In September 1982, with help from producer Spencer Proffer, Quiet Riot finally signed a US recording contract with CBS Records and the album Metal Health was released on March 11, 1983. The group's landmark single "Cum On Feel the Noize" was released on August 27, 1983. A cover of a 1973 song by Slade, the single spent two weeks at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1983 and made history as the first heavy metal song to ever crack the Hot 100. The success of the single was instrumental in ushering in a new era of unparalleled success for heavy metal music in the 1980s and helped carry the album Metal Health to the top of Billboard album chart, making it the first American heavy metal debut album ever to reach No. 1 in the United States. On November 26, 1983, Quiet Riot became the first heavy metal band to have a top 5 hit and No. 1 album in the same week. Their success was aided in no small part by the "Cum On Feel the Noize" video's heavy rotation on MTV. Exposure in the popular film Footloose helped spark airplay of the title track. Metal Health displaced The Police's Synchronicity at No. 1 and stayed there for just a week until Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down took over the No. 1 spot.
