{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Use British English|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox album | name = Slayed? | type = studio | artist = Slade | cover = Slayed.jpg | alt = | released = 1 December 1972<ref>{{cite magazine |editor=Derek Johnson |title=Slade's Album |magazine=New Musical Express |date=11 November 1972 |page=4 |issn=0028-6362}}</ref> | recorded = 1972 | studio = | genre = *Glam rock *hard rock | length = 34:30 | label = Polydor (UK/US) | producer = Chas Chandler | prev_title = Slade Alive! | prev_year = 1972 | next_title = Sladest | next_year = 1973 | misc = {{Singles | name = Slayed? | type = studio | single1 = Mama Weer All Crazee Now | single1date = 25 August 1972 | single2 = The Whole World's Goin' Crazee | single2date = October 1972 (promo only) | single3 = Gudbuy T'Jane | single3date = 17 November 1972 | single4 = Let the Good Times Roll | single4date = August 1973 (US only) | single5 = Move Over | single5date = November 1973 (Japan only) }} }} '''''Slayed?''''' is the third studio album by the British rock group Slade. It was released in 1 December 1972 and reached No. 1 in the UK. It remained on the chart for 34 weeks and was certified Silver in early 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sladescrapbook.com/userimages/slade74v51.JPG |title=Slade Scrapbook Website |publisher=sladescrapbook.com |access-date=2011-08-10 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Slade Fan Club Newsletter February–March 1973</ref> The album was also the band's most successful of the 1970s in the US, peaking at No. 69 and remaining in the charts for 26 weeks.<ref>Whitburn, Joel; ''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955-1996''; p. 717. Published 1997 by Record Research Inc.</ref> In Australia, the album reached No. 1 and went Gold, knocking the band's live album ''Slade Alive!'' to No. 2.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sladefanclub.weebly.com/uploads/7/6/6/0/7660950/5367500_orig.jpg |title=Slade Fan Club Archive |publisher=Weebly |access-date=2011-08-10 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://sladefanclub.weebly.com/uploads/7/6/6/0/7660950/3030626_orig.jpg |title=Slade Fan Club Archive |publisher=Weebly |access-date=2011-08-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423161716/http://sladefanclub.weebly.com/uploads/7/6/6/0/7660950/3030626_orig.jpg |archive-date=23 April 2012 }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Slade Fan Club Newsletter April–May 1973</ref> ''Slayed?'' was produced by Chas Chandler.
==Background== After achieving their breakthrough hit with "Get Down and Get with It" in 1971, Slade would continue to achieve further success with their follow-up singles "Coz I Luv You", "Look Wot You Dun" and "Take Me Bak 'Ome". The 1972 live album ''Slade Alive!'' also gave the band their first success on the albums chart, reaching No. 2. Having achieved their second UK number one with "Take Me Bak 'Ome", the band soon finished recording their next studio album ''Slayed?''. In August 1972, the lead single "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" was released and was another UK chart topper. ''Slayed?'' followed in December and reached No. 1. A second single, "Gudbuy T'Jane", was also released that month and reached No. 2 in the UK.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/30945/slade/|title = Slade | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company|publisher = Official Charts Company}}</ref>
In October, "The Whole World's Goin' Crazee" was released as a free 7" Flexi disc with the ''Music Scene'' magazine. The B-Side was "Bonnie Charlie" by Mike Hugg.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slade-weerallcrazee.co.uk/ |title=Slade – Weer All Crazee – Main Page |publisher=Slade-weerallcrazee.co.uk |access-date=2012-06-23}}</ref> In August 1973, "Let the Good Times Roll" was released as a single in America where it reached No. 114.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQkEAAAAMBAJ&q=slade+let+the+good+times+roll+114&pg=RA1-PA49 |title=Billboard – Google Books |date=1973-09-01 |access-date=2017-10-04}}</ref> In November, "Move Over" was released as a single in Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/dp1918|title = Slade – Move over}}</ref>
