Glam Overboard
When glam popsters Slade released a movie in 1974, they were widely assumed to have made a Hard Days Night-style lark. In fact Slade In Flame was an acid-bath satire of the music industry. Singer Noddy Holder looks back at the controversy.
Tara Brady, 18 Aug 2010
It seems almost unseasonal to be talking to Noddy Holder on a balmy July day. A prominent broadcaster and actor, the former frontman with Slade may have achieved a great many things over his 64 years. But a day does not pass when he is not accosted on the street and asked to bellow the festive declaration of intent that kick starts ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’.
“I have lots of quips prepared at this stage,” he says. “I mean I’ll do it when it’s actually Christmas but if you ask me in July I’ll say: ‘Noddy is for life and not just for Christmas’ or something like that. It’s funny because I get recognised by different people for different things. For some people, they’ll talk to you about The Mark Radcliffe Show or The Grimleys. And little kids know me out of Bob The Builder. But ‘It’s Christmas!’ will always be the thing they shout from passing cars.”
Born in the British West Midlands not long after WW2, young Master Holder had the benefits of a thorough musical education; his dad, an old school crooner, was including Noddy in his working men’s club gigs from the age of 6; mum, meanwhile, played violin.
“The Black Country is a very musical place,” says Noddy. “It gets overlooked in favour of Manchester and Liverpool but think of Ozzy Osbourne and the Moody Blues and all of the bands that come from this part of the world.”
Growing up the family was hardly well off; dad washed windows for a living and the area was not known for its career opportunities. An extremely bright kid, Noddy scored well in his GCE examinations and his school was rather hopeful that the youngster would head off for teacher training. He, of course, had other ideas.
“Everyone thought I was mad,” he laughs. “People just didn’t do that. Professional musician was not a career choice. My dad cleaned windows at the school. He had never been out of the country except during the war. So when Slade made it big I’d send back postcards from Tokyo or New York or wherever we were. And he’d always bring them down to the school to pass them around. ‘He’d never have got to Tokyo with teacher training’, he’d say. But I had to try it. Once I saw Little Richard and Rock Around The Clock, there was no going back.”
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