We'll get wild, wild, wild

Glam rock band Slade, while one of the most commercially successful acts in their native Great Britain in the 1970s, never really made it in North America, apart from a few minor hits in the early 1980s. But their influence was certainly felt: they were a major inspiration for American glam-rockers KISS, for example. (Judge for yourself whether that's a compliment.)

In 1973, Slade's single "Cum On Feel the Noize" reached #1 with a bullet in the UK. It stayed there for four weeks. On the other hand, it barely cracked the Billboard Top 100 in the U.S. Then, in 1983, heavy metal band Quiet Riot released their third album, Metal Health. This was the first metal album to top the Billboard charts, and the lead single was a cover of "Cum On Feel the Noize":

For Monday and Tuesday's songs, I felt that the covers were an improvement on the originals. Here, I don't really think so. Slade's recording is a fun, weird jam; Quiet Riot's, although OK, is merely a typical 80s hair-metal number. Frankly, whenever I think of Quiet Riot, the first thing that comes to my mind is Mark DuBrow's candy-striped mike stand, not any particular tunes - well, except for this one and "Metal Health."