'It's Slade' - BBC4 2100hrs tonight, 21st December

Posted by: ChrisH on 21 December 2012

There might not be too many out there who's cup of tea this might be,but it's a documentary charting Slade's career from skinhead band to glam rock kings to metal heroes.

saw them many times late '70's / early '80's at Birmingham Odeon they were fantastic nights.

I for one am going to be glued t this programme.

Cant wait.

Posted on: 21 December 2012 by HiFiKid

Hi Chris

 

Thanks for that just watched it, great program I was a great fan in the 70's never saw them live.

 

Have a couple of vinyl albums and cd;s

 

Cd quality is not good though.

 

Got to buy a greatest hits album now!!!

 

Thanks again for highlighting this.

 

For those who never saw it you missed something special.

 

Not Pink Floyd I know but special all the same

 

HiFiKid

Posted on: 21 December 2012 by BigH47

They made one good song I have heard, can't remember the name, but  I will never forgive them for that friggin' xmas song.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by ChrisH

All the more reason to dig into their back catalogue BigH47. 'That' Xmas song irritates the hell out of me too, but they did some real gems.

Glad I posted in time for you to watch it HiFiKid - I really enjoyed it too.

Agree, CD quality of their stuff isn't great.

I got their later stuff, my brother got their earlier stuff. The vinyl sounds the best though.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Kevin-W

It was great. Always wished I'd seen them live while they were in their mirrored-top-hat pomp. Went off the boil a bit in the 1980s with all those power ballads but they made some stonking singles and LPs in the 70s.

 

They always looked good as well. Very nice-seeming bunch of lads too.

 

The "Flame" film, which I'd never seen before, was worth watching too. No AHDN but very entertaining.

 

All in all a great evening.

 

Posted on: 27 December 2012 by Lloydy

Thanks for this post. That'll teach me to pay more attention in future, I missed the programme but thankfully it's on iPlayer so will enjoy it later.

Slade will always bring a vivid memory of my teenage years flooding back. I'd always buy their albums as soon as they were released (& yes, the singles too!!) and did manage to see them live once.

Come on BigH47, what's that one good song????!

Posted on: 27 December 2012 by osprey
Hardly a one hit wonder - 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones speak for themselves.
Posted on: 27 December 2012 by ChrisH

Wow, you are on the ball Osprey!

I didnt know it was 17 consecutive Top 20 hits - not bad going in the era of the single

when competition was hot to get in the charts.

 

Posted on: 27 December 2012 by BigH47
Originally Posted by Lloydy:

Come on BigH47, what's that one good song????!

 

 

I'm sorry I can't remember , other than it was quite long. 

Posted on: 27 December 2012 by Kevin-W
Originally Posted by ChrisH:

Wow, you are on the ball Osprey!

I didnt know it was 17 consecutive Top 20 hits - not bad going in the era of the single

when competition was hot to get in the charts.

 

Chris,

 

Slade were actually Britain's most successful band of the 1970s (in terms of hit singles). In the 1980s it was Shakin' Stevens.

Posted on: 27 December 2012 by BigH47

Watched the TV show , still not convinced.

Posted on: 27 December 2012 by Steve C

 

Try this Howard no Xmas song on here 

Posted on: 01 January 2013 by Mike Hughes
It was a poor documentary of a group ill-served by the myth they were just a singles band. Fantastic story about Dave Hill and the trip to Australia and great to see Swinn on screen too. Real shame Jim Lea, a much under-rated musician and songwriter, appeared to refuse to take part. I saw them live in 1973 and again in 1981. Having seen other so called great bands of the era I would rank them as probably the best live band of the 70s in the uk and certainly the loudest by some distance. Amazingly I've never owned that song although I have no problem with it. However, anyone who thinks they were just a singles band needs to get themselves a copy of Old, New, Borrowed and Blue, Flame and Nobody's Fool. All three are terrific and stand the test of time very well indeed. The real tragedy for me, especially when you see him on acoustic at the end, is that Nod and that amazing voice, probably the best rock voice of his generation, second only to Lennon, never was persuaded to put out a solo album. Still, feel free to carry on with the simplistic stereotyping...