Inside Tracks #29: Slade, 1974, "When the Lights Are Out" by Noddy Holder, Jim Lea w/Covers by Cheap Trick, Bob Segarini, The Dummies

Usually loud, brash, and even silly, UK's Slade once released a stunning, melodic rocker that would have fit nicely into another British foursome's canon.

Ringing guitars, an instantly hummable melody, and harmonies. All that’s missing are hand-claps and la-las to make it more than power pop-worthy of the Raspberries or Cheap Trick. In fact, it does have hand-claps!

One of those bands actually covered “When the Lights Are Out,” a raver worth unearthing and digging 50 years since its initial release.

(l-r): Noddy Holder, Jim Lea, Dave Hill and Don Powell of Slade, in 1971. 📸Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

The Whelping of Slade

Slade, essentially born in 1966 as the N’Betweens out of land-locked Wolverhampton (somewhat midway between London to the SE and seaport Liverpool to the NW), turned into Ambrose Slade in 1969 before wearing “The Slade” for a year, and then wisely dropping not only the “The,” but attendant pretenses as well.

They eventually fit nicely into the burgeoning “glam rock” slot, occupied almost exclusively by UK-based artists from roughly 1971 to 1975, and spear-headed by the likes of T. Rex and David Bowie, but to varying degrees, included bands like Sweet, Roxy Music, Mott the Hoople, Gary Glitter, Showaddywaddy, Alvin Stardust, and Mud. The latter three were deemed so decidedly British that they weren’t even offered licensing deals for their records in the States (with the notable exception of the odd domestic re-issue decades after the fact)!

The glam (and/or “glitter”) scene was mercifully less overt in the States, with acts like Alice Cooper and Lou Reed sort of tip-toeing around the sub-genre, however unwittingly. Nevertheless, some American acts, including Suzi Quatro, the New York Dolls, Sparks, Iggy Pop, and Jobriath, snuggled up to “glam,” with some even welcoming it with a full embrace (and sloppy mascara).

Related: More about the following can be read here, FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE, either in deeper dives, or my personal accounts of my meetings and interactions: The New York Dolls, Sparks, Iggy Pop, Jobriath, and David Bowie:

Into The Doll House With Todd Rundgren

Behind The Mic: A Personal Peek Into 1970s FM Classic Rock Radio--Pt. 1, The College Years

Pressing the Flesh With Iggy Pop: My Encounter With the Godfather of Punk in 1977

Audio Archaeology, 1973: The Legacy of Jobriath as Morrissey, Numan, Def Leppard Remember

"Here's David!" At NBC/Burbank For Bowie's September 1980 "Tonight Show" Appearance

Charting Noddy & the Gang

Slade was lead singer/rhythm guitarist Noddy Holder, guitarist Dave Hill, bassist Jim Lea, and drummer Don Powell. They were an overwhelming success in the early ‘70s in their native England, garnering 17 consecutive Top 20 hits, with six #1s on the British singles chart. The British Hit Singles & Albums reference book names Slade the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles.

They were the first act, in fact, to have three singles enter the charts at number one. Holder and Lea wrote most of their songs, including the six UK #1s by the group.

A Wider Shade of Slade or The Gaping Yawn

In the US, however, they were generally met with thunderous indifference. Polydor Records carried their first couple of stateside albums: Slade Alive! in spring of ‘72, and Slayed? later that winter. The latter LP, while managing to stay on the US charts for half-a-year, peaked meekly at #69, and ended up as their most successful state-side album.

One component of Slade’s recorded sound was becoming apparent and consistent: Their producer, Chas Chandler, the original bassist for The Animals, also managed Slade (1970-1981) after managing Jimi Hendrix’s career. Chandler, in fact, produced the first two 1967 Hendrix albums, Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold as Love, albums that were on Frank Sinatra’s own U.S. label, and shared Reprise catalog space with Slade!

With a move in the US from Polydor to Reprise Records (distributed by Warner Bros.), the band released Sladest (in 1973) a compilation featuring a vastly different track listing than its Polydor-issued UK version.

Its peak position at #129 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart meant precious few American ears heard it, despite its ten tracks including eight of the band’s most popular UK sides. Meanwhile, virtually everything by Slade released in the UK seemed to be propelled by helium.