Quiet, You

Following in the footsteps of OPC, Slate's Jody Rosen pays tribute today to the late Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot. Rosen writes, "Other, better bands—Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi—would ride the tide to superstardom, but Quiet Riot got there first, when 'Cum On Feel' propelled the band's third album, Metal Health, to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, for one week exactly, in November of '83."

Which brings up the question: What? Def Leppard's Pyromania was released in January of 1983 and went to - oh, excuse me, it was just Number Two on the Billboard album charts. (It would have gone to Number One if not for a little thing called Thriller.) "Photograph," released in the spring of that year, climbed the charts a good six months before "Cum On Feel the Noize," peaking at Number Twelve. Except for the narrow distinction between a Number One and a Number Two album, no matter what Quiet Riot did, Def Leppard got there first.

And, really, if you think it's self-evident that the band you're writing about isn't as good as Motley Crue, they probably aren't worth much of a tribute.