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Slade was a hugely successful English rock band of the early 1970s and was a major part of the Glam rock phenomenon of that decade. The band originated from the Black Country in central England. Slade never truly caught on with American audiences (who often deemed them "too British-sounding"), but the group became a massive sensation in their home country and the rest of Europe, with success to rival Wizzard, The Sweet, T. Rex (band), Suzi Quatro and even David Bowie. In Europe they were thought of as the biggest rock group of their time and with their anthemic brand of glam rock, they scored 11 Top Five hits in a four-year span from 1971 to 1974 (five of which topped the charts). The band members were:
The group originally formed in 1966 from the component members of two Midlands bands The Vendors and Steve Brett and The Mavericks and was called the N'Betweens, but initially had little success. In the late 1960s the band changed its name to Ambrose Slade and hooked up with manager Chas Chandler, former bass player of The Animals and manager of Jimi Hendrix. Their name was abbreviated to just Slade, and the band adopted a "skinhead" look, as an attempt to gain some publicity from what was a newsworthy minority fashion trend of the time. They later abandoned this idea, due to the unwelcome association with football hooliganism and trouble that accompanied the fashion. They grew their hair long again, and became a part of the Glam Rock movement, releasing songs with deliberately Black Country mis-spelled titles which made them stand out. This change of direction paid off, and from 1971 the band scored an impressive number of huge-selling hits, including the singles:
All in all, Slade had 16 top 20 hits between 1971 and 1976 including 6 number ones, 3 number twos and 2 number threes. No other UK act of the period enjoyed such consistency and Slade actually came the closest to emulate Beatles' 22 top ten records from the 1960s. Two of their singles entered the charts at number one. Despite their enormous success, Slade continued to be a down-to-Earth unpretentious working class band and one of the best live acts of the 1970's and 1980's. In 1974 Slade made the highly acclaimed rock movie Flame. Film critic Mark Kermode believes it to be the best rock biopic af all times and today it is considered a masterpiece. Each scene in the movie is a true story taken from some bands' career and the bleak, sometimes violent story has been compared to Quentin Tarantino movies. Flame showed the members of Slade acting surprisingly well, especially Holder and Lea who pulled off the serious stuff. The excellent soundtrack album, which was released to tie in with the film included the top 5 hit "Far far away" and the top 20 hit "How does it feel". The bands albums "Slade Alive" and "Slayed?" are considered by many to be some of the best of the Glam Rock era. With the advent of punk in the late 1970s, Slade's music became unfashionable and was not considered worthy of radio plays and so their hits largely dried up. They struggled on playing live shows to respectable-sized crowds in clubs and Universities, while waiting for their turn to come again. In August 1980, Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Oz cancelled a show at Reading and Slade (who had in truth all but disbanded) replaced them. They were the hit of the festival and a new run of chart success followed, though not on the scale of their 70's heights. Although they had two other UK top 10 hits in 1984 with the singles "Run Runaway" (#7, which would be their second top 40 hit in the USA (#20) and their first since "Gudbuy T'Jane", which barely made the top 40 in 1972) and "My Oh My" (#2 UK, #36 US). Despite being 'adopted' by fans of a harder rock genre, the band split up officially in 1991 when Noddy Holder left after 25 years in the band. Slade's attempts at cracking the American market were largely unsuccessful, although they obviously left their mark on a large number of US bands who cite Slade as an influence. A cover of the single "Cum on Feel the Noize," by Metal group Quiet Riot was a smash Top 5 hit in America in 1983. Slade's sound and image influenced a number of American rock groups in the 1970s, particularly KISS, whose bassist Gene Simmons readily admitted that their whole early songwriting ethos as regards singles was loaned from Slade's good-time approach. The large catalogue of Slade songs has been occasionally accessed for use by a number of groups over the years; The Ramones (Live only), Cheap Trick (Live only), U2 (Live only), Mama's Boys, Quiet Riot, Wonderstuff, Bohze Onkelz, Girlschool,70s All Stars, Doc Eisenhauer, Quiet Riot and Sir Mixalot, James Last, Flashback Band, Twisted Sister, Hole (Live only), The Hobos, The Glitter Band, Strangeways, Shirehorses, Nobcutters, Guster, Bram Van 2000, Recliners, Alive and well, Randalica, Oasis, One Way System, Little Jack Melody and his young Turks, Ian Hall (on TV programme 'Stars in their eyes' only), Kiss My Jazz, The Crack, Go Crazy, Mud, Pretty maids, Red 2, Rock Ghosts, The Cloggs, Mission (as Metal Gurus), Van Halen (live only), Britney Fox, UK PLC, Flashback Band, Redbeards From Texas, Stiv Bators (demo version), The Men They Couldn't hang, Sapo, Noel Gallager of Oasis, Steps, Cure (Live version of Merry Xmas everybody), Four Skins, Tweenies, Die Toten Hosen, 4 skins, Rooney, Jimmy Barnes, Mek and the Xmas Peks, Spice Girls, Kim McAuliffe (Girlschool), Max Bygraves, Mark (during 'Pop Idol' TV show 2003), Dexy's Midnight Runners, Missing link, Travis, Studio 99, James Last, Eastenders TV show cast plus Suggs from Madness, Baron Knights and many many more. Holder went on to become an actor and in-demand broadcaster, Lea studied psychotherapy, invested in properties and recorded tracks on his own, while the two others played in successive new versions of Slade, which released an albums and a number of singles on the continent, but not in the UK. The original band's memory was kept alive by comedians Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, who respectfully sent up the band in a number of sketches in one of their TV shows in the 1990s. Holder also acted in the nostalgic late 90s TV comedy The Grimleys, set in the early 70s, where he played music teacher Mr. Holder. In one amusing scene he played a Slade song on the piano, and wished he could become famous... External links
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