Cum On Feel The Noize

Album: Sladest (1973)
Charted: 1 98
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a glam rock classic. Slade performed loud, anthemic songs in flamboyant costumes, often with lots of makeup and plenty of energy. Glam rock was big in the UK in the mid-'70s, and this was one of the genre's first hits. Slade also hit #1 with similarly misspelled songs "Coz I Love You" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now."
  • Jim Lea and Noddy Holder of Slade wrote this song, and it was produced by Chas Chandler, who managed Jimi Hendrix before working with Slade. The song entered the UK charts at #1, becoming the first to do so since The Beatles "Get Back" in 1969. It was Slade's fourth UK #1. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
  • Most Americans know this song from the Quiet Riot cover, which went to #5 in 1983 and helped their album Metal Health become the first metal album to hit #1 on the Billboard 200. It was the band's producer, Spencer Proffer, who asked them to cover the song; lead singer Kevin DuBrow wanted nothing to do with it, since he wanted the band to write every song on the album. He and the band cooked up a plan to sabotage the song, but it failed.

    In a Songfacts interview with Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali, he told the story: "We were supposed to rehearse the song and go in and record it. The producer kept calling the rehearsal studio, 'Are you working on 'Cum On Feel the Noize'?' And we'd say, 'Yeah. It sounds great.' But we never played it.

    So the day came when it was time to record the song, and I came in early and told the engineer what was going on. I was honest with him. I said, 'You might just want to record this for laughs and giggles.'

    We went in, there was no intro, no nothing at all. There was a little bit of arguing as to how it was going to start, and finally, when I knew the engineer was rolling tape, I just started playing what became the intro. Rudy [Sarzo, bass] joined in, and then Carlos [Cavazo, guitar] joined in. Kevin was sitting at the corner of the studio, just giggling, waiting for this massive train wreck, and the train wreck never happened.

    I had already done so many sessions in LA - even before the Metal Health record - that I knew, 'Vamp long, there's no click track on it,' and all of that. And then when we were done, the producer says, 'That sounded great. I wish we had recorded it.' And the engineer said, 'Come on in.'

    He went in to listen, and Kevin grabbed me by the arm and almost dislocated my shoulder. He says, 'What the hell was that?' And I said, 'I don't know man. I just started playing it!' He says, 'Well, what am I supposed to do now?' And I said, 'Well, you can always sing it s--tty, can't you?' He smiled a little, but he was really pissed off.

    The thing is, when you listen to the original Slade version and you listen to our version, Slade begins at a different part of the song. Slade did not have an intro - it just goes right in. And because we weren't familiar with the song - and I definitely wasn't familiar with the song - I think I either left out a verse or a chorus in our arrangement. So if you play them side-by-side, they're not going to match.

    I will say that there is a lot of similarities between Kevin's voice and Noddy Holder's. It was good call on the producer's part to do that. And I understand why he did it: Quiet Riot was a new band, doing music that nobody else was doing, and he just wanted to have a 'safety song' that was a hit everywhere except for the United States. I get it. And the reality is, if we had not done that song, you'd probably be interviewing the drummer from another band right now."
  • Quiet Riot had been recording since 1975 without a hit. After finding success with "Cum On Feel The Noize," they had a minor hit with their next single "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)" and recorded another Slade song, "Mama Weer All Crazee Now." After Metal Health, they never caught on and failed to enjoy the success of similar bands like Mötley Crüe and Poison.

    In 2007, Quiet Riot lead singer Kevin DuBrow died of a drug overdose at age 52. The band re-formed in 2010 with a number of vocalists going through the ranks. James Durbin, the fourth place finisher on American Idol in 2011, took over in 2017.
  • The Quiet Riot version took off thanks to a video that got lots of airplay on MTV. At the time, pop radio was dominated by Michael Jackson, The Police, Madonna and other acts that were chasms away from metal, but MTV had plenty of wiggle room in their playlist and was looking for American rock bands in particular. The "Cum On Feel The Noize" video was sweet nectar to the young male audience they were trying to attract; one of this species stars in the clip, undergoing a metal assault in his bedroom. Mark Rezyka, who did all of Quiet Riot's early videos, was the director.
  • Though little known Stateside, Slade was enormously popular in the UK, where they had 18 songs reach the Top 5, seven of them #1s.

