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  • Top of the Pops
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  • Xmas 1983
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  • Galleries 1973
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  • Jim Lea Diary 1980
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Dave Kemp and Slade website    

TV SHOWS

I love watching Slade perform on TV. I would watch the performances in silence - and try to memorize every detail. In 1978 I rented my first VHS recorder and would video all performances. I just wish that VCRs had been readily available during the "glory years" on the band. Some of their fine tv performances are no longer in tv archives, and fans do not have recordings of them. They are lost forever...

Top Of The Pops

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Sylvia and Sue - 1976
I think that show was one of the main reasons that I got into Slade.

At home in West Hampstead we had one small Black and White TV - and my Mum had prime choice over what we as a family watched.

My mum died in May 1972.

She never watched Top Of The Pops. It wasn't because she didn't like music. Far from it. It was just that the Thursday night scheduling clashed with a favourite programme of hers. I'm not sure what it clashed with - but it must have been something like Tomorrows World, Star Trek or The Forsythe Saga - which were all favourites of hers. The only chance that I got was to ocasionally go round to my mate Chris's house and watch Top Of The Pops there - which didn't happen more than a couple of times.

After Mum's death, my Dad wasn't really bothered with TV. He let me have my choice. I'd watch Top Of The Pops religiously each week. I had previously seen Slade on the 2G's and The Pop People TV show - and now I saw them on Top Of The Pops with "Take Me Bak Ome". The performance was wow - I remember Dave wearing a silver collar - with just silver tinsel hanging from it. Dave Hill has always quoted that he used to say to Nod and Jim "You write 'em (the songs) and I'll sell 'em". I really think that this was the case. The first thing that I'd look for on any TOTPs performance was Dave's outfit.

During the half hour show my Dad was not allowed to come into the room, talk to me or do anything. I just concentrated on the show in it's entirety. I loved the show so much that in early 1974 I persuaded him to buy me a colour Sony portable - for my bedroom  room! It was great to finally watch Top Of The Pops in colour!

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Record Mirror article - 1976
I soon wanted to actually go to the show. I found out you needed to send a stamped addressed envelope off to the BBC and confirm that you were at least 16 (I was only just turned 14 - so I lied!).

I joined a waiting list and the first show I went to was in February 1974. The show was recorded a day before airing - on the Wednesday evening in the studios in Wood Lane, Shepherds Bush. It was a great show - performing were Mud (Tiger Feet), Suzi Quatro (Devil Gate Drive), Bay City Rollers (Remember), Lulu (Man Who Sold The World) and, my other favourite star, Marc Bolan (Teenage Dream). But no Slade! During the filming I was approached by Jonathan King ...... but that is another story!

I attended Top Of The Pops at least another 20-25 times in the 70's and 80's and was always unlucky - Slade were never on the show. Because the BBC kept lists of the attendees you were only allowed to apply every 6 months - so I used friends names and addresses. I would time my applications with how long I knew the waiting list was and to try to coincide with Slade's releases.

I was really unlucky in February 1976. I got tickets for the show (for the episode dated 12 February) - and Slade had "Let's Call It Quits" in the charts. But damn - they performed live with the song twice.....once the week before I went (5 February) and once the week after (19 February)!  I was gutted. However, I noticed in the audience two Slade girls - Sylvia Kallen and Sue Ball - both big fans from North London like me. They had got tickets the week before - and they had the good fortune to meet Slade then! The girls had been featured the week before in a Record Mirror article - they had been chosen as the "Slade Super Fans". God I was envious.  They had made airport trips to see the band - like I did - and during one of the trips they met Record Mirror writer Jan Iles, who was waiting to interview the boys when they flew in. I remember them saying that the thing that still amazed them was that Dave Hill was so small in real life - they doubted whether that he was actually the 5'6" that he claimed to be! 

