Background
After the commercial failure of the album Beginnings as Ambrose Slade, Chas Chandler decided to shorten the band's name to 'Slade'. It was also Chandler's decision to court controversy by projecting the band as skinheads for the single called 'Wild Winds are Blowing'. Dave Hill and Jim Lea were mortified by a revised image based upon Dr Marten boots, braces, cropped hair and aggressive 'bovver boy' posturing. By 1970 the skinhead craze was starting to become passé.
"We got a lot of flak for being a skinhead band, so gradually we changed," Holder told Classic Rock in December 2005. "We replaced Doc Martens with platform boots. We became more colourful and then it all went berserk - Dave the Superyob with his spacesuits and all the rest. It was a great laugh."
Yet Slade were still skinheads when they released their second album, 'Play It Loud', in November 1970. By this time, Chandler had moved the band onto Polydor Records, also assuming responsibility for the group's production. Slade themselves were also working hard at writing their own material. Although it had once again failed to chart, 'Play It Loud' was and remains an underrated piece in Slade's catalogue. Holder's voice was beginning to show its great potential and songs like 'Shape of Things to Come' (the records first single), 'Raven', 'Dapple Rose' and 'Know Who You Are' (which also was released as a single) offered solid proof of the band's talent.
Read more about this topic: Play It Loud
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