On being a Sladist

I once saw Dave Hill in Waterstones in Wolverhampton.
I know, its incredible isn't it! There he was waiting at the till just like any other mortal, just buying a book, and I was standing next to him.
I watched him discreetly: The flamboyant signature on the receipt, the small but powerful physique, leather jacketed of course, sans fringe and stack heels, but it was Dave, you could tell.

The final sequin on the glitter suit of identity though, was the parting smile he gave to the sales assistant as he swiveled majestically toward the stairs...the gleaming, bucking incisors, spilling like tusks over the lower lip, coupled with that slightly puzzled but happy expression in the eyes.

"Dave!" I wanted to scream,"I bought the 'Old, New, Borrowed and Blue' LP when I was 15 on holiday in Wales and it changed my life!"
After listening to that, the 'Black Country' (that Bermuda Triangle of post-industrial decay and spiritual vacuity in the British Midlands) seemed a far more cooler place to live.

I saw the the endless shopping malls, soot blackened pubs, grey council estates and 60's tower blocks of Wolverhampton and Dudley through a new lens.
These were the scratched and broken specs that never-the-less illuminated a new and enchanted landscape of gritty, dark urban myths, of likely lads on pub crawls through dingy streets, of local 'Characters' and colour, of love and loss...well, everything really.
Most of all, it was just FUN!

Whoa! I can hear a lot of readers crying out in puzzlement: What's he rabbiting on about? And who the hell is Dave Hill when he's at Home?
Apologies for the late introduction to the uninitiated (philistines?), but David John Hill (Dave Hill) was the lead guitarist in the most funny/ironic/iconic, comic/serious, talented Glam rock band known to Western snivelization... SLADE.



I have to admit, Slade were a bit of a rediscovery, rather than a completely unheralded assault on my still developing musical sensibilities.

Along with Gary Glitter, Alvin Stardust (well Scary middle-aged Elvis impersonator who pointed at you a lot), Sweet, Mud and of course, T-Rex, Glam was the audio-visual backing track to my 70's Telly watching childhood. The colour TV helped of course: mind blowing in its literally kaleidoscopic distortions; remember how the colour's strobed leaving fizzing poltergeists of after-image? This effect was exploited by technicians on top of the pops and Doctor Who - bleached out polarization was psychedelic man.

The music for me then, was kind of unintelligible but these people looked so cool and strange, like Pirates, characters from a fairytale, clowns, multi-coloured, funny and dangerous at the same time.

At around the age of 13-15 I'd started to get into more 'serious music': Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin,The Who, and all those other bands who appeared to have some kind of political or esoteric message oscillating within their 'oeuvre'.
As you're supposed to do with childish things, Glam and Slade were folded away into the dusty bottom drawer of my unconscious - along with Trumpton, Mary, Mungo and Midge and Pipkins (Funny, but Tizwas was always cool and Swapshop lame. Tizwas semiotic deconstruction next post?)

My abrupt re-awakening to the glory of Slade occurred on a rainy August afternoon at the 1981 Monsters of Rock festival in Derbyshire.
So, you had Whitesnake, Blue Oyster Cult, and AC/DC headlining.
I thought okay that'll be a laugh, didn't know they were still going, bit tragic really, hope they don't make too much of an embarrassment of themselves for old times sake.

The thing is, they were the most entertaining, musically tight, genuine rock 'n roll band who played that day. They put the Aussie legends and everybody else to shame. I read that they did the same at the Reading festival that year too.
I was suitably chastised as I got lost in the sea of long hairs in my Rush t-shirt and denim jacket with 'Rainbow' embroidered on the back (by my mum...how rock 'n roll is that.)

A week later on a caravan holiday in North Wales I came upon a tiny record shop in a tacky little seaside resort.
There was basically nothing in there except a few disco LP's, Abba, lots of Elton John, Barry Manilow and Bowie. And then I came upon the 'Old, New, Borrowed and Blue' album by Slade. It was a sign.

It was only when I got back home in Wolverhampton that I was first able to play it.
Noddy Holder and Jim Lea were the Lennon and McCartney of the Black Country I now realised, great songwriters but also (more than L&C) great performers too.

Of course, Reeves and Mortimer captured the Slade aesthetic perfectly in their 90's homage 'Slade in Residence' spoofs. It was all about having a good time and never taking your self too seriously.

A couple of years later, after the 'Dave Hill episode' I ate a Balti across a table from Jim Lea the co-songwriter and bassist/violinist with Slade. A friend of mine did Am-Dram in a local village, and Lea's wife was the director of the production.
After watching my mate in a very clunky production of Blithe Spirit, the cast and crew (and hanger on - me) retired to a local curry house.

Lea's wife was lovely and friendly, the Slade icon himself seemed moody and distant, and I heard her say she had to tell him off occasionally for being rude to fans...I decided to refrain from gushing out my admiration, or god forbid, ask for an autograph.

Thus have my paths crossed with Slade members over the years in the most banal of circumstances, but that's very Slade too I suppose - they are just four Black Country guys who still keep to their roots.
And when all the hilarity and theatricality is put aside for a moment, you have to remember, the band had 6 number 1's and 17 top twenty hits overall between '71 and '76. Respect.

They starred in one of the best movies I've ever seen about a rock band too. 'Flame' released in 1975 was described by the Critic Mark Kermode as "The Citizen Kane of its genre".

Slade will always occupy a little cupboard in my soul to remind me of where I come from, and never to take myself too seriously. I hope to bump into Noddy and Don Powell someday and say I forgive them for 'Merry X-mas everybody' LOL. They also wrote some fantastic tunes, just ask Liam and Noel.