A couple of things spring to mind when you think of Slade. Bad hair and krazy-with-a-k gear being the main ones. Scarily though that wasn't always the case. Almost unbelievably, the normally flowing-locked Noddy and the boys had something of a 'bovver boy' phase early in their career. In fact, the Midlands musos courted the cropped skinhead look so successfully they received scathing press from a media sensitive to youth culture violence. Boy, was that all about to change.
Wot is it wiff Slade and bad spelling? They luv it. The platform-obsessed rockers back catalouge is litterred with zany titles dezigned to confuse those with a firm grasp of the English langauge. Examples? Well, take yur pick: Coz I Luv You, Look Wot You Dun, Take Me Bak 'Ome, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Cum On Feel The Noize and Skweeze Me Pleeze Me. Zany ruckers!
It's normal enough for a band or an act to be remembered for one song. It's understandable for such bands to reissue or re-release said track once or maybe twice. Nine times in 15 years is stretching the point a bit. Although they were the first act to have three singles at No.1, Slade will forever be known for 'Merry Xmas Everybody' - and they won't let us forget it.
No discussion about the glam rock outfit would be complete a comment on guitarist Dave Hill's gear. Noddy may have been the frontman with the wild-eyed stare and the even wilder sideburns, but it was dashing Dave who took tasteless dressing to marvellous new extremes. This stranger to conventional beauty's worst fashion crime? There are too many to choose from but let's just say that with the pudding bowl mullet, flared sequinned jumpsuits, hats with mirrors and platform boots high enough to break building standards' regulations, T-Rex's Marc Bolan wasn't exactly troubled in his position as king of the glam rock scene.
With the passing of years and the diminishing of success, the chaps have been forced into other areas of the entertainment business. The band's frontman Noddy has appeared in the TV comedy The Grimleys and is a team captain on the TV music quiz A Question Of Pop. When not appearing as himself, Noddy can be found - with Dave - being portrayed by Vic and Bob. The top TV comics carried a spoof of the band and their particular Midlands ways on their A Smell Of Reeves & Mortimer show. Even better than the real thing.