Quiet Riot is one of the most inspirational and great sounding bands of the late 70's. Quiet Riot began with the emergance of Kevin DuBrow and Randy Rhoads. Kevin had no idea of Randy and was questionable when Randy called him one night in L.A. When Kevin called back, they shared their musical likes and dislikes and hinted at the idea of starting their own heavy-metal group. So Randy set a date for Kevin to come over to his place to sing while Randy played guitar. Kevin met him and stated jamming to Randys heavy guitaring. Through the following weeks the two became the best of friends. Shortly after their first outtakes and a strong friendship, Kevin and Randy set about forming a new band. They recruited a bass player named Kelly Garni, whom Randy had known for some time, and began their seach for a drummer. The problem was that the now trio had no place to rehearse so thay needed a drummer who was good and could chip in money to rent a rehearsal hall. So after long searching, they found Drew Forsyth who gave his money and time so that was that! They rehearsed for a while, eventually they ran out of money but with slick work by Kevin, they found a manager with all the smarts and his own rehearsal hall. Now that the intial band was together, the four needed a name. Kevin set out to find a name. He actually got the name from Rick Parfitt from the British band Status Quo. Kevin used to be their photographer and traded faded blue jeans with them for English leather jackets which he couldn't get in L.A. Kevin explained: "We became quiet good friends and when they (Status Quo) were in Los Angeles once, we started talking about names for bands. He said that if he had a group he'd call them Quiet Riot, which with an English accent sounded like 'quiet right.' I think Status Quo were going to call one of their albums Quiet Riot at one stage and I told him I thought it was a great name. So I went back to Randy and everyone, told them and they all thought it was a great name." By 1976 the band found a real manager Warren Entner who immediately lined up a record deal with the Casablanca label. That all fell through and Quiet Riot finally landed with the Japanese CBS/Sony label. The first Quiet Riot album hit Japanese markets in 1977 and a second Lp emerged the following year known simply as Quiet Riot II. After all of this the Quiet Riot records never made it to the U.S. The band never did a live show and they hit rock bottom. The parents of the band members were especially displeased and wanted their children to do something else. On top of that, the bassist Kelly Garni had a drinking problem but was soon replaced by Rudy Sarzo. Rudy had arrived in Quiet Riot shortly after Quiet Riot II. Since the album had not been released yet, the band decided to put his picture on the back instead of Kelly's despite the fact that he didn't do any of the songs. Over the following months the band still could not land a U.S. record deal. Bands like Van Halen were making it which angered Kevin. After a short trip with the group the new bassist Rudy Sarzo cut his hair and quit saying that he thought heavy was out. The next blow for Kevin was that his good friend Randy Rhoads was offered a job with Ozzy Osbourne. "I couldn't blame him for leaving" Kevin said. This was the end of the original Quiet Riot. Kevin set out and found new members and realeased an album called Metal Health but the Quiet Riot sound will never be as good as the first.
