Riot was formed in 1975 in New York City, after Mark Reale and Pete Bitelli recruited Phil Feit and Guy Speranza. They got together and recorded a four track demo, which they hoped was going to be part of a compilation of new rock bands.
They decided to take their demos to Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb, who owned Greene Street Recording Studio and the independent record label, Fire Sign Records.
They ended up signing Riot, and they released “Rock City”.
It was unbelievable timing because the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was just starting to emerge into the mainstream, and Riot got attention in Britain by the legendary Neal Kaye.
This resulted in their British fans buying imported copies of “Rock City”.
It wasn’t too long after this, that “Narita” was released and they got to go on tour to open for Sammy Hagar.
Despite the high prospects of their deal with Capitol who offered them a worldwide deal, but after they finished touring and Capitol concluded promoting Sammy Hagar, they dropped Riot.
Arnell and Loeb spent the remaining money from the Capitol Records advance they were given to bring “Narita” to as many radio stations as possible, and this allowed Riot to gain a radio profile to the point that Capitol picked up their option for another Riot album to be created.
This decision led to the the creation of Riot's masterpiece, “Fire Down Under”.
Despite the high hopes from being signed to Capitol, they considered “Fire Down Under” to be commercially unacceptable. Capitol wouldn’t release Riot from their contract.
A campaign was then created by Arnell and Loeb along with the Riot fans, and they picketed EMI Records, especially in the U.K.
This resulted in Elektra Records reaching an agreement with Capitol to release “Fire Down Under” which then soared to the Billboard Top 100 chart.
Eventually, Guy Speranza left, and Rhett Forrester became their vocalist.
With Rhett, the next two chapters of Riot were released: “Restless Breed” and “Born In America”.
As crazy as this is gonna sound, the reason that Riot disintegrated was due to the fact that Quiet Riot was a #1 selling act, and fans couldn’t tell the difference.
This astounds me because their album art was different. The band was different. The music they made was different.
Quiet Riot is a fascinating band, but they are on a completely different level than Riot. Riot was it’s own universe and I’ve never heard a band that sounds like them. Don’t mix up bands because of a word in the name.
This obstacle didn’t stop Riot because they always knew how to persevere. So many things happened to them, but it never stopped them.
Eventually, Riot was reformed and they released another metal masterpiece that goes by the name of “Thundersteel”.
Make time to listen to this playlist because it contains songs one of the best bands ever.
Add comment
Comments