Slade this afternoon – because it’s Friday and a little something loud, especially on a day like today, works wonders. They were recorded live from The Young Vic Theatre in London on April 24, 1975.
Why Slade didn’t become huge in the U.S. is something of a mystery – but the 1970s were unpredictable and certainly in a state of flux. Maybe it was the timing. Slade was considered Glam early on, but the gravel-throated voice of Noddy Holder had no androgyny attached to it. Maybe it was their label (Polydor was notorious for missing good opportunities). Maybe it was the somewhat cutesy misspelling of song titles – maybe it was just wrong place – wrong time. Who knows what the fickle nature of the average audience is? We’re no strangers to that – the list of “almosts-but-not-quites” fills volumes. I do know that Slade struck chords with a lot of Americans – maybe not the mass audience, but enough to classify them as “cult”. The legions of bands assigned cult status is fairly overflowing anyway – and Slade were right at home.
Slade dominated the UK singles charts during the early 1970s. Slade achieved twelve Top 5 hit singles in the UK between 1971 and 1974, three of which went straight to No. 1. Of the 17 Top 20 hits between 1971 and 1976, six made No. 1, three reached No. 2 and two peaked at No. 3. No other UK act of the period enjoyed such consistently high chart placings in the UK Top 40 or sold as many singles. In 1973 alone, “Merry Xmas Everybody” sold over one million copies globally, obtaining gold disc status. They toured Europe in 1973 and the US in 1974. Slade have released over 30 albums, three of which reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart. Their releases have spent 315 weeks in the UK charts and they have earned 24 top-30 UK hits as of 2016.
Following an unsuccessful (and really unwise) 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. For the next two years, the band produced material tailored towards the heavy-metal scene and by 1984, they finally cracked the American market with the hits “Run Runaway” and “My Oh My“. This new-found success did not last long, however, and despite a top-25 UK hit in the early 1990s the band split shortly after in 1992. The original line-up split re-formed later in the year as Slade II. The band have continued, with a number of 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. 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.
Okay – so dive back to 1975 for a taste of what you were missing.
