Slade

[another Mr. Lizard]

well, if you can't wait & don't mind it being a bit square & dark, there's a yt link upthread. I watched it last night & considered a) moving it to 'desolation' & b) where the fuck is my copy of 'stardust'? (the one with david essex & larry hagman, obvs)

It's surprising how bleak many of the glam rock movies are, extending to later items like Velvet Goldmine. I saw Never Too Young To Rock on its original cinema release in the mid-70s, starring Mud, The Glitter Band, The Rubettes and the late, great Freddie Jones, and even that slice of pop frivolity is set in an oppressive, totalitarian occupied Britain.

By the way, on a website called cookdandbombd I'm very surprised that no-one has used the phrase 'Fucking Noddy' in the thread so far...

[Brundle-Fly]

One has to doff one's top hat covered with small circular mirrors to Noddy Holder for retiring in 1992 (aged,46) as a singer from the music industry never to return. He is the 'Glam Captain Beefheart', in that respect (except doing sit-coms, music panel shows and Nobby's Nuts adverts as opposed to taking up painting in the desert).

I wonder why he drew such a deep line in the sand. I wonder if he knew his labour-intensive singing style was going to be shot soon and that was one of the reasons to jack it in.

[famethrowa]

The AC/DC comparison made by an earlier poster is a pretty fair assessment -

So much so, they hired a fella named Slade to play in their band. Coincidence? naaah

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I wonder why he drew such a deep line in the sand. I wonder if he knew his labour-intensive singing style was going to be shot soon and that was one of the reasons to jack it in.

I think that's probably the reason. Rather than suffer the indignity of losing his voice, he bowed out with his leather-lunged reputation intact. I'm frankly amazed that he managed to sing like that for over 20 years without fucking his throat up. In a class of his own, old Nod.

[DrGreggles]

I think Dave Hill alluded to that being the case, but it's a shame that he hasn't been coaxed out for a few gigs.
He could just have become bored with the music biz, I suppose. His hefty December pension* means that he'd only need to keep going for the love of it.


*300+k a year!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I think Dave Hill alluded to that being the case, but it's a shame that he hasn't been coaxed out for a few gigs.
He could just have become bored with the music biz, I suppose. His hefty December pension* means that he'd only need to keep going for the love of it.


*300+k a year!

Yeah, probably a combination of both those factors. As Brundle said, Nod has enjoyed a nice post-Slade career as an occasional actor, broadcaster and panel show guest. He's obviously quite happy doing that. Fair play to the man, he has nothing left to prove. Also, as you say, he's absolutely minted and need never work again!

[Jockice]

I won't hear a word against Slade. They're like builder's tea, Stan & Ollie, Madness, the Attenboroughs, John Le Mesurier, Joyce Grenfell, Desmonds, Cheesy Wotsits...

Don't trust anybody over 35 who dislikes them.

Does anybody dislike them though? I can't think of a single person I've ever met in my life who has criticised them.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Remember that hit of theirs with the lyrics 'eat an apple every day-ay-ay.  An onion keeps everyone away'? I also recall the same song having a line about a 'housemaid on your knee.'  That track was a lighter sound than their usual one, and that, and the electric organ on it, made it sound like one of the gentler late-70s new wave singles, before even punk, let alone new wave, had got started.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Remember that hit of theirs with the lyrics 'eat an apple every day-ay-ay.  An onion keeps everyone away'? I also recall the same song having a line about a 'housemaid on your knee.'  That track was a lighter sound than their usual one, and that, and the electric organ on it, made it sound like one of the gentler late-70s new wave singles, before even punk, let alone new wave, had got started.

Thanks for the Memory (Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=322upW8mHvc

[DrGreggles]

I don't think it's possible to dislike them as they're so fundamentally likeable.

They can be criticised though, such as for all the filler on most of their albums.
The hits still stand up though, and I'd have loved to have seen them live.

Incidentally my mate has met and worked with 3 of them (not Jim - yet) and he says they're the nicest and most down-to-earth celebs he's encountered.
But we probably all knew that.

[Rizla]

but imagine if you were doing sound for them & you didn't know & no-one told you, & you ended up sending all dave hill & no nod or jim to the FoH PA system....

I suppose in those days bands would tend to bring their own vocal PA to gigs*, there would be no mic'ing of amps and certainly no floor monitors (invented by Charlie Watkins when he wanted to hear Savoy Brown at a festival gig, but coudn't be near the stage, or so he claims) - Noddy says in his autobiography** that other band's roadies would scratch their heads at the mess of wires protruding from their 4x12s, and of course you'd have had to watch the ohms so the heads didn't overload and go In Flame(s).

*At Black Sabbath's first recording session their wet-behind-the-ears roadie apparently set up their vocal PA in the studio.
**Also features an eyebrow raising tale whereby our hero rescues two girls from a hotel fire,  by soaking his big tartan jacket in the bath and draping it over them to get them out. "And I got a shag out of both of them later on!" he sensationally reveals.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I don't think it's possible to dislike them as they're so fundamentally likeable.

