Background
The single was released just two weeks before "Rogues Gallery". The single originally entered the UK chart a #61. The following week the single had peaked at #50. By the 6th of April, both "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" and "Rogues Gallery" were in the charts. Since "Rogues Gallery" had entered at #60, "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" fell back to #57, #60 and #70, respectively.
The title of the song was purposely misspelled. Such misspellings were a hallmark of some of Slade's song titles during the early 1970s, but this was the band's first single with such a title for more than a decade.
In a 1985 interview with Holder on Australian TV, Holder was asked what "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" was about. Holder replied "Basically it's about a friend of mine from Wolverhampton who used to be a Hell's Angel actually, but I changed his name to protect the innocent cause I don't think he'd like a song about him. It's not knocking him, you know, but it's a song about him."
For the September-December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, Lea was interviewed and was asked to share where he was when he wrote various Slade tracks. For Myzsterious Mizster Jones, Lea stated it was written while he was talking to his brother in a pub.
In the September-December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, the poll results were announced for the 1986 opinion poll based on Slade’s material. For the best non-hit singles, Myzsterious Mizster Jones placed at #1. In the same poll, for the best single picture sleeve, Myzsterious Mizster Jones placed at #3. Also in the same 1986 poll, for the best b-side of the 80s, Mama Nature is a Rocker placed at #3.
In an interview with Ken Sharpe during the mid-1990s, bassist Jim Lea admitted that although he liked the track, it was never going to be a hit.
Read more about this topic: Myzsterious Mizster Jones
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