Songoftheday 6/11/13 - Well I'm an axegrinder piledriver, mother says that I never, never mind her...

Quiet Riot - "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)"
from the album Metal Health (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (two weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 4

 Today's Song of the Day is by the American band that had the first #1 "Heavy Metal" album (well, in it's "80s form"), Quiet Riot. The California rockers had conquered the pop charts at the end of 1983 with the top-5 cover of the Slade classic "Cum On Feel The Noize". For its follow-up, they released an original, the album's title track, "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)", which was written by singer Kevin DuBrow along with guitarist Carlos Cavazo and drummer Frankie Banali. It gave a name for mainstream America to call the frantic head bobs by metalhead fans everywhere....

"Bang Your Head" became the band's second top-40 hit in February of 1984, and also their last. After their next album tried to recreate the 'magic' with another Slade cover of "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" that stalled at #51, Quiet Riot became quickly overshadowed by more pop-friendly and, well, prettier bands like Poison, Def Leppard, and Motley Crue. The Riot would still trudge on for years, though in 2012 DuBrow died from a cocaine overdose.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


...and finally, here's Quiet Riot live at the US Festival in 1983..

Up tomorrow: a song from a soundtrack to a Mr. T/Gary Busey film. Yes, you heard that right.