QR III

Background

QR III is short for "Quiet Riot III". Despite the record's name, this is actually the band's fifth studio album. However, it is their third major label/worldwide release. The band's first two releases were also titled Quiet Riot and Quiet Riot II, suggesting this serves as a third self-titled album.

Following the massive success of Metal Health and the more modest reception of Condition Critical (which failed to duplicate Metal Health's success, but still went top 20 and receive a platinum certification), sales of QRIII were even lower, reaching only No. 31 on the US charts and has yet to achieve any certification at all. It marked Quiet Riot's final plunge away from stardom as the band's following releases would not enter the charts at all.

This marks the first Quiet Riot album to feature Chuck Wright, formerly of Giuffria, on bass as an official member - prior to this, he had performed some uncredited bass work on the band's earlier albums. He would rejoin the band on an on/off basis over the years, and is in the current version of the group.

The lead single, "The Wild and the Young", is a stadium hymn to the energy of youth. Its accompanying video (featuring game show host Wink Martindale in a cameo appearance) painted an Orwellian picture of the future, where totalitarian militarists fought to wipe out rock and roll — a reference to the Senate hearings concerning explicit language in heavy metal songs.

This is the first Quiet Riot album not to feature any covers.

Quiet Riot

Additional musician

Production