Kevin Dubrow was found dead in his home in Las Vegas yesterday at the age of 52. Like many other high school kids, I was enthralled with Quiet Riot’s breakaway album Metal Health; it was one of those albums that seemed to be in everyone’s tape case.
The hysteria also prompted me to check out the band on the Metal Health tour that ended up just a few miles from my home. Although I was more impressed with the openers, Axe, I remember a few things about the headliners.
The drummer put on the infamous mask featured on the cover of Metal Health. Guitarist Carlos Cavazo did an extended guitar solo (“Battle Axe”) that seemed to go on forever. And Kevin DuBrow provided an obligatory soliloquy to original guitarist Randy Rhodes immediately before the band went into “Thunderbird.”
Ten years later, Quiet Riot again came near my hometown, only this time in a small-town bar that barely held 100 people. It represents how low the band had gotten in terms of respectability…and it shows how relentless DuBrow was in terms of making sure his career remained as the lead singer of a hard rock band.
For all the shit that he’s received (and admittedly, DuBrow was himself to blame for a lot of it), you’ve got to hand it to a guy that did everything, from playing in front of a nudist camp to playing in a tiny bar in Fort Madison, Iowa, to keep his dream alive. I’m sure that, like most of us, DuBrow would try to change things a bit to try a prolong Quiet Riot’s sales streak, but I’m fairly sure the guy died knowing that his day job, regardless of the venue, certainly was a helluva lot more awesome than the day job you’re in now.
The video below is almost verbatim like the show I saw them do in ’83, including the annoying DuBrow banter.
Inspriational Verse: “Wanna kiss your lips/Not the ones on your face”
2 comments:
I saw Quiet Riot at a bowling alley in Grand Rapids, Michigan sometime around 2000. And it really was a great show. We had a blast. Hung around outside afterwards and got them to sign my Metal Health album. When they came out of the bus, I was completely surprised that Carlos Cavazo was shorter than me and wearing a skater shirt, ha ha. Mossimo or something.
For better or worse, Quiet Riot was my first taste of heavy metal (junior high for me). I have a distinct memory of going to some alcohol-free house party after a football game with a girl I had a crush on, and as we sat outside on the lawn, the tapedeck inside blared "Cum on Feel the Noize." That descending melody (or whatever) of the "get wild wild wild" bit still makes me nostalgic for autumn, high school football games, hot apple cider, and sitting under an army blanket with a cute girl.
Ahhhh, bittersweet sentimentality...
Damn, his death sucks. There are certain "metal" bands that you can't help but wish that bad things would happen to them (think Motley Crue). Quiet Riot wasn't one of them, and this sucks. I saw them on an "oldies" bill with Poison and Enuff Z'Nuff at the World Music Theater. Even though QR seemed to give an uninspired set, I still didn't wish them ill. Damning with faint praise, I know, but what kind of world has Vince Neil still in it but Kevin DuBrow gone? This one, I guess.
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