Riot kick....

RIOT is/was of course a good band but in all seriousness I'd like to know what they were thinking with that mascot.

Listening to Unleash the Fire on Spotify right now. I assume it's a bunch of different band members at this point, but this is obviously way different than Fire Down Under. It sounds like what any of your above average power metal bands have been doing for the past 15 years.

That said, it is still pretty damned good. If this album existed, and I owned it, in 2002, it woulda been one of my favorite records ever.

Riot is one of them bands I'd always heard/read much about, but never actually heard, till fairly recently. At the moment the only CD of theirs I own is Fire Down Under, but I intend to dig deeper into their catalog one of these days.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Riot is one of them bands I'd always heard/read much about, but never actually heard, till fairly recently. At the moment the only CD of theirs I own is Fire Down Under, but I intend to dig deeper into their catalog one of these days.

Same here. I always say I'm going to get more Riot, but never do. I enjoy the 2 discs I have, Thundersteel and Sons of Society.

S.D. wrote:

Nobody cared about that mascot once the needle clicked into the groove and Swords & Tequila started blasting out of the speakers.

I ADMIRE Riot for not having a schtick. They could have gone the Twisted Sister/WASP route but they let the music speak for itself.

My point was back in the late 70's/ early 80's when Riot could have really made an impact on the scene, a cool mascot and cool album artwork would have helped. How many of their albums got overlooked in the record stores in favor of Killers or some good old fashioned Satanic imagery. Or fans wearing a t-shirt or back patch with a bitchin' mascot and logo that could've gotten them some fans. Maybe having a certain look might have gotten them some MTV exposure they sorely needed.

Sure, ultimately it's the music that counts, but look at the bands you've mentioned. Their shtick might have eventually overshadowed the bands themselves, but it also made them household names and sold a helluva lot more albums in the process.

There is something respectable about a band not falling into gimmicks to sell their music, but it's my opinion that Riot missed the boat on that crucial marketing aspect back when that stuff did matter and that's just part of probably many other reasons they didn't hit the big time like some of their peers.

Since I still listen to old Riot albums and enjoy them, while many of their peers no longer interest me in the slightest I would say I'm happy with the way history worked out.  Just my selfish perspective.

A few years ago, in the print issue of Classic Rock magazine, they did an article on Riot and the many missteps/bad deals/bad luck they had. It might have been shortly after Mark Reale passed. I think they touched on the mascot/lack of image thing, but also just bad luck on the band's part. Poor management, missed opportunities, etc. It was a pretty interesting read.

I wonder if I can find it on-line?