The shocking moment in 1983 when Quiet Riot attacked a man mid-heart attack
While one might be able to argue that Quiet Riot were unfortunate not to experience the same levels of consistent success that many of their heavy metal contemporaries experienced, their proclivity for self-sabotage often seemed to be their main obstacle.
Their formative lineup, which included a young Randy Rhoads before he found greater success playing alongside Ozzy Osbourne, was effectively disbanded in 1979 after just four years operating under the name. After two Japan-exclusive studio albums, frontman Kevin DuBrow accused bassist Kelly Garni of making death threats against him, and the project was seemingly dead in the water as a result of this chaotic bust-up.
However, against the odds, DuBrow would choose to revive things again in 1982 with an all-new lineup backing him, and it was during this initial reformation that they found themselves having the greatest success in their career, and even flirting with the possibility of sitting alongside some of the heavyweights of the genre.
After achieving a number one album in the US with their 1983 album, Metal Health, and becoming the first out and out heavy metal act to break into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 with their cover of Slade’s ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, things seemed promising for the band, and the only things that could have stood in the way of their ascent on the second attempt would have been their own actions.
Despite this meteoric rise, chaos never seemed to be far around the corner for the Californian band, and an incident just prior to them reaching the height of their popularity could easily have derailed things had it ended in more disastrous circumstances.
When they were invited to headline the ‘heavy metal day’ at the 1983 US Festival, which had been set up by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and industry impresario Bill Graham, Quiet Riot realised that their rigorous touring schedule meant that they’d be without their usual crew, who were busy setting up for a headline show in another city later the same week.
“I had our tour manager get in touch with a drum tech we’d had before,” drummer Frankie Banali later recounted to Ultimate Classic Rock, adding that the makeshift crew consisted of people that they’d previously fired. “Here we are, it’s about 40 minutes before we’re supposed to go on, and I’m standing backstage,” he continued. “My drum kit isn’t quite completely set up yet, and it’s getting down to the wire. So I go out there, and my tech is like on one knee, clutching his heart, and he says, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.’”
While Banali initially presumed that drugs were the cause of the technician’s heart palpitations, he also thought that his claims were part of a cruel prank, which he responded to in questionable fashion. “He’s now down laying on the stage, and I start to kick him,” Banali added. “As I’m kicking, the paramedics come around the corner and they take him away. So now he’s gone and my drum set’s not set up right.”
Seemingly unconcerned about the welfare of his temporary employee and more focused on his drums not being set up shortly before his set, it’s truly baffling how someone’s first instinct could be to kick a man while down and not want to help out. As it happens, Quiet Riot ended up getting a kicking while they were at the top of their game, and came tumbling back down to earth from their brief stint as potential future stars of heavy metal.
