Chas Chandler had been managing Slade for almost two years without success when he suggested releasing a version of the Bobby Marchan song, "Get Down With It".
Slade still enjoyed a good reputation as a live act and the song had been used in their performances for many years. Always popular, the song's lyrics demanded
audience participation and it was hoped that the feeling of a live gig would be projected into the studio recording. The song was released in mid-1971 with a slightly
altered title "Get Down And Get With It", and by August it entered the top 20 in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 16.

The band members grew their hair long and allied themselves to the glam rock movement of the early '70s. Hill's stage costumes also became notable during this period.
Many of Holder's costumes during this period, including the trademark Mirror Top Hat, were made by Dorothy "Dolly" Annakin – a sister of Holder's friend Ron Annakin.
Chandler now demanded the band write a follow-up single themselves which led to Lea and Holder writing Coz I Luv You. The song was written in half an hour and started
a writing partnership which would continue throughout Slade's career. Upon hearing the track played to him acoustically, a pleased Chandler predicted the song would
make number one. While recording, the band felt the song's sound to be too soft and so clapping was added. The song's misspelled title also became a trademark for
Slade while causing a furor among British school teachers. The attendant appearance on BBC Television's Top of the Pops brought Slade to a wider audience as well as
pushing "Coz I Luv You" to number one in the UK charts.

A second single entitled "Look Wot You Dun", was released at the start of 1972, peaking at number four and a live album was released in March. The album Slade Alive!
proved to be successful, spending 52 weeks in the UK Album charts, peaking at number two. It also did well abroad, topping the Australian charts and giving the band
their first chart entry in America. The album was recorded over three nights at a newly built studio in Piccadilly in front of 300 fan-club members. Today the album is
regarded as one of the finest live albums ever made.

Two months later, the band released "Take Me Bak 'Ome". The single became Slade's second UK number one and charted in a number of other countries, including America
where it reached number 97 in the Billboard singles chart. Slade achieved their third number one when "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" was released later that year.

Released in November 1972, the album Slayed? peaked at number one both in the UK and Australia, where it relegated Slade Alive to the second spot; and reaching number 69
in America. Both Slade Alive! and Slayed? are widely considered to be two of the finest albums of the Glam Rock era. The final single of 1972, "Gudbuy T' Jane", was
released shortly after, peaking at number two in the UK being kept from the top spot by Chuck Berry's single "My Ding-A-Ling". The single was a big worldwide hit but
only managed to reach number 68 in the American Billboard Chart.

In early 1973, "Cum on Feel the Noize" was released and went straight to number one, the first time a single had done so since The Beatles' "Get Back"
in 1969. Another worldwide hit for Slade, the single again failed to impress in America where it made number 98. The follow-up single "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me",
again went straight to number one.

The In-Betweens	Ambrose Slade
Wild Winds Are Blowing	The Shape Of Things To Come
Know Who You Are	Get Down And Get With It
Coz I Luv You

If you love GLAM ROCK,               get this book   > > > Anyone who really likes Marc Bolan/T. Rex and David Bowie will have heard of Mark Paytress with his very informative and in-depth, warts and all biographies. Here's his latest book, which is an inciteful and visual look at Glam Rock. From its accidental birth in 1971 and even earlier musically, to it's sad demise only 4 years later.

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