The Quiet Riot Movie

Quiet Riot: Well Now You're Here, There's No Way Back ~ At first glance one might think this is just another rock documentary, but it's not. This is a very personal story of friendship and loss, and heavy metal. Yes, it does serve well as a history of the band Quiet Riot and the heavy metal scene of the 1980s and beyond, but it's also about friendship of lead singer Kevin DuBrow and drummer Frankie Banali.

Some of us purists don't like to believe it, because they had such a huge, if momentary, pop success, but Quiet Riot opened the floodgates for metal in the 1980s. Without "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)" one might go so far as to say it might have been longer before the mainstream public heard bands like Motley Crue, Whitesnake, and Guns N' Roses. They opened the doors, like it or not, by having the first American metal album on the pop charts.

The documentary, a long time in coming, was produced and directed by Banali's fiancée, and not only tells the story of the band, its ups and downs, but also the drummer's journey after the loss of his best friend. This is much better than a Quiet Riot doc deserves to be, check it out.

Remember Slade?

Slade in Flame ~ Though largely a British phenomenon, some of you may remember Slade as the band whose songs Quiet Riot frequently covered when they had their fifteen minutes of fame. Slade had a brief moment here in the States after that, but back in the 1970s, they were one of the major forces in the UK glam rock movement. Notably they inspired Kiss, Cheap Trick, the Ramones and some say This Is Spinal Tap. Whether that last one is a compliment though is hard to judge.

The movie Slade in Flame is a whole ‘nother thing of course. This fictional account of the behind the scenes antics of the glam rock band Flame, played by Slade (duh), is sometimes amusing but mostly falls flat with that odd British dry humor we Americans rarely get. On the other hand, there’s no denying the charismatic power of lead singer Noddy Holder. He has a style envied and copied for decades now, and the performances are electrifying. Fast forward to the music and forget the rest.