Put some vinyl on the turntable and turn up the volume. Cum on, feel the noize echoing down from the 1970s when Slade rocked Britain.
Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jim Lea, and Don Powell, lads from Wolverhampton and the Black Country, had hit after hit and seeing and hearing them live was really something.
There’s that one song, of course, that you’ll hear at a certain time of year. But Slade are not just for Christmas. Let’s recapture the magic with some archive pictures. Why are we doing it? Coz we luv you, of course.
1. A packed Civic
Were you there? Are your ears still buzzing? There was a tumultuous reception when Slade played at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Monday, November 6, 1972, with support acts being Thin Lizzy and Suzi Quatro. | Express & Star archive
2. Why Dave Hill was nearly rubbed out
Here they are in the late 1960s as Ambrose Slade. From left, Jim Lea, Dave Hill, Don Powell, and Noddy Holder. There's a reason why poor Dave has been partly painted out, but we'll come to that. The Express & Star's "Tops In Pops" column by John Ogden in February 1969 was all about how at the age of 17 Jim Lea, of Codsall, was well on the way to becoming one of the youngest record producers in the country, although Jim's website says he was born in June 1949, which means he would in fact have been 19 at the time. The article was accompanied by this photo cropped to Jim's head and shoulders. To stop Dave Hill's bonce intruding onto the image, he was painted out. Sorry Dave. | Express & Star archive/John H Lines
3. Take Me Bak 'Ome
This is what happened to Noddy when the group played the Stoneleigh Club in Porthcawl in South Wales in August 1978. He said: "The kids at the Stoneleigh were getting up and dancing and enjoying themselves when bouncers started coming on stage. I told them to get off and one of the bouncers became particularly aggressive towards me and said 'I'll get you later.' At the end of the show - we had been on stage about one and three quarter hours - I was making my way to the dressing room when this bloke smashed me in the face and broke my nose." | Express & Star archive
4. Dressed to impress
Fresh from an appearance on Top of the Pops in October 1971 and with Coz I Luv You high in the charts, Dave Hill picked up some gear which would look good on colour television - a multi-coloured satin suit. Dave collected the latest addition to his famously extravagant wardrobe from a boutique in Worcester Street, Wolverhampton. | Express & Star archive