Hey, Hey, My, My (Updated)
As I mentioned to many of you, there’s sad news from the world of music: Kevin DuBrow, lead singer of the pioneering 1980s metal band Quiet Riot, died Sunday at the young age of 52. “So what’s it got to do with class, Mr. Girard?” you’re probably thinking. Well, this is mostly for APELC, but the freshmen can enjoy it, too.
Quiet Riot scored the first real heavy metal hit with mainstream appeal in 1982 with their cover of the 1973 Slade single “Cum on Feel the Noize”. It was a significant piece of popular rhetoric (ah, there’s the connection), that, along with its sister hit “Metal Health”, argued in the careers of other heavy metal glam and hair bands like Motely Crue, RATT, Twisted Sister, and their (mostly) Los Angeleno contemporaries. The scene was dubious though, in that while it heralded the coming of totally sweet groups like Guns N’ Roses, it also gave unfortunate rise to some real weiner bands like Bon Jovi, and tympana-torturing power-ballad specialists like Poison, Cinderella, and (shudder) The Scorpions (who’d actually been around for years, but whose German rock sound somehow, bafflingly became irresistible to a large segment of the American listening public in the 1980s).
When I was eleven, a classmate, Nate Garza, introduced me to Metal Health, the Quiet Riot album on which “Cum on Feel the Noize” appeared. Obviously I wasn’t the intended audience; the cover freaked me out. But even I couldn’t escape the 80s metal juggernaut, which was very cool and informed the decade’s music culture which was divided among the hair rockers, synthpoppers (who thankfully died relatively early deaths), the burgeoning alt rock/pop and hip-hop scenes, soulpoppers (think New Edition), and the top 40 horrors that were Richard Marx, Phil Collins, Mike + The Mechanics, Tiffany, John Waite, and―the very tired―Starship (to name a very scant few). The death knells of heavy metal officially sounded in 1990 with the simultaneous debut releases of “supergroup” Damn Yankees’ self-titled album with its hit “High Enough” and Nelson’s After the Rain and the hit of the same name it spanwed. (And that is two paragraphs of solid, value-laden context, kids.)
Here’re three different presentations of the venerable “Cum on Feel the Noize”. The first, the Slade original (link is now working), is followed Quiet Riot’s take, and then a version by Oasis sung by perennial cry-baby and all-round jackball Liam Gallagher. Pay attention to the different (musical and visual) schemes in each; the Slade and Oasis bookends are live performances, but the tasty Quiet Riot center is the band’s original video with obvious tropes. Ask yourself as you observe: What personas are the bands attempting to effect? What audiences are they trying to reach? What are their arguments? Which is the most effective or are they all effective in their respective contexts?
Raise your lighters to Kevin DuBrow and enjoy the sounds. Hey, hey, my, my…
Slade, 1973
Quiet Riot, 1982
Oasis, 1996
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2 Responses to “Hey, Hey, My, My (Updated)”
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The Quiet Riot version takes place in a bedroom falling apart, which attributes to the highly sexual title of the song and the feel of the 80s hair metal popularity. And the original Slade version was ground-breaking, but I have to say the Oasis version seems like a cheap copy of what “Cum On Feel the Noize” was. If that song started the hype about glam rock, then why would Oasis cover it? Oasis was a britpop band in the mid-90s when they covered “Cum on Feel the Noize”. Britpop was a reaction against music of the 80s including metal. Oasis felt like they could break ground like Slade or add to the popularity they already had, but they don’t really seem to fit the song, aren’t really in their element, nor are they catering to the popular type of music of the time.
Not bad. Nice observations, but be careful with your sources (I edited a sentence in your response. The other song Oasis performed on that program was their own.) But you’re right about Oasis. They claim often to pay homage to others, as they are attemtping to do with their cover of Slade’s tune, but Liam Gallagher has always been quick to trash such influences as The Beatles.
I think Oasis are trying to be hip: “See, we dig that groovy old stuff. That means we have your approval, right everybody?” Not that Oasis isn’t a good band, but they’ve never been guilty of being subtle in their bitter fawning.
Now, the best thing about this particular performance by Slade? Noddy Holder’s togs. Dig those crazy threads.