==Song information== "How D'You Ride" had originally been considered as a potential single, with Chandler particularly keen on seeing it released as one.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jj_AgAAQBAJ&q=ride |title=Look Wot I Dun: Don Powell of Slade – Don Powell, Lise Lyng Falkenberg – Google Books |date= 11 October 2013|isbn=9781783230006 |access-date=2017-10-04|last1=Powell |first1=Don |last2=Falkenberg |first2=Lise Lyng }}</ref> In a 2006 interview, drummer Don Powell revealed of "I Won't Let It 'Appen Agen": "If you listen to the start of that one you can hear somebody shout, 'Yeah!' That's me shouting, because it felt so good when we started, that I just couldn't help saying it. And it was kept."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bigboyzbignoize.blogspot.co.uk/2006/09/remaster-interview-with-don.html |title=Slade: Remaster interview with Don! |publisher=Bigboyzbignoize.blogspot.co.uk |date=2006-09-01 |access-date=2017-10-04}}</ref>
The idea for "Gudbuy T'Jane" came to Lea while the band was in San Diego. He completed the song on the flight home to the UK. Holder's lyrics were inspired by a woman called Jane who demonstrated a sex machine on a TV show on which the band appeared.<ref name="ReferenceB">Slade's 1997 compilation Greatest Hits booklet</ref> The idea for the lyrics of "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" came from the band's show at the Boston Gliderdrome in Lincolnshire, where a bouncer had told them about another act who'd appeared there drunk – "crazy with whiskey".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
==Critical reception== {{Album ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Thompson |first=Dave |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/slayed-mw0000468052 |title=Slayed? – Slade |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2011-08-10}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Christgau's Record Guide'' | rev2score = A−<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: S|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=S&bk=70|access-date=12 March 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref> | rev3 = ''The Guardian'' | rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite news|author=Dave Simpson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/aug/25/popandrock.shopping |title=CD: Slade, Slayed? | Music |work=The Guardian |date= 2006-08-25|access-date=2011-08-10 |location=London}}</ref> }} Upon release, ''Record Mirror'' described the album as "all pretty stomping, insistent and bawled out stuff", adding "they deliver the goods here, alright".<ref>Record Mirror Magazine review 2 December 1972</ref> In the Record Mirror poll results of 1974, ''Slayed?'' was listed at No. 4 on the Top 10 list of best British albums.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/1001albums.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113075534/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/1001albums.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=13 January 2006 |title=Rocklist.net...Steve Parker...1001 Albums |publisher=Rocklistmusic.co.uk |access-date=2011-08-10}}</ref> ''New Musical Express'' said the album was "one of the greatest rock 'n' roll releases ever".
Robert Hilburn of the ''Los Angeles Times'' felt that aside from some "effective moments" on side one, side two best displayed Slade's "power and direction". He concluded: "If you've been missing the solid, raunchy rock sound in recent months, get ''slayed'' and play it loud."<ref name="autogenerated42">Los Angeles Times – Rock 'n' Roll: Following Elton John's bouncing ball – Robert Hilburn – 28 January 1973 – page 42</ref> Tom Von Malder of ''The Wheeling Herald'' (Illinois) felt the album recalled the "kind of raw music that the Rolling Stones used to play when they did "Street Fighting Man"." Malder concluded: "Slade is punk, street rock at its best and loudest."<ref name="autogenerated43">The Wheeling Herald – Tom Von Malder – 9 March 1973 – page 43</ref> American rock critic Robert Christgau felt the album showcased "boot-boy anthems that are every bit as overpowering as has been reported, and also more fun. Noddy Holder can wake up the crazee in my neighborhood any time he wants." Henry McNulty of the ''Hartford Courant'' described the album as a "fierce, unrelenting type of rock", as well as a "total body assault, leaving the mind free to wander in the void where the meaning ought to be."<ref name="autogenerated20">Hartford Courant newspaper – 17 February 1973 – page 20</ref>
In 2010, ''Classic Rock'' considered the album an "essential classic", adding that it featured "party-hard tracks, and even something approaching a ballad with "Look at Last Nite", ensuring that ''Slayed?'' inarguably ticks all the right boxes." ''The Guardian'' noted the album's singles and other tracks as being "deservedly party riff monsters", but added: "''Slayed?''{{'}}s majesty lies in the melancholy ballads. "Look at Last Nite's" haunting refrain fingers both empty celebrity and fame's creeping downside."
