cum on feel the noiz
November 26, 2007 2:30 PM   Subscribe

Kevin DuBrow dead at 52. The lead singer of the 80's metal band Quiet Riot found dead at 52 in Las Vegas. Break out your leather and studs...and hockey masks?
posted by spish (40 comments total)
 
I'm starting to get scared now. Sex and drugs and rock 'n roll, 'n DEATH! Might be time to hang up my pistols.

.


:(
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:35 PM on November 26, 2007


Wow. He lived and died in Vegas, baby.
posted by R. Mutt at 2:39 PM on November 26, 2007


Great. Now I gotta send Chuck Klosterman a deli platter.
posted by Ian A.T. at 2:46 PM on November 26, 2007 [2 favorites]


The noise: consider it felt. Godspeed, Mr. DuBrow.
posted by absalom at 2:47 PM on November 26, 2007


Quiet Riot (with Kick Axe and another band) was my first rock concert, waaaay back in 1984.

I remember that Ratt was very popular with 13-year-olds, as was Motley Crue, but Quiet Riot, not so much. Most of the stoners in my junior high were into Venom, Maiden, Motorhead, Corrosion of Conformity and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Maybe some Ozzie, but Sabbath, once again, was more popular.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:48 PM on November 26, 2007


This upset me a lot. I thought Quiet Riot was a lot of fun, and Kevin DuBrow had a great voice for it.

Thanks for that glorious noise, Kev. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

.
posted by perilous at 2:49 PM on November 26, 2007


.

(Oddly enough, I was thinking about him & QR two nights ago. Or maybe the Metal Health is driving me mad.)
posted by not_on_display at 2:51 PM on November 26, 2007


Mama weer all corpzez now

.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:51 PM on November 26, 2007


Had the shirt. Lied to my mom about it -- "it was a giveaway at the roller skating rink, Mom, I swear I didn't spend my own money on this." Yes, the noise has been felt.
posted by diastematic at 2:57 PM on November 26, 2007


Too weird; in an effort to fill up a blank SD card for an old MP3 player, I just added a bunch of Quiet Riot songs a couple of days ago.

\m/ \m/

[because of the album cover, I always secretly wanted a shiny red leather straight-jacket]
posted by quin at 2:58 PM on November 26, 2007


Duuuuude! It's gonna be a lot less quiet in heaven from now on, dude!!!!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:58 PM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]


You know, there's a cautionary tale about success in the Quiet Riot story. Other metal bands with similar sounds had much more staying power in part because they didn't have the huge success of Metal Health. Really, sustained popularity in heavy metal seems to be based at least in part on authenticity. Nothing points up a band's lack of authenticity quite like a number one album and top 40 singles.

Oddly, less success could have meant a longer career for them, not to mention more respect from the metal audience.

Anyhow, I remember alternately loving and loathing Quiet Riot in those days. I could not admit to my fellow metalheads that I liked them, but I secretly dug their singles and would blast them when they came on the car radio and I was alone.

RIP, Mr. DuBrow.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:59 PM on November 26, 2007


I remember working an in-store appearance by Quiet Riot in the middle 90s--way past their freshness date. All us indie music store dweebs who wanked on every sub-pop release spent the days leading up to the appearance heaping abuse on QR, detailing the reasons we felt they were a group of no-talent ass-clowns gravy-training a hit from a decade previous. We questioned just how moronic they would be and just how much this in-store would suck sweaty goat balls. The fucking nerve of it all.

And then they showed up. And we had to sit in the same room as them and listen to their schtick. And we found out that they knew exactly how lucky they were by catching lightening in a bottle. They were just out having fun with the tour. If anything, it was all really Shatner-esque. They were really cool guys. We went to the bar together after the in-store and bought each other beers. It was a rocking good time for all 150 people who didn't exactly crowd in to the bar that night. I distinctly remember Kevin having a great sense of humor and being really authentic.

I guess it's my long way of saying "." I have always tried to remember the lesson in humility they taught us self-absorbed music store geeks that day.
posted by Fezboy! at 3:12 PM on November 26, 2007 [10 favorites]


Does that mean someone may finally rerelease QR I & QR II?
posted by ersatz at 3:12 PM on November 26, 2007


Nothing points up a band's lack of authenticity quite like a number one album and top 40 singles.

Especially when their top 40 singles were shitty covers of Slade songs. If there were ever a case of YFBS, Quiet Riot would be it.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:27 PM on November 26, 2007


"they didn't have the huge success of Metal Health" which wouldn't have been a success at all without Slade.
posted by Sailormom at 3:27 PM on November 26, 2007


Slag on them all you want, call them derivative, but they were a quintessential eighties rawk band. (Or at least a quintessential LA eighties rawk band -- you couldn't go much of anywhere in California in 1983 and 1984 without hearing their stuff blasting from car and frathouse stereos.)
posted by blucevalo at 3:36 PM on November 26, 2007


This changes nothing. Everyone knows the true talent in the band lay with Carlos Cavazo.
posted by psmealey at 4:10 PM on November 26, 2007 [2 favorites]


As I recall, DuBrow was actually kind of endearing in their Behind The Music special. For those who recall them strictly as a Slade cover band, don't forget about Slick Black Cadillac!
posted by stinkycheese at 4:15 PM on November 26, 2007


Well, it appears that Noddy Holder will have the last laugh.
posted by unSane at 4:17 PM on November 26, 2007


I'll be the first to admit that I dug them, and I had Metal Health on cassette. They were a Friday Night Videos staple (for those of us who couldn't get cable until about 1986, we lived and died by it), right alongside Men Without Hats and Duran Duran.

