Slade - Legacy

Legacy

Slade have influenced numerous artists including: Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, Poison, Def Leppard, Oasis, Cheap Trick, Twisted Sister, The Undertones, The Replacements and The Runaways. Other artists include Hanoi Rocks, Queen, Kirka, Hot Leg, Candlebox, Cock Sparrer and Girlschool. Their anarchic attitude was adopted by The Damned, The Wonder Stuff, and Oasis, the latter of whom covered "Cum On Feel the Noize". Comedians Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse and Mark Williams affectionately parodied the band in a number of what the band called 'hysterically accurate' "Slade in Residence" and "Slade on Holiday" sketches, in their The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer television programme in the early 1990s.

Joey Ramone stated "I spent most of the early 70s listening to Slade Alive! thinking to myself, "Wow - this is what I want to do. I want to make that kind of intensity for myself. A couple of years later I was at CBGB's doing my best Noddy Holder."

"Slade never compromised. We always had the feeling that they were on our side. I don't know but I think we were right." - Steve Jones of Sex Pistols

The British music magazine, NME, commented on Slade's legacy in a review of a greatest hits album, "They embodied the glorious absurdity of the greatest pop, in the sideburns, the mirrored top hat and Dave Hill's pudding bowl haircut. As such they were the simplest, most effective possible, riposte to prog rock's bloated pretensions and pseudo-intellect." In 1981, Adam and the Ants' lead guitarist and co-songwriter Marco Pirroni stated that he was greatly influenced by the first gig he ever attended which was Slade at Wembley Pool in 1973.

British presenter Gareth Jones, also known as Gaz Top, is a known Slade fan who hosted the 1986 Slade documentary "Slade Perseverance". Jones also appeared at the 1986 and 1987 official Slade fan club conventions. Other famous Slade fans include, English ex-football player Gary Lineker and Welsh football player Nigel Vaughan, whom Lea and Hill visited on Boxing Day, 1989 at the football grounds of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Ozzy Osbourne commented during a Slade documentary, "Noddy Holder's got one of greatest voices in rock ever." On his show, 'Breakfast With Alice' on Planet Rock, Alice Cooper stated "I love Slade. One of the oddest looking bands of all time..... Twisted Sister lived on Slade, and so did Quiet Riot pretty much. They wrote the catchiest songs around." In 2008, Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe said, '".......like with Alice Cooper and Bowie and Slade — those fucking bands gave 150 percent. It was about fashion, it was about music, it was about pushing the envelope". Status Quo bassist John "Rhino" Edwards stated in a 2010 interview, "I thought the best violin player was Jimmy Lea out of Slade. Oh, he's just brilliant. He's a brilliant musician, that guy. He's a serious bass player. That band (Slade) are so under-rated as players. So original."

Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider once described Twisted Sister as Slade meets the Sex Pistols. Twisted Sister's guitarist Jay Jay French stated "I would say our direct lineage these days is a bit of Slade and Alice Cooper." On the 2011 final Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie BBC Radio Two show, Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire stated that he believed Slade's post-Reading material was very underrated.

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons admitted that his band's early songwriting ethos and stage performance was influenced by Slade. In his book, Kiss and Make-Up, Simmons wrote ".....we liked the way they (Slade) connected with the crowd and the way they wrote anthems... we wanted that same energy, that same irresistible simplicity". Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick said that his band went to see Slade perform, and that they (Slade) used "every cheap trick in the book", thus inadvertently coining his group's name. Cheap Trick covered the song "When the Lights are Out" on their 2009 release, The Latest. Quiet Riot had US hits with covers of "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now". The origins of Slade's influence on Quiet Riot date back to the early 1970s, when Kevin DuBrow photographed Slade during their first Los Angeles appearance at the Whisky a Go Go.