BEFORE: I saw some bits and pieces of this film about two years ago when it played on Showtime, usually late at night after I'd finished another movie - but I have not seen the whole thing, front to back, so that has to be done.
I've got just seven more rockumentaries after this one, every day I'm getting one step closer to finishing this chain. But before the chain - and the summer - are over, I'm headed into Labor Day weekend ready to party, with a big superstar concert on Sunday, and a headlining act on Monday.
Dee Snider carries over from "We Are Twisted F--king Sister!" and you can't really talk about one band without talking about the other. These two bands had the East Coast/West Coast rivalry going on well before any rappers did.
THE PLOT: The rise, fall and near-resurrection of an 80's metal band.
AFTER: I've heard over the years that many bands have claimed to be the inspiration for the fictional band "Spinal Tap", especially the ones that have gotten lost on their way to the stage from the dressing room in Cleveland. But probably no band has a better claim than Quiet Riot for being the genesis of so many of that film's jokes about heavy metal music. I'm thinking of the parts where the band keeps breaking up and coming back together, and when asked if he's going to miss his mate Nigel after a recent break-up, David St. Hubbins says, "37 people have been in this band over the years..." A bunch of graphics in this film show that only 28 people have been in Quiet Riot, but many of them have quit and come back over and over again.
Plus, there's still time, they might still make it to 37 members. But unlike Spinal Tap, whose drummers kept dying in unlikely accidents, Quiet Riot has had (mostly) only two drummers, and one is Frankie Banali, who's still keeping the group going. As long as there's one original member left, or in Frankie's case, someone very close to being an original member, a band can continue. There's money to be made out on the nostalgia circuit, playing state fairs and various theme venues. And while they may not have a private chartered plane any more, or a convoy full of roadies, they're still doing "fly-ins" where the band members travel to a town with just their guitars and their stage outfits, performing with mostly rented gear.
Unlike last night's film, this one doesn't STOP telling the story of the band right before they have their biggest hit. Instead we get to hear "Cum On Feel the Noize" (which is really a Slade song, not an original Quiet Riot song...) many times, performed by several people trying to measure up to the famous performance of Kevin DuBrow, who died of an overdose in 2007. DuBrow did reconcile with Banali in 2004, when they put the band back together to hit the nostalgia tour - while the 1990's might not have been a very good time for heavy metal, by the early 2000's the children of the 80's had grown up and they wanted to see all the old bands again. Hey, what comes around goes around, often several times.
Banali struggled with the decision over whether to continue after DuBrow's death, and the fans certainly weren't any help, urging him to leave things be and let the band die with its lead singer. But if Journey can continue with a sound-alike singer, then why couldn't Quiet Riot? So they held open auditions, and found Mark Huff, who seemed to have the vocal chops. But after several months with the band, he still had trouble remembering the lines to their most famous song. So he got fired and replaced with Scott Vokoun, who had the singing power, and a better memory. But he only lasted a year or so himself, and at the very end of this film, the band announces HIS replacement. The last I heard, they were using James Durbin, who came in fourth on "American Idol" a few years back, as their lead singer. And so the cycle continues....
Also starring Frankie Banali, Alex Grossi, Mark Huff, Rudy Sarzo, Scott Vokoun, Chuck Wright, Glenn Hughes, Steven Adler, Matt Sorum, Carlos Cavazo, Kelly Garni, Bob Geldof, John 5, Martha Quinn, Eddie Trunk, Lark Williams, Erin Davis, Vince Wilburn Jr., Dana Strum, Warren Entner, Laura Mandell, Jodi Vigier, Chris Epting, Spencer Proffer, Dana Ross, Eric Baker, Kevin Boisvert, Mike Yamasaki, Kelle Rhoads, Kathy Rhoads D'Argenzio and archive footage of Kevin DuBrow, Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne (last seen in "Ghostbusters"), Jay Jay French (also carrying over from "We Are Twisted F--king Sister!"), Eddie Ojeda (ditto), Mark Mendoza (ditto), A.J. Pero (ditto), George Harrison (last seen in "Super Duper Alice Cooper"), John Lennon (ditto), Paul McCartney (ditto), Ringo Starr (ditto), Sebastian Bach, Jon Bon Jovi, David Coverdale, Rivers Cuomo, Lita Ford, Dave Grohl (last seen in "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives"), Debbie Harry (last seen in "Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall"), Michael Jackson (last seen in "Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown"), Vince Neil, Gary Numan (last seen in "27: Gone Too Soon"), Sting (last seen in "20 Feet from Stardom"), Tom Bergeron, Bob Coburn, Stew Herrera, Howard Hesseman (last seen in "Heat"), Casey Kasem, Tawny Kitaen, Sherri Shepherd, Paul Shortino, Sally Steele,
RATING: 6 out of 10 fan meet-and-greets
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