They can be criticised though, such as for all the filler on most of their albums.
The hits still stand up though, and I'd have loved to have seen them live.

That's true, they never made a great album. The Slade in Flame soundtrack is their strongest LP, but even that contains some filler. An absolutely killer singles and live act, though.

Incidentally my mate has met and worked with 3 of them (not Jim - yet) and he says they're the nicest and most down-to-earth celebs he's encountered.
But we probably all knew that.

Indeed. It would be genuinely upsetting to discover than anyone from Slade wasn't a lovely, down-to-earth fella.

**Also features an eyebrow raising tale whereby our hero rescues two girls from a hotel fire,  by soaking his big tartan jacket in the bath and draping it over them to get them out. "And I got a shag out of both of them later on!" he sensationally reveals.

Nod forbid he should ever be outed as a '70s wrong un. I don't think Britain could ever recover from that bombshell.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Didn't one of them becoming a psychotherapist?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Didn't one of them becoming a psychotherapist?

Jim Lea studied psychotherapy but never took it up as a career.

[Jockice]

They can be criticised though.

Well they could do with a decent sub-editor to sort out their song titles. And Wizzard's Christmas single is better.

What's everyone's favourite Slade single then? Mine is Goodbye To Jane.

[DrGreggles]

Well they could do with a decent sub-editor to sort out their song titles.

What's everyone's favourite Slade single then? Mine is Goodbye To Jane.

How Does It Feel or Everyday for me.
But pretty much every single from the first half of the 70s is an absolute banger.

[Bennett Brauer]

**Also features an eyebrow raising tale whereby our hero rescues two girls from a hotel fire,  by soaking his big tartan jacket in the bath and draping it over them to get them out. "And I got a shag out of both of them later on!" he sensationally reveals.

Nod forbid he should ever be outed as a '70s wrong un. I don't think Britain could ever recover from that bombshell.

The story that I can't shake from Noddy's book is the one about him being offered so much money by a businessman in Germany to scheiße on him that he couldn't say no. #MePoo

[Jockice]

How Does It Feel or Everyday for me.
But pretty much every single from the first half of the 70s is an absolute banger.

I know! I've just been looking at their discography and there are songs there that I can't have heard for at least 30 years if not longer but can instantly remember. My Friend Stan! Far Far Away! Great stuff.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Wizzard's Christmas single is better.

Seconded.

What's everyone's favourite Slade single then? Mine is Goodbye To Jane.

I've got three. Just upthread, I recalled the song now identified as Thanks for the Memory.  That's one.  Far Far Away, from the eighties, is my second.  Finally, from their heyday era, I love Skweeze me, Pleeze Me.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The story that I can't shake from Noddy's book is the one about him being offered so much money by a businessman in Germany to scheiße on him that he couldn't say no. #MePoo

Wow. I really must read this book.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I've got three. Just upthread, I recalled the song now identified as Thanks for the Memory.  That's one.  Far Far Away, from the eighties, is my second.  Finally, from their heyday era, I love Skweeze me, Pleeze Me.

Far Far Away was released in 1974. I recall it being used in an '80s TV commercial, though, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?

My fave rave Slade smashes are...

Cum on Feel the Noize
Gudbuy T'Jane
How Does It Feel

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Far Far Away was released in 1974. I recall it being used in an '80s TV commercial, though, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?
]

Just realised I meant Run Run Away!

[Jockice]

The story that I can't shake from Noddy's book is the one about him being offered so much money by a businessman in Germany to scheiße on him that he couldn't say no. #MePoo

Was it actually on him? The version I heard is that he did it on a glass-topped table while the businessman watched from below.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Just realised I meant Run Run Away!

Ah! Of course!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Ah! Of course!

Was it actually on him? The version I heard is that he did it on a glass-topped table while the businessman watched from below.

That story has been attributed to Lou Reed too. They were all at it in the '70s.

[Jockice]

That story has been attributed to Lou Reed too. They were all at it in the '70s.

Ah! Of course!

[non capisco]

Lou Reed I can absolutely believe letting a kinky German businessman dump on their cruel-eyed motionless boat race for money. If it was Noddy Holder you'd run the risk of him suddenly and without warning bellowing "IT'S CHRISTMAAAAAAAS!" right up your splayed anus, possibly rupturing something important.

[Epic Bisto]

Well, there was that bit in either Please Kill Me or Victor Bockris' book on Stroppy Lou where he sat on somebody's face instead of sleeping with them.  Lou was a very generous and charitable bunch of lads.

[Bennett Brauer]

Was it actually on him? The version I heard is that he did it on a glass-topped table while the businessman watched from below.

I think there was glass involved, and it was in the band's early touring days.

I read the book more than 10 years ago and now part of me is starting to wonder whether I'm imagining that bit. Next time I see Dave Hill in church I'll have to ask him.

[Jockice]

Dave Hill in church? Is he praying for a decent hairdo?