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The dressing before performing How Does It Feel - 1975
With Top Of the Pops I used to sometimes bunk off school on a Wednesday afternoon and try and chat up the commissionaire on the BBC gates to let me have tickets. Or else I'd ask any kids arriving if they had spares. I knew from Chas's secretary Susie that Slade were appearing on 27 October 1977 - with "My Baby left Me". I waited outside the studios for hours - but couldn't get in. The closest I got was seeing them through the gates as they got into cars to leave. Slade were chatting to the Boney M band and entourage - who were packing the band's elaborate stage outfits into their transport.

However, I did get lucky once. My friend Paul Lythe was now running the Slade Fan Club when "Radio Wall Of Sound" was released in October 1991. Slade were performing on the 16th October and he managed to get a few tickets.  I went along with Paul, Trevor Slaughter, Jenny Gamble and Dave Jewell. TOTPs was now being filmed at the new location of the BBC Studios in Borehamwood. It was Slade's last ever Top Of The Pops performance - a blistering one too. And I was there. Also, on the show that day were Dannii Minogue and Paul Young. My mate from West Hampstead, Chris, now works at the BBC - he has managed to get me a DVD copy of that show in full.

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Signed single - obtained at TOTPs recording 1991
Also, at TOTP's I managed to blag a signed copy of the Wall Of Sound single - this was the last time I ever obtained the band's autographs...

Deleted Top Of The Pops shows

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My TOTPs ticket for "Radio Wall Of Sound" TOTPs
It's years on - and it still angers me that the BBC deleted loads of their Top Of The Pops shows.

Apparently, in the 70's, in order to cut costs that wiped the archive tapes of the show and re-used them.

My old Slade mate, Nigel Hart from Cricklewood has just given me DVD copies of all the Christmas Top Of The Pops specials from the 1970's. He'd bought them from a lady in the States - who was selling them on Ebay.

They're great. However, they showed me that virtually every Top Of The Pops performance that the BBC uses for Slade (on programmes such as TOTP 2) are performances from these Christmas shows. They have wiped everything else.

The only way some of Slade's performances have survived is that the BBC would sell copies of the performances to European counties particularly Germany) who would air them in their own magazine TV shows (such as Musik Ladden or Disco). The German TV companies have kept their tapes - and this is the only reason that such performances still exist.

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Ticket from 16 October 1991 - recording at Borehamwood
Gone are such classics as the promo film such as "Look Wot You Dun" that was filmed at Chessington Wildlife Park (Don was filmed eating mackerel that was due for the seals) and the "Gudbuy T'Jane" promo that was filmed at Greenwich Observatory. (The band were filmed marching around in professors' white coats. Dave Hill had his trademark silver boots - that were shown in full picture stomping on the floor). Both of these were shown on TOTPs.

Gallery of some of the deleted TOTPs performances

Favourite Top Of The Pops performance

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Dave's TOTPs "Metal Nun" gear - 1973
My favourite Top Of The Pops performance  must be performed "Cum On Feel The Noize" on the new release spot at the end of February 1973.

Slade were riding the  crest of a wave at the time. The single entered the charts at No1 the following week - partly due to Slade's blistering performance.

This performance has been well documented in history. When Dave arrived in the dressing room he had his "outfit" under wraps. He wouldn't let his fellow band mates see the gear - and it wasn't used in the dress rehearsal. He stepped into the toilet and got ready. His outfit was what I call the "Metal Nun" gear. It had a white headscarf (like a nun) and a black cape - all covered in little round mirrors. It was his wackiest outfit of all.

Nod wore an orangy tartan waistcoat and trousers combo. Surprisingly he wore a matching tartan top hat (not a mirrored one). This is the only time I remember Nod wearing this different customised top hat. Also, more surprisingly, he used an acoustic guitar - not an electric one.

Jim was decked in his now famous red glittery suit. Because he loved that outfit so much he told me he had about 5 of them made, all the same.

I remember watching TV gob smacked. It was a great performance - Jim and Dave bouncing backwards and forward together and sharing a mike. The TOTPs audience went wild.