One question, though, what was up with DuBrow's hair. He had a pretty pronounced receding hairline in those early videos (à la Klaus Meine), but in recent pictures of him, 20 years later, he looked like he had a full mane. What gives? Plugs? A wig? Minoxydil?
posted by psmealey at 4:21 PM on November 26, 2007


Most of us would never have heard of Slade if it weren't for Quiet Riot. Plus they introduced the world to Randy Rhoads. And 'Slick Black cadillac' is a fun song.

RIP, you frizzy-haired fucker.

.
posted by jonmc at 4:23 PM on November 26, 2007


Joey Michaels writes "Oddly, less success could have meant a longer career for them, not to mention more respect from the metal audience."

Yeah, but two of their hits were first performed by Slade, which is/was a hard rock band with a glam edge - not heavy metal at all, but those guys put on a hell of a live show. But it was a pretty good fit - Kevin DuBrow is probably the only vocalist who could pull off that Noddy Holder vocal sound without imitating him. Earlier incarnations had Randy Rhoads, Ozzy's best guitarist during the height of his solo career. Rudy Sarzo was their bass player, who's quite talented, but never really got to shine in that format. Started with some serious talent, but they weren't remembered for it. I tend to think of Quiet Riot as hard rock with a bad haircut (but not as bad as some others from that era).

I will admit to buying the album when it was released and listening to it quite a bit, but it got stale much faster than Judas Priest or Iron Maiden - similar to Fastway, I considered them a guilty pleasure.

Too bad he died so young. So long, ya cheesebag, you did alright.
posted by krinklyfig at 4:41 PM on November 26, 2007


Also my first concert (1984). It was probably only a year afterwards that I thought they were really uncool, but they were a fun band and it was a fun show at the time. RIP.

.
posted by space2k at 4:42 PM on November 26, 2007


Metal Health was the first record I ever bought...I still get a little thrill when I hear it. RIP

.
posted by nevercalm at 4:56 PM on November 26, 2007


Back in the late 90s or so, my little band was booked to open for Quiet Riot at a rock club in Queens. We were all psyched to play with them and meet them, we dusted off our white high tops and old tapes of Metal Health in excitement. Sadly, the night before the gig, Carlos's mother passed away and Quiet Riot canceled. We never did open for Quiet Riot, and never got to meet them.

Bang thy head for Kevin. The guy rocked.
posted by edverb at 5:18 PM on November 26, 2007


\m/
 .

posted by eyeballkid at 5:21 PM on November 26, 2007


I love that Kevin DuBrow was fired by the band by just being left behind in a hotel while his ex-bandmates took an earlier flight. And I mean that in a good way.

\m/

(And Frankie Banali is pretty awesome.)
posted by Cyrano at 5:41 PM on November 26, 2007


And Frankie Banali is pretty awesome

I remember thinking that after watching the Behind The Music that he seemed like a great guy. I also remember him joking that he and DuBrow 'hated cocaine, but they loved the way it smelled.' Hope that isn't what killed him.
posted by jonmc at 5:55 PM on November 26, 2007


i mock-interviewed dubrow in the tucson weekly in 2003. he was a great mock-interview.

.
posted by Hat Maui at 6:22 PM on November 26, 2007


I remember thinking that after watching the Behind The Music that he seemed like a great guy.

Yeah, that's what did it for me too.
posted by Cyrano at 6:28 PM on November 26, 2007


Man. If that wasn't THE roller rink album, I don't know what was.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:37 PM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]


Gets a lot of play at sporting events these days, too. Right along with Motley Crue, Scorpions, AC/DC and the like. Revile 80's metal all you want, but no one plays "Stairway" at the two minute warning.
posted by Cyrano at 8:04 PM on November 26, 2007


He had a reputation for being a total ass, but at least he was an ass in a totally metal way. I'm sure he was still getting laid at 52, because he was Kevin Fucking Dubrow of Quiet Riot, baby! Which could not be more metal.

Besides, he introduced me to Slade. So the guy can't be all bad.

.
posted by jonp72 at 8:29 PM on November 26, 2007


Metal Health was the first album (technically a cassette) that I ever owned.

It was the first time I swam in the deep end by myself.

RIP, Kevin.

PS: here's to hoping the hearse is a Slick Black Cadillac.
posted by bacteria at 8:50 PM on November 26, 2007


I remember when QR opened for a friend of mine's band - a band that sucked really bad - in a roadhouse in Illinois. Felt bad for QR, but they really rocked, and were really genuine and really nice to everyone.

R.I.P.
posted by jxn at 10:08 PM on November 26, 2007


Aw man, the gf & I were going to go see Quiet Riot a couple of weeks ago but didn't because we saw that Slaughter was no longer the opening act.

Guess we should have gone. Damn!
posted by drstein at 10:27 PM on November 26, 2007


The wild and the young, they all have their dreams.

.
posted by Dreama at 12:34 AM on November 27, 2007


One question, though, what was up with DuBrow's hair. He had a pretty pronounced receding hairline in those early videos (à la Klaus Meine), but in recent pictures of him, 20 years later, he looked like he had a full mane. What gives? Plugs? A wig? Minoxydil?

It was a obviously a wig. The most comical one I've ever seen on anybody, at that.
posted by Devils Slide at 11:21 AM on November 27, 2007


I used to think the voice and that mask thingy was sexy.

The hair...er..wig..not so much.
posted by dasheekeejones at 12:50 PM on November 27, 2007


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