Slade - Musical Style

Musical Style

Slade have been associated with a number of genres including: progressive rock, heavy metal, glam rock, hard rock and pop rock. Many Slade songs were to be written specifically for audience participation, such as "Get Down and Get With It", "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Cum On Feel the Noize", "Give Us a Goal", "We'll Bring The House Down", "Rock and Roll Preacher" and "My Oh My". In the days before Slade, Holder, Lea, Hill and Powell were influenced by American blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf but then became interested in the work of Little Richard. Later they were to draw artistic influence from contemporary rock acts including The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Joe Brown, Cream, The Kinks, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, Rufus Thomas, The Who, The Pretty Things, and Screaming Lord Sutch. Chas Chandler's connections with The Animals and Jimi Hendrix also had an influence.

The 1969 album Beginnings, released under the name Ambrose Slade, featured many musical influences with covers of songs by Steppenwolf, Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, The Moody Blues, The Beatles and Marvin Gaye. The album contained elements of psychedelic rock and classic 1960s rock. Play It Loud (1970), was also influenced by 1960s classic rock but also showed leanings towards a harder rock sound. Their 1972 live album, Slade Alive!, featured cover versions of songs by Ten Years After, The Lovin' Spoonful, Bobby Marchan and Steppenwolf and although the album contained strong elements of classic rock it also hinted at the glam rock sound to come.

The 1971 single "Coz I Luv You" was inspired by the styles of Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grapelli. Slayed? (1972) merged glam rock with classic rock, and whilst the 1974 album, Old New Borrowed and Blue, continued in this vein, it also featured pop-rock, rock ballads and novelty tracks. The next album was the 1974 soundtrack Slade in Flame which saw a return to 1960s classic rock, in order to fit with the theme of the film. The single from the album, "Far Far Away" had an acoustic rock sound, whereas the following single "How Does It Feel?" featured the use of brass and woodwind instruments.

In 1975 while residing in the States, Slade was influenced by Southern boogie rock bands and as a result, Nobody's Fools featured a wide mixture of styles including soul, country, rock, funk, folk and blues. The album also featured some soulful female backing vocalists. After the band returned to the UK in 1977, they began to merge their American influences with a classic, hard rock. The resulting sound, in turn, became an influence to American grunge artists. Return to Base.... (1979) featured elements of classic rock, acoustic rock, rock ballads, ambient rock and rock and roll. Two albums, released in 1981; We'll Bring the House Down and Till Deaf Do Us Part adopted a hard rock and heavy metal sound, as a result of the band's revival amongst heavy metal fans, following their success at the Reading Festival.

The 1983 album The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome featured a change in musical direction, with a more commercial-friendly rock sound, mixed with hard rock and glam metal influences. Many of the tracks followed a motor racing theme. One single from the album, "My Oh My" followed a power ballad sound, whilst the next single, "Run Runaway" was reminiscent of a Scottish jig. Slade's next album, Rogues Gallery featured a strong use of synthesizers, which were a popular instrument in the latter half of the 1980s as did the band's final album You Boyz Make Big Noize, although this album had a slightly grittier hard rock sound.