500th Top Of The Pops

I remember well the 500th Top Of the Pops show - that the BBC transmitted in October 1973. This was an hour long special and it had David Cassidy flying over from the States to perform "Daydreamer" on the tarmac at Heathrow.

Many of the big stars, who didn't have records out at the time, sent video messages. There was an excellent one from Slade - who were touring (I think in France) at the time. They were filmed sending their best wishes whilst having a drink outside a romantic looking Paris bar.

I was disappointed - as I thought the pre-recorded message meant that Slade would not appear on the show. But no! Later on, shortly before the end -  they appeared in the studio. I remember Nod looking geeky. He wore round John Lennon-ish specs and had a mauve brimmed hat. Very unusual. I think that Dave wore the long length, but short sleeved, sequined and chevron coat, that he wore at the Earls Court gig.

This was a good performance - but another that was deleted by the beeb. (My friend Martin Barden has informed me that although the Beeb have deleted this - a guy who used to work at the Beeb has a copy.....so there is hope that this might see the light of day again!)

Other Top Of The Pops things...

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"In For A Penny" on TOTPs - 20 Nov 1975
In the final pages of the Slade Alive magazine (sold in W H Smiths in 1972/3) it mentioned about Dave Hill getting into a fight in the Green Room at the BBC with another pop star who "swung" on his hair. Slade were banned from the bar for a few months. It mentioned that the disagreement was with another pop star - but it never mentioned who it was.

Years later I asked Dave about this. The fight was with Ray Davies from The Kinks. He was obviously jealous of Slade's success and thought that Dave was "up himself".

Don told me in about 1983 that he and his girlfriend Carol had gone for a curry in West End Lane, West Hampstead (near to Don's Mill Lane flat). They had bumped in to Ray Davies, who was with Chrissie Hynde (his partner at the time). Ray had forgotten all about the incident - he invite Don and Carol to sit on the same table. They had a few beers.....

Supersonic

The other show that I really liked was Mike Mansfield's "Supersonic". I only went once - as it was quite a journey to get there. The show was recorded on a Tuesday night at the LWT studios on the South Bank. Slade only performed on the show three times (sometimes filming a couple of songs each appearance - they appeared to promote three singles "In For A Penny", "Let's Call It Quits" and "Gypsy Roadhog") .

I was damned unlucky - I have checked the show's history and I missed their "Let's Call It Quits" performance by two weeks! The week I was on was naff - they had Sailor (Girls, Girls, Girls) R&J Stone (We Do It) and Slik (Forever and Ever) in the studio. I was shown on camera at the end though - with my Slade scarf. The other good thing was that I sat next to Maggie Norden (Dennis "It Will Be Alright On The Night" Norden's daughter). She was a Capital DJ who did a Sunday afternoon show called Hullabaloo. She was interviewing kids about Supersonic - and she asked me to talk about how good Slade were when they performed with all the enormous inflatable balloons.

I also used to hang around outside Capital Radio in Euston Road when Slade made personal appearances on radio shows such as Hulabaloo or Kerry Juby's breakfast show, Kerry-Go-Round. Even though is was the mid-Seventies, and Slade were popular, I was often the only Slade fan waiting for them.  Once such morning was Saturday 7 Feburay 1976, when I set my alarm to wake me at silly-o'clock. I got up early on a freezing morning so that I arrived at Capital Radio at 6.30am - and waited until Nod and Don turned up at around 7am. They were promoting "Let's Call It Quits" on the Kerry Juby morning show.

(My wife Barbara eventually worked with Maggie in her later job as a Senior Lecturer at the London College of Fashion in Oxford St. Amazingly, Jessica Holder, Nod's daughter, was a pupil of hers). 

Lift Off With Ayshea

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Lift Off with Ayshea - 1974
One of my favourite TV performances was when the band performed "Far Far Away" on the show hosted by the lovely Ayshea Brough. I remember this performance vividly - and I think they show played out with them performing "Standing On the Corner" from Flame.

