Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The British Hit Singles & Albums names them the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. They were the first act to have three singles enter the charts at number one; all six of the band's chart-toppers were penned by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. As of 2006, total UK sales stood at over 6,500,000. Their best-selling single, "Merry Xmas Everybody", sold in excess of one million copies. According to the 1999 BBC documentary It's Slade, the band have sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
Slade in their skinhead phase in 1969 from left: Powell, Lea, Holder, Hill.
Noddy Holder (right) and Dave Hill (left), near the height of their fame in 1973, showing some of their more extreme glam rock fashions.
Slade performing in Norway in 1977.
Slade performing at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff in December 1981.
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by male musicians who wore flamboyant and feminine clothing, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter, and female musicians who wore masculine clothing. Glam artists drew on diverse sources across music and throwaway pop culture, ranging from bubblegum pop and 1950s rock and roll to cabaret, science fiction, and complex art rock. The flamboyant clothing and visual styles of performers were often camp or androgynous, and have been described as playing with other gender roles. Glitter rock was a more extreme version of glam rock.
David Bowie as his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust during the 1972–73 Ziggy Stardust Tour
Marc Bolan of T. Rex performing on ABC's In Concert, 1973
Noddy Holder (right) and Dave Hill (left) of Slade, near the height of their fame in 1973, showing some of the more extreme glam rock fashions
A figure in the new romantic movement, Boy George of Culture Club (performing in 2001) was influenced by glam rock icons Bolan and Bowie.