    Much of their musical output was produced by Chas Chandler, famous for managing Jimi Hendrix and a talented rocker in his own right, playing bass as a founding member of the seminal British rock band The Animals. But Glam Rock was buried in Britain by the late 1970s and Slade slid into semi-obscurity in the US until the release of Quiet Riot's cover, which helped boost their own sales a bit.

Comments: 12

  • Dylan from Texas, United StatesWell Wayne, the song that would have boosted Quiet Riot's career would have been Metal Health (Bang Your Head) it was a great song and everybody loved it.
  • David from Hawarden, United KingdomJohn of NC, I bet you heard the a Quiet Riot version first, right? I understand that the first version of a song you hear and get used to will probably become your favourite version. I twas aware of Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright and With A Little Help....long before I heard the originals and prefer Cocker's takes both times. However, on this occasion I must ask you to reconsider. Quiet Riot offered a watered down, limp version of COFTN which lacked the aggression and authentically dirty ass working class power which Slade could deliver in their sleep. Jim Lea is a masterful bass player, Dave and Don average performers but NOBODY in the history of rock has/had a voice like Noddy's. He could strip paint at a hundred yards with his roar. He made my rib age shake at concerts many times. Not only this, Noddy's intonation and humour were unique and, in my opinion, cannot be copied; and certainly not by a third rate bunch of 80s wannabes like Quiet Riot.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 3rd 1973, "Cum On Feel The Noize" by Slade peaked at #1 (for 4 weeks) on the United Kingdom's Singles chart...
    In the U.S.A. on May 20th, 1973 the song entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart for a two stay; peaking at #98...
    The British quartet had three other records make the U.S. Top 100; "Take Me Bak 'Ome" #97), "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" (#76), and "Gudbuy T' Jane" (#68)...
    But in their native U.K. between 1971 and 2013 they had thirty-eight charted hits; with six of them reaching #1.
  • Richard from London, United Kingdomwhat escapes many people - not least makers of "70s music documentaries" who give slade very little space - is that this was the first "straight in at no 1" single in the UK since the Beatles. Slade then repeated this with their next song, "Squeeze me Pleeze me" and with the one two after that: "Merry Xmas Everybode". Their string of hits was an outstanding achievement by any yardstick. Their songs were also perfect combinations of humour, mischief, danceability, energy, and in fact, musicailty.. They were inspired by Chuck Berry among others, and it shows.
  • Percy from Melbourne, AustraliaGet you head read, John. Quiet Riot was a vastly inferior band to Slade. This is more than opinion, compare the number of hits each band had.
  • Allen from Seside Heights, Njcum on feel the noise is a great song it is even better when they proformed it live
  • Luke from Manchester, England1. It's Gudbuy T'Jane
    2. It's "Better Wi'Nowt Taken Out"
  • Wayne from Salem, VaA very good rock and roll song or anthem by Slade. They rock it! Quiet Riot were okay. But Slade was better. Hell' if it hadn't been for the success Quiet Riot got from covering Slade. Then what else could they have done to boost their career.
  • Kenny from Clydebank, ScotlandSlade! Great band. Noddy Holder is like the Hovis man, a staple: better we nowt taken owt. Old Noddy sideburns could belt them out, 'Goodbye to Jane' being my ultimate Slade track. Lines from their songs, 'saw you woz your own, I didn't stay round to say goodnight, and it's all right, it's all right....I don't want to drink my whisky but still do...so you think I've got an evil mind, well, you should know better...' Goodbye to Jane has one of the best guitar intros of all time. Cheap as chips, the poor man's Led Zep. Maybe they even invented text sms english in their song titles, long before mobile cell phones were even thought of, lad.
  • Max from Laconia, NhIve actually never heard this original song before. I always thought that Quiet Riot did this first. Slade always misspelled their song titles! Such rebels!
  • Shelby from Idiotville , KyYes indeed, John, yes indeed.
  • John from Hendersonville, NcOne of the few songs in which the cover is better than the original.
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