My Legends of Pop Music – Part Fifteen – Slade
If I get this right, there will be many cover versions by future bands. I shall try and link live versions if they exist from the tellybox or a film, the sound quality may not be the best, but there is nothing like watching a real talent live.
So, in a sort of chronological order, my fifteenth legends are Slade. Firstly, and most importantly, this does not contain the Merry Xmas Everybody tune. We get more than enough of this during the 4-month Christmas period and being the middle of October starts about now.
Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The British Hit Singles & Albums names them the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. They were the first act to have three singles enter the charts at number one; all six of the band’s chart toppers were penned by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. As of 2006, total UK sales stand at 6,520,171, and their best-selling single, “Merry Xmas Everybody”, has sold in excess of one million copies.
Following an unsuccessful move to the U.S. in 1975, Slade’s popularity in the UK waned, but was unexpectedly revived in 1980 when they were last-minute replacements for Ozzy Osbourne at the Reading Rock Festival. The band later acknowledged this to have been one of the highlights of their career. The original line-up split in 1992 but reformed later in the year as Slade II. The band have continued, with several line-up changes, to the present day. They have also shortened the group name back to Slade.
A number of artists from diverse genres have cited Slade as an influence, including Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Undertones, The Runaways, The Clash, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, The Replacements, Cheap Trick, Oasis, Quiet Riot (who covered Slade songs for two of their three biggest hits) and Britny Fox. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Music tells of Holder’s powerful vocals, guitarist Dave Hill‘s equally arresting dress sense, and the deliberate misspelling of their song titles (such as “Cum On Feel the Noize” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now“) for which they became well known.
A full list of his songs is here: Discography – Slade
Get Down and Get With It – ToTP performance, 1972. This was their breakthrough song, great Little Richard cover, who in turn got the song American R&B singer-songwriter Bobby Marchan.
Look Wot You Dun – good live performance on a German TV show.
Take Me Bak ‘Ome – Check out the dancers on stage, what a time to be alive!
Mama Weer All Crazee Now – Dominating ToTP in the 70’s.
Gudbuy T Jane – Live in concert 1975
Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me – Concert at earls Court, just showing they can play, as of course it was all mime for everyone on ToTP for many years.
My Friend Stan – Their promo video for this.
Far Far Away 1975 – Looking very clean cut, superb ballad.
How does it feel? Live 1975 in Winterland, yet another superb ballad.
My Oh My – Live performance from 1983, introduced by David Frost. Their last major hit, and a classic.
My favourite ballad though is this one:
Everyday – TOTP – Most bigly good rock ballad.
Singalong, enjoy and be happy!
Links to previous Legend articles:
Featured Image: AVRO, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL, via Wikimedia Commons
© Phil the ex test manager 2021
