''Metal Health'' is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band

Quiet Riot Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Kelly Garni, and vocalist Kevin DuBrow. The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin Du ...

, released on February 28, 1983.FMQB New Releases (Feb. 18, 1983) The album spawned two hit singles: the

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

cover " Cum On Feel the Noize" and "

Metal Health ''Metal Health'' is the third studio album by the American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Quiet Riot, released on February 28, 1983.FMQB New Releases (Feb. 18, 1983) The album spawned two hit singles: the Slade cover "Cum On Feel the Noize# ...

". It was the band's first album to receive a worldwide release, as the first two were released only in Japan. ''Metal Health'' was the first heavy metal album to reach number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, replacing

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...

's ''

Synchronicity Synchronicity () is a concept introduced by Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, to describe events that coincide in time and appear meaningfully related, yet lack a discoverable causal connection. Jung held that this was a healthy fu ...

'' at number one in November 1983. Due to its commercial success, ''Metal Health'' is regarded by some as the catalyst that opened the door for

hair metal Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...

's immense popularity throughout the next several years. The album went on to sell more than ten million copies worldwide and over six million in the U.S. alone, being certified six-times platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Overview

The band parted ways with bassist Chuck Wright early in the recording process, and replacement Gary Van Dyke was not working out. Vocalist Kevin DuBrow asked the band's former bassist

Rudy Sarzo Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban-American musician. He remains best known as the bassist for Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played with several well k ...

to take part in the recording of "Thunderbird", a song written as a tribute to the band's founder Randy Rhoads, who died in a 1982 plane crash. While DuBrow began writing the song while Rhoads was still alive, it wasn't completed until after the guitarist's death. The partnership was quite fruitful and Sarzo ended up recording several songs with the band, and he ultimately left his spot with

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

to re-join Quiet Riot as a permanent member.Sarzo, Rudy (2017). Off the Rails (third edition). CreateSpace Publishing. In support of the album, Quiet Riot opened for

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

on their Born Again Tour in the US. They also managed to secure a spot at the 1983

US Festival The US Festival is the name of two early 1980s music and culture festivals held near San Bernardino, California. Background Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple and creator of the Apple I and Apple II personal computers, believed that the 197 ...

alongside established acts such as Ozzy Osbourne and

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

. Prior to Quiet Riot's US Festival performance, Sarzo was punched in the face backstage by a drunken Osbourne, still bitter over the bassist leaving him to rejoin Quiet Riot several months prior. Due to the band's subsequent failure to match ''Metal Healths commercial success, Quiet Riot has at times been referred to as "

one-hit wonders A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

". This is not correct, however, as the band had two songs reach the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 40 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, in addition to a subsequent album being certified Platinum by the

for over one million album sales. The title track was ranked No. 35 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's 40 Greatest Metal Songs. "Slick Black Cadillac" is a re-recording of a song that appeared on the band's 1978 album '' Quiet Riot II''.

Artwork

The album cover art was designed by Stan Watts, who had previously designed the covers for

The Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in San Jose, California in 1970. Known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies, the band has been active for over five decades, with their greate ...

' '' Best of The Doobies Volume II'' (1981), Black Sabbath's '' Live Evil'' (1982) and Martin Briley's '' One Night with a Stranger'' (1983), as well as the poster for the film '' The Howling'' (1981). Frankie Banali later stated that Quiet Riot had wanted to create an icon for the band, and that Sarzo had suggested something akin to

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

' " The Man in the Iron Mask" (1847). While many thought the masked cover model was DuBrow, it was actually Watts himself, whose wife took the photo of him, which he then airbrushed for a "dramatic, high-contrast look". The mask became so popular that DuBrow wore a similar one on the cover of the band's follow-up album, 1984's ''

Condition Critical ''Condition Critical'' is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Quiet Riot. Released in 1984, it was not nearly as successful as its predecessor (1983's ''Metal Health'') in either fan reaction or sales. However, it did sell over ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from LP liner notes. Quiet Riot * Kevin DuBrow – lead vocals, backing vocals, mike stand * Carlos Cavazo – guitars, backing vocals *

– bass guitars, backing vocals * Frankie Banali – drums, percussion, car horn, backing vocals Additional musicians *Pat Regan – keyboards * Chuck Wright – bass guitar ("Metal Health", "Don't Wanna Let You Go"), backing vocals * Tuesday Knight – backing vocals ("Thunderbird") *"Riot Squad" (Frankie Banali, Kevin DuBrow, Spencer Proffer, Carlos Cavazo, Donna Slattery) – backing vocals ("Let's Get Crazy") Technical * Spencer Proffer – producer, additional engineering *Duane Baron – engineer *Csaba Petocz – additional engineering *Jay Vigon – art direction, design *

– concept *Stan Watts – cover illustration *Sam Emerson – back cover photographs *Ron Sobol – button photos

Charts

Certifications

Accolades

References

{{Authority control Quiet Riot albums Pasha Records albums 1983 albums Albums produced by Spencer Proffer