The album was included in the book ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''.<ref>{{citation |last=Dimery |first=Robert |title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |year=2005 |publisher=Universe Publishing |location=United Kingdom |isbn=1-84403-392-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/1001albumsyoumus0000unse_l0q0 }}</ref>
== Track listing == {{Track listing | headline = Side one | title1 = How d' You Ride | writer1 = Noddy Holder, Jim Lea | length1 = 3:11 | title2 = The Whole World's Goin' Crazee | writer2 = Holder | length2 = 3:35 | title3 = Look at Last Nite | writer3 = Holder, Lea | length3 = 3:05 | title4 = I Won't Let It 'Appen Agen | writer4 = Lea | length4 = 3:16 | title5 = Move Over | writer5 = Janis Joplin | length5 = 3:45 }} {{tracklisting | headline = Side two | title6 = Gudbuy T'Jane | writer6 = Holder, Lea | length6 = 3:32 | title7 = Gudbuy Gudbuy | writer7 = Holder, Lea | length7 = 3:28 | title8 = Mama Weer All Crazee Now | writer8 = Holder, Lea | length8 = 3:44 | title9 = I Don' Mind | writer9 = Holder, Lea | length9 = 3:05 | title10 = Let the Good Times Roll / Feel So Fine | writer10 = Leonard Lee | length10 = 3:46 }}
{{Track listing | headline = Japanese '24 Bit remaster 2006' bonus tracks | title11 = Take Me Bak 'Ome | note11 = non-album single | writer11 = Holder, Lea | length11 = 3:16 | title12 = Cum On Feel the Noize | note12 = non-album single | writer12 = Holder, Lea | length12 = 4:25 | title13 = Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me | note13 = non-album single | writer13 = Holder, Lea | length13 = 4:30 }}
{{Track listing | headline = 2006 Salvo remaster bonus tracks | title11 = My Life Is Natural | note11 = B-side of "Coz I Luv You" | writer11 = Holder | length11 = 3:17 | title12 = Candidate | note12 = B-side of "Look Wot You Dun" | writer12 = Lea, Powell | length12 = 2:52 | title13 = Wonderin' Y | note13 = B-side of "Take Me Bak 'Ome" | writer13 = Lea, Powell | length13 = 2:49 | title14 = Man Who Speeks Evil | note14 = B-side of "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" | writer14 = Lea, Powell | length14 = 3:17 | title15 = Slade Talk to 'Melanie' Readers | note15 = Issued on a single-sided flexi-disc | writer15 = | length15 = 6:46 }}
==Personnel== '''Slade''' *Noddy Holder – lead vocals, rhythm guitar *Dave Hill – lead guitar, backing vocals *Jim Lea – bass, piano, violin, backing vocals *Don Powell – drums
'''Additional personnel''' *Chas Chandler – producer *Gered Mankowitz – cover photography *Chris Charlesworth – liner notes
==Charts== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}}
===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Weekly chart performance for ''Slayed?'' !scope="col"|Chart (1972–1973) !scope="col"|Peak<br />position |- !scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref>{{cite book |last=Kent |first=David |author-link=David Kent (historian) |title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 |edition=illustrated |publisher=Australian Chart Book |location=St Ives, N.S.W. |year=1993 |isbn=0-646-11917-6 |page=277}}</ref> | 1 |- {{album chart|Austria|3|artist=Slade|album=Slayed?|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- {{album chart|Canada|27|chartid=4828|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- ! scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>{{cite book |last=Pennanen |first=Timo |title=Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 |section=Slade |page=237 |year=2021 |publisher=Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava |location=Helsinki |isbn=978-952-7460-01-6}}</ref> | 2 |- {{album chart|Germany|10|id=9110|artist=Slade|album=Slayed?|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- {{album chart|Netherlands|10|artist=Slade|album=Slayed?|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- {{album chart|Norway|3|artist=Slade|album=Slayed?|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- {{album chart|UK2|1|date=19730107|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- {{album chart|Billboard200|69|artist=Slade|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- !scope="row"|US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 Albums<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cash Box Top 100 Albums |magazine=Cash Box |date=14 April 1973 |volume=34 |issue=43 |page=39 |issn=0008-7289}}</ref> | 47 |- !scope="row"|US ''Record World'' The Album Chart<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Album Chart |magazine=Record World |date=7 April 1973 |volume=28 |issue=1346 |page=34}}</ref> | 50 |} {{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Weekly chart performance for ''Slayed?'' reissue ! scope="col" | Chart (2021) ! scope="col" | Position |- {{album chart|Scotland|21|date=20210910|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |- {{album chart|UKIndependent|8|date=20210910|rowheader=true|access-date=22 September 2023}} |}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Year-end chart performance for ''Slayed?'' ! scope="col" | Chart (1973) ! scope="col" | Position |- ! scope="row" | German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1973|title=Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts|date=1973|publisher=GfK Entertainment Charts|language=de|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523114401/https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1973|archive-date=23 May 2021}}</ref> | 19 |} {{col-end}}
==Certifications== {{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for ''Slayed?''}} {{Certification Table Entry|region=Finland|artist=Slade|title=Slayed|type=album|award=Gold|number=1|salesamount=20,000|certyear=1973|access-date=2013-08-28}} {{Table end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Slade}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Slade albums Category:1972 albums Category:Polydor Records albums Category:Albums produced by Chas Chandler