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Slade was a British band that formed back in the late
1960's and dominated the UK charts in the early 1970's (they sold more
singles in the UK than any other band from the decade). Slade is
often described as one of the original glam bands of the 1970's, and
their music has been both covered by and influential to bands like
Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Poison, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, Cheap
Trick, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and many more.
Slade started out as a band called 'N Betweens.
After releasing a few singles, the band was picked up by Fontana Records
and asked to change their name. They chose "Ambrose Slade" after
hearing a record executive's secretary call her shoes "Ambrose" and her
purse "Slade". Sure you had to be there, but hey...The band's
first release in 1969, Beginnings, was a failure. In
1970, they shortened the name of the band to Slade and released Play
It Loud, which also did not do well initially. However, the
band released the cover single "Get Down and Get With It" in 1971, and
finally Slade was in the top 20 on the UK charts. By this time,
the band was entrenched in the glam rock scene of the 1970's. They
grew their hair long and began dressing crazy. Other songs you may
remember from the 70's, that drove the English teacher's crazy, include
"Coz I Luv You", "Look Wot You Dun", "Take Me Bak 'Ome", "Mama Wer all
Crazee Now" (covered by Quiet Riot in the 80's), "Gudbuy t' Jane"
(covered by Britny Fox in the 80's), "Cum on Feel the Noize" (also
covered by Quiet Riot in the 80's), "Skweeze Me Pleaze Me", "My Friend
Stan", "The Bangin' Man", "Far Far Away", "Merry Xmas Everybody", and
"Thanks for the Memory (Wham Bam Thank You Mam).
By the mid 1970's, Slade was losing popularity fast, so
they decided to move to the USA where they released new material and
toured with Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, and ZZ Top. This ended up
not being a successful move for Slade, so they moved back to the USA,
where subsequent 70's releases were often banned due to sexual and/or
drug related inferences. Things continued spiraling down here for
Slade, until the Blizzard of Oz tour in 1980. Slade performance
was good enough to garner them a new contract. They decided to
hone their heavy rock sound, and released the hit song "We'll Bring the
House Down". Slade continued their heavy metal bent, and the hit
single "Run Run Away" was released in 1984 and peaked at number 20.
Throughout the rest of the 1980's, Slade
continued producing new music. Although they met with some
success, it was nothing like the early 1970's. The band
technically split in 1991 as different members pursued different
careers, but a form of Slade did continue on sans some key members (and
there were some reunion tours from time to time). At the time of this writing, the Slade
Discography was as follows:1969: Beginnings (Ambrose Slade)
1970: Play It Loud
1972: Slayed?
1972: Cuz I Luv You
1972: Slade Alive!
1973: Sladest
1974: Old New Borrowed and Blue
1974: Slade in Flame
1976: Nobody's Fools
1977: Whatever Happened to Slade
1978: Slade Alive Vol. 2
1979: Return to Base
1980: Slade Smashes
1981: We'll Bring the House Down
1981: Till Deaf Do Us Part
1982: Slade on Stage Live
1983: The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome
1984: Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply
1984: Slade's Greatest
1985: Rogues Gallery
1985: Crackers - The Christmas Party Album
1987: You Boyz Make Big Noize
1991: Wall of Hits
1997: Feel the Noize - Greatest Hits
2000: The Genesis of Slade
2002: Get Yer Boots On: The Best of Slade
2005: The Very Best of Slade
2006: Slade Alive! - The Live Anthology
2006: The Slade Box
2007: B-Sides
2009: Live at the BBC
2009: Merry Xmas Everybody: Party Hits |
