Girls Rock Your Boys

I remember this kid from my 7th grade gym class, Andy. We lined up by alphabetical order and his last name started with an A. Otherwise I would never have spoken to him as we ran in pretty different circles. I can still see him in his gym shorts and T-shirt. He had Hessian hair, wore a denim jacket and his eyes were permanently lidded with cannabis weights. He spoke like Spicoli and while doing warm up stretches would occasionally bust out in a high Gedde Lee voice some heavy metal lyric or other.

It was through Andy that I learned of the wonder of Quiet Riot.

Today, the Riot has been made even more quiet as lead wailer Kevin DuBrow has passed on, found dead in Vegas like any respecting heavy metal singer should be.

I remember my cousin Michelle being into the Riot, listening to Metal Health on her cassette Walkman – the kind that in order to rewind the tape you had to flip it and fast forward. I remember being skeptical, I mean heavy metal? Plus Michelle was in with that rough and tumble, smoking, roller rink crowd. I remember listening to her copy on her crappy Walkman. I remember being pretty instantly taken by “Bang Your Head” and by “Slick Black Cadillac”. I remember feeling a little dirty at their suggestive spelling of “Cum On Feel The Noize” – I liked the Z. I remember being both a bit bothered and excited by the album’s cover.

Shiny satin straight jackets do that to me.

And I mean, cum on, they’re right: metal health will drive you mad.

So, good journey to you Kevin. I can’t say that you have made a huge impact in my world, but I will say that your cover of someone else’s song made me happy for a couple of days.