.
Take The Sweet, add Sound City type production, amp everything up and make it cut like glass and that’s Nu-Glam. (Which, had this happened in the 90s, is what it would’ve been called.)
I’d never heard this record until tonight and I could go right back to the beginning and start all over again.

Highlights:
Metal Health
Cum on Feel the Noize
Slick Black Cadillac
Love’s a Bitch
Breathless
Run for Cover
Thunderbird