Did Quiet Riot open the doors for metal popularity?

Ok, they were a soap opera and the singer had an ego bigger then Manhattan, RIP, but when they went to number 5 on Billboard in '83 and selling 6 million it changed the landscape.

I'd say it would be an equal split between them and Def Leppard. DL's PYROMANIA came out the same year (83) and both bands got a lotta MTV and radio play.

Could be argued. It seemed Pyromania took a little time to catch on, I had it immeadiately but QR seemed big out of the gate.

Metal's popularity has never been entirely accepted in the mainstream. It is driven primarily by the underground. I would surmise that few people heard Metal Health in 1983, and then promptly went out and bought Angel Witch, Black Metal, and Kill 'Em All. The underground, word-of-mouth discovery of metal bands has driven the genre and the culture pretty much since its inception. Sure we can look at Quiet Riot (who was a one-hit wonder), Def Leppard (ditched NWOBHM for ballads), and Metallica (see Bob Rock) as being "popular metal" bands, but it almost doesn't make sense to call any metal "popular" since it's still rejected and despised by the mainstream. There are still religious groups, 30 years later, who think Iron Maiden is a Satanic band. There's a huge base of Metallica fans who trek to concessions during And Justice songs because The Black Album and Load sit in their car stereo all day.

I wouldn't point to any "popular metal" band as being the reason for its continued success 40 years later. The reason it doesn't dwindle or die is because of fans like us, who continue to progress the music forward and ferociously support the scene of which we are a part.

Yes, historical fact. Quiet Riot's Metal Health did have a big hand in opening doors for metal going mainstream in the early 80's.

I remember in grade school, I think 5th grade, a junior high band covered "Bang Your Head" at our school talent show. This was the first time I'd ever heard anything like this and for many of the other kids. At the end of their set, there was a paused silence...almost shock, followed by an eruption of applause. So even for me, they were influential at the very least.

I would say yes because Quiet Riot and Def Leppard opened the door for MTV to play heavy metal and was a gateway band for fans to later get toed in to heavier bands.

Quiet Riot seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly they were MTV darlings and their album went all the way to #1, almost unheard of for a metal band. Sure Quiet Riot were no Black Sabbath but they were considered a metal band by both the press and the fans, as were Def Leppard.

ultmetal wrote:

Yes, historical fact. Quiet Riot's Metal Health did have a big hand in opening doors for metal going mainstream in the early 80's.

That's what I thought...seems like non-speculative common knowledge. I'm sure being the first "Heavy Metal" album to go to #1 on Billboard helped.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I'd say it would be an equal split between them and Def Leppard. DL's PYROMANIA came out the same year (83) and both bands got a lotta MTV and radio play.

And then there's also Shout at the Devil and Lick it Up. Those four albums I'd personally consider the ones that made hair metal big in the '80s. Dokken's Breaking the Chains and Twisted Sister's You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll weren't as big, but also deserve a mention. Ozzy kinda started going into that direction too... But 1983 had a ton of great and important hard rock and metal releases outside hair metal, such as Holy Diver, Balls to the Wall, the Queensrych EP, Peace of Mind, Kill 'Em All or Show No Mercy.

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That's what I thought...seems like non-speculative common knowledge. I'm sure being the first "Heavy Metal" album to go to #1 on Billboard helped.

On the surface it seems so but at the same time it could've been a flash in the pan, one of those one or two hit wonders then gone and metal could've been stuck in the total underground scene.

TheGreatDuck wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I'd say it would be an equal split between them and Def Leppard. DL's PYROMANIA came out the same year (83) and both bands got a lotta MTV and radio play.

And then there's also Shout at the Devil and Lick it Up. Those four albums I'd personally consider the ones that made hair metal big in the '80s. Dokken's Breaking the Chains and Twisted Sister's You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll weren't as big, but also deserve a mention. Ozzy kinda started going into that direction too... But 1983 had a ton of great and important hard rock and metal releases outside hair metal, such as Holy Diver, Balls to the Wall, the Queensrych EP, Peace of Mind, Kill 'Em All or Show No Mercy.

Twisted Sister's You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll
was VERY big in Europe. It just didn't do as well in the U.S. because
the U.S. division of Atlantic Records didn't promote the album here. The album had three 'hit' singles in 1983 in Europe.

They must have been pretty popular at the time... Because even a mainstream movie like "Footloose" had their song (Bang Your Head).

I totally forgot about that.

TheGreatDuck wrote:

And then there's also Shout at the Devil and Lick it Up. Those four albums I'd personally consider the ones that made hair metal big in the '80s. Dokken's Breaking the Chains and Twisted Sister's You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll weren't as big, but also deserve a mention. Ozzy kinda started going into that direction too... But 1983 had a ton of great and important hard rock and metal releases outside hair metal, such as Holy Diver, Balls to the Wall, the Queensrych EP, Peace of Mind, Kill 'Em All or Show No Mercy.

I agree with your post 100%. I'd even add The US Festival as well and the hundreds of thousands who showed up during heavy metal day. The concert was Memorial Day Weekend and it seemed like those bands you mentioned and heavy metal in general just exploded that summer.

Back In Black kicked the door open for mainstream "metal" success in 1980. Then both Def Leppard and Quiet Riot pried it open a little further in 1983.

Special mention should also go to British Steel which nabbed a good bit of mainstream radio airplay with Living After Midnight and Breaking The Law. I also remember "You've Got Another Thing Coming" getting a good deal of play on the radio in '82.

All very true. It seemed that there were a few of us in my neck of the woods listening to that stuff then suddenly everyone was when QR broke. Could be I was just unaware of what others were listening to, music was more private then before the advent of portable listening devices. Except for the boomboxes as big as a suitcase.

Dark Horseman wrote:

All very true. It seemed that there were a few of us in my neck of the woods listening to that stuff then suddenly everyone was when QR broke. Could be I was just unaware of what others were listening to, music was more private then before the advent of portable listening devices. Except for the boomboxes as big as a suitcase.

I was living in a small town in Kansas from 1979 to 1983, during that time I was listening to the radio all the time and also the jukebox at the local Pizza joint. Back In Black was everywhere, we'd go to dinner and the title track would be played on average about 4 times during the meal. The local radio station began playing a lot of Rush and Judas Priest during the same era. Right around the same time boom boxes started showing up at Junior High school and the tapes that seemed to get the most play were The Wall, British Steel, Moving Pictures, Back In Black, For Those About To Rock, The Number Of The Beast, Screaming For Vengeance and a little later Pyromania and Metal Health. It was a fun time.

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I also remember "You've Got Another Thing Coming" getting a good deal of play on the radio in '82.

Oh Gawd, yes. MTV and radio played the livin' hell out of that song.

S.D. wrote:

Back In Black kicked the door open for mainstream "metal" success in 1980.

Agreed.

Well, since we all know AD/DC isn't metal they don't count.

So after thinking about it more and having you eddicated folk explain it, i'd say QR kicked in a door bands like Priest and AC/DC were already forcing open.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Well, since we all know AD/DC isn't metal they don't count.

So after thinking about it more and having you eddicated folk explain it, i'd say QR kicked in a door bands like Priest and AC/DC were already forcing open.

Growing up in the 80's AC/DC were considered metal and I still consider them metal

So do I. I was trying to be funny and failed.

Dark Horseman wrote:

So do I. I was trying to be funny and failed.

I know I wanted to B-slap you.

As my 13 year old says...."EPIC FAIL!"

Thanks guys.