The band wore their white suits made from particles of glass. These had been designed by the Megsons who designed a lot of Dave's stage clothes. The glass on the outfits were used to reflect images of flames onto the suits. A really advanced idea for TV.

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Magpie's "Far Far Away" lyrics - 1974
The Lift Off show was followed on TV by the Thames TV magazine programme Magpie.

On 5th November 1974 - Magpie was having it's 500th episode. To celebrate the boys wrote some new lyrics to "Far Far Away" to celebrate the achievement. The Magpie show was interrupted by Granada who transmitted the live video of Slade performing the different version of their tune. I was knocked out by these two shows that we transmitted during peak time kids viewing.

Unfortunately, none of the Lift Off shows remain in anyone's archives.



List of Slade's "Lift Off" appearances:-

28 June 1972 (Series 4, Episode no.61) - "Take Me Bak 'Ome"

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'Take Me Bak 'Ome' on Lift Off
​20 December 1972 (Series 5, Episode no.73) - "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" and "Gudbuy T'Jane".

22 June 1973 (Series 6, Episode no.85) - "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me" and "Kill 'Em At The Hotclub Tonight"

1 July 1974 (Series 8, Episode no.121) - "The Bangin' Man" and "My Friend Stan"
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5 November 1974 (Series 8, Episode no.139) - "Far Far Away" & "Standin' On The Corner". ​

Saturday Scene / Tiswas

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Sally James with Slade at the LWT Studios, South Bank, London - 1973
Sally James started her TV life working for London Weekend TV running their Saturday Morning Kids TV show "Saturday Scene" (broadcast in the London Region only). You might remember her each week wearing her t-shirt with the words Saturday Scene stretched across her breast (because I certainly do). I remember Slade being interviewed on the show in 1973 (when Merry Xmas Everybody was No.1) and in 1974 (when Everyday was released).

When the show folded in 1976 Sally went to join the Midlands regional Saturday morning show "Tiswas". 

As I was from London, I was unaware of this show. This was until I used to go and stay with Dave Hill's Dad, Jack. Tiswas was shown in Jack's TV region (ATV), and he'd often watch it on Saturday mornings. The show was great - much better than the London offering. In later years "Tiswas" was shown nationally on all the regional ITV channels.

I know that Slade were regulars - but I was always amazed that the Phantom Flan Flinger never got the boys with the Custard Pies.

Well here's news for you. Dave Hill wouldn't allow them to do it! I remember that Don advised me in 1981 that when Nod and Dave were on the show to promote "We'll Bring The House Down" that Dave declined having any pies in his face or get involved in anything that would make him lose his hat. (So vain!). That's why the group were just covered in an explosion of polystyrene - and didn't get covered in foam on that show!

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Dave on Tiswas 7 February 1976 (photo taken from Jack Hill's tape of the show)
Slade's appearances on Tiswas (not full list):-

15 February 1975 - "How Does It Feel" live performance
7 June 1975 - "Thanks For The Memory" video shown
7 February 1976 - Dave Hill and Jim Lea interviewed in studio. "Let's Call It Quits" video shown.
30 April 1977 - Dave Hill interviewed in studio.
5 November 1977 - "My Baby Left Me" video shown.
4 March 1978 - "Give Us A Goal" video shown.
January 1981 - Noddy Holder and Dave Hill interviewed in studio. "We'll Bring The House Down" video shown. 

Toppop - Holland

In December 2011 I met up with big Dutch Slade fan - Els Vink. We had a drink at the Dover Castle (just behind the old Portland Studios site) and recounted old stories about Slade.

Els mentioned numerous times the classic Slade performances onthe Dutch TV Show Toppop (presented by Ad Visser) in the 1970's.... I have recently come across some photos of the show (thanks to Facebook's The-Hey Dudes)....
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1974 - promoting "The Bangin' Man" on Top Pop
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