Stop the presses: ’80s metal band Quiet Riot has apparently called it quits after more than 20 years. Fans surfing to the band’s website, quietriotforce.com, were undoubtedly crushed to find the following message: “Thank you for 20 years of rock and roll. Goodbye, Quiet Riot.”
Drummer Frankie Banali was contacted for confirmation, and he responded with a cryptic message of his own: “I can only confirm that Quiet Riot with members Kevin DuBrow, (bassist) Rudy Sarzo, (guitarist) Carlos Cavazo, and myself has ceased to exist and further dates will not be performed.”
Quiet Riot was formed in 1975 by lead singer Kevin DuBrow and future guitar legend Randy Rhoads. That band broke up after two albums that were issued only in Japan, but DuBrow put together a new version and released Metal Health in 1983. The record spawned a smash cover of Slade’s “Come On Feel The Noize” and was the first metal album to hit Number One on the Billboard Top 200.
The group suffered various ups and down-well, mostly downs-in the years since, firing DuBrow in the late ’80s before breaking up once again. But he resurrected the group in 1991, turning out records on tiny labels throughout the rest of the decade. Their last release was 2001’s appropriately-named Guilty Pleasures.