Songfacts®:

• "Cum On Feel The Noize" was a huge '80s hit for the American metal band Quiet Riot, but it's a cover song by the British band Slade, whose original is well known in the UK, where it went to #1 in 1973. Slade didn't get much attention in America, where the song stalled at #98, so when Quiet Riot did the song, most listeners had no idea it was a cover.
• "Cum On Feel The Noize" was Quiet Riot's breakthrough, but their lead singer tried to sabotage it. The band's producer, Spencer Proffer, was the one who suggested they cover this song. Just one problem: lead singer Kevin DuBrow didn't want to do a cover song because he wouldn't get any songwriting royalties from it. He convinced his bandmates that they should write every song themselves, but because Proffer was so hot on the song, they agreed to go through the motions of rehearsing it, then play it so badly in the session that there was no way it would make the album.
  
  When it came time to record the track, the band let the engineer know what was going on, so basically, Proffer was being Punk'd. The guitarist, bass player and drummer just played a wild version of the song as it came to them, and when they were done, they were shocked.
  
  "The producer says, 'That sounded great,'" drummer Frankie Banali told Songfacts.
  
  DuBrow wasn't happy, and because his bandmates came up with something good, he felt obliged to put some effort into his vocal, which he then recorded.
  
  The end result was a cover that didn't hew too close to the original but sounded fresh and lively. If they had actually learned the song, they probably would have come up with something more sterile.
  
  And while the group didn't get those sweet songwriting or publishing royalties from the song, they did write every other song on the album, which thanks to "Cum On Feel The Noize" sold over 6 million copies in America, earning them a huge payout.
• Quiet Riot formed in 1973 with lead guitarist Randy Rhoads, who reached the top tier of his profession after leaving the band in 1979 and joining Ozzy Osbourne's band, where he helped pull Ozzy out of the shadows of Black Sabbath with blazing riffs on songs like "Crazy Train" and "Flying High Again."
  
  Not much was happening for Quiet Riot, whose only original member was lead singer Kevin DuBrow when they released their Metal Health album in February 1983. "Cum On Feel The Noize" was issued as a single that summer and rose to #5 in November, the same month the album hit #1 to become the very first heavy metal album to reach the top. The song "Metal Health" was released next and charted at #31 in February 1984, a full year after it appeared on the album.
• Unlike the Slade original, the Quiet Riot version of this song starts with that big, juicy chorus. That's largely because Quiet Riot didn't bother to really learn the song when they recorded it.
• The music video was an MTV favorite. Directed by Mark Rezyka, it shows a teenager in his room suddenly getting a sonic assault from the song. He's then magically transported to a Quiet Riot concert and all is well.
  
  MTV had been around only two years at this point and were happy to have an American rock band with a compelling concept video to balance out the Duran Duran and Madonna.
• Quiet Riot appeared on The Simpsons in the 2005 episode "The father, The Son and the Holy Guest Star" where we learn they're now a Christian rock band and and changed their name to Pious Riot. "Cum On Feel The Noize" they sing as "Come On Feel The Lord" ("we'll get saved, saved, saved!").
• Quiet Riot covered another Slade song, "Mama Weer All Crazee Now," on their next album, but didn't get the same results. The song stalled at #51 and was the last chart entry for the band. They booted lead singer Kevin DuBrow in 1987 and put out an album with Paul Shortino, but broke up soon after. DuBrow re-formed the group in 1990 and soldiered on with the group until 2007, when he died of a drug overdose at 52. A few years later the band regrouped and has gone through various member changes.