Slade

Slade were four Black Country lads who came together by 1966 as the 'N Betweens, and nobody in British rock has ever been less interested in subtlety. Jack Baverstock of Philips signed them in 1969 and renamed them Ambrose Slade, after his secretary, who had christened her handbag Ambrose and her shoes Slade. By the early '70s they owned the British singles chart: 17 top-20 hits in a row, six of them number ones, every chart-topper written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, and they were the first act to see three singles go straight in at the top. "Merry Xmas Everybody" alone sold more than one million. Holder bellowed, Dave Hill dressed to stop traffic, and the titles were spelled wrong on purpose: "Cum On Feel the Noize", "Mama Weer All Crazee Now".

A move to America in 1975 went nowhere, and back home the fans drifted. Then came Reading in 1980, when Slade stepped in at the last minute for Ozzy Osbourne and suddenly found themselves back in favor, a show the band still count among the best of their lives. They retooled for the heavy-metal crowd, and by 1984 "Run Runaway", from The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome, and "My Oh My" had finally cracked America.

It did not last. The band split in 1992, and Hill and drummer Don Powell carried on as Slade II before going back to plain Slade in 2002. Artists from all sorts of genres have named them as an influence since.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.