Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
My love of rock 'n' roll radio was forged by my absolute fascination with AM Top 40, beginning when I was a kid in the '60s, manifesting in earnest when I was in middle school and high school in the '70s. My migration to FM by the time I graduated from high school in 1977 didn't change the fact of the matter: Radio was everything.
Before radio playlists became so numbingly homogenized across the breadth of everywheresville, it was possible--common, even--for Top 40 stations in different parts of the USA to play records not being played in other markets; Top 40 stations in one city weren't necessarily playing all of the same potential hit records as Top 40 stations in other cities. Regional hits. Years later, I was surprised to learn that, say, "Tonight" by the Raspberries and "Blockbuster" by Sweet weren't radio smashes all across the USA. But here in Syracuse, they were. And so was "Gudbuy T' Jane" by UK stompers Slade.
The glittery 'n' glammy-looking (but rompin' 'n' stompin'-sounding) Slade were huge stars in their native British Isles in the early '70s, but nearly unknown in the States at that time. Except for in Syracuse; let's face it, we here in Syracuse were just plain ahead of you backward louts in the rest of America.
Slade's awesome "Gudbuy T' Jane" was a great big hit record on Syracuse's Big 15 WOLF-AM, and I freakin' adored it. I can't remember whether or not I ever saw Slade alongside the divine Suzi Quatro, the loathsome Gary Glitter, or the Tartan-clad Bay City Rollers on cable-TV airings of the British pop show Supersonic a few years later; even if I did, "Gudbuy T' Jane" is my only real Slade memory from that time frame (other than a radio ad for a Slade live concert appearance, which this young teen had zero chance of attending).
My God, I loved "Gudbuy T' Jane." But as huge as Slade were in their native land, the colonies didn't catch on. As a college freshman in the spring of '78, I read more about Slade in Bomp! magazine's landmark power pop issue. A later purchase of the best-of set Sladest gave me "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" and "Cum On Feel The Noize," and I was a fan. When goofy metal group Quiet Riot hit big in the '80s with a cover of "Cum On Feel The Noise," I could only roll my eyes and sniff imperiously at my countrymen and countrychicks embracing this clunky, numbskull proxy instead of the rockin' original.
Poseurs.
When Slade finally had U.S. hits in the mid '80s with "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway," I shook my head in wonder that it took my fellow Americans so long to get down and get with what AM radio listeners in Syracuse already knew more than a decade before that.
My practiced smuggery is tempered by an acknowledgement that I don't remember WOLF ever playing "Cum On Feel The Noize" or "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" or "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" or even the deck-the-halls-with-globs-o'-glitter classic "Merry Xmas Everybody." As I bemoan Slade's status as '70s no-hit wonders in the States, I've gotta concede that being one-hit wonders in Syracuse ain't exactly a platform-booted step beyond.
But I knew Slade because Syracuse's WOLF-AM decided Slade's "Gudbye T' Jane" was a goddamned hit, and played the track accordingly. My first is still favored: "Gudbuy T' Jane." Made for the airwaves, then and now.
Get with it, America, and get with it all you rock 'n' rollers and especially all you power poppers everywhere. Jane is all right, all right, all right, all right.
I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.
It was my intro to Slade, too. Then I saw them live at a hockey arena at SUNY Geneseo. Still the loudest show I've ever attended. But I was transfixed, and loved every record that came after, especially, "When The Lights Are Out"!!
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