Known for the rather eccentric dress sense of Dave Hill, the Tartan suit of Noddy Holder, and the deliberate misspelling of their song titles, Slade were one of the leaders in the UK Glam Rock era of the early to mid-1970s.
i remember meeting slade
So, my brother comes home with a new album. He does that often – he has a job, I’m a student, he has money, I don’t. And it’s always interesting what he brings home. One week it’ll be some early Elton John, soft rock album, the next week it’s Ozzie Osborne and Black Sabbath. On this particular day it’s Slade. I can’t even remember for sure what album it was – Sladest, I think, the compilation album from 1973.
Anyway, it’s magic. Noddy Holder’s voice just grabs me and still, after all these years, I think he has one of the great rock ‘n’ roll voices.
slade / slayed / sladest
It would be easy to dismiss Slade as less than serious because of their title misspellings and their out-there dress sense. However, they were fantastically successful. Check this out, Slade;
- were the first group to have three singles enter the UK singles charts at #1.
- in just four years, between 1971 and 1974, had 12 singles that reached the top five on the UK singles charts.
- released over 30 albums – three reached #1 in the UK album charts.
- in the early 1970s, out-performed all other glam-rock artists including David Bowie, Sweet, Wizzard, Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Suzi Quatro, Mud, and Roxy Music.
- in all, spent 531 weeks in the UK charts and had 23 hits in the top 30 of the UK singles charts – and, they’re still going although not likely to add to that tally.
- of all UK recording artists, have come the closest to equalling The Beatles’ record of 22 Top Ten hits in a single decade. The Beatles did it in the 1960s.
causing upset
It’s ironic when you think about it… these days English teachers often bemoan the loss of English skills amongst teens citing texting as the activity that is robbing our youth of their ability to spell and string entire sentences together. Back in the 1970s Slade came under attack.
Teachers throughout Britain were upset at the rising popularity of a group who deliberately spelt their song titles phonetically rather than in the proper Queen’s English. One teacher said the band spelt, “the way people write on toilet walls.”
Noddy Holder responds in Cum on Feel the Noize, singing;
So you think my singing’s out of time,
Well it makes me money…
cum on feel the noize fax
- Like most their hits, Cum on Feel the Noize was written by band members Jim Lea and Noddy Holder.
- Cum On Feel the Noize was Slade’s fourth #1 UK single and the first to enter the charts at #1.
- Taken from their album Slade, Cum on Feel the Noize was a follow-up to the wonderful, Gudbuy T’ Jane.
- Cum on Feel the Noize sold 500,000 copies in its first three weeks after release – a lot of records in those days… that’s almost 24,000 a day!
- Cum on Feel the Noize was the inspiration for Kiss’ hit single, Rock and Roll All Nite.
- Cum on Feel the Noize was originally called, Cum on Hear the Noize but Noddy changed it saying;
I had felt the sound of the crowd pounding in my chest
- The words baby baby baby in the song’s introduction were actually a microphone test but, having been included on the single, the words were added to the song, even when played live.
- Cum on Feel the Noize lyrics.
cum on feel the noise – slade – 1973 video
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