"Mama Weer All Crazee Now"

Slade - "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" (1972)

One of the biggest bands of the 70s according to Great Britain.



In America you'd be hard pressed to find a fan. They wrote and originally performed "Cum on Feel the Noise" which was a hit for Quiet Riot in 1983, ten years after the original. Their highest charting hit in the US was a #20 in 1984 called "Run Runaway". It sounds like Scottish folk song performed with guitars and I've never heard it in my life.There was a video that got airplay on MTV that consists of the band performing in front of a small crowd at a castle. They had seventeen consecutive top 20 hits in the UK from 1971 to 1976 and the highest charting one in America was a #68. Only four of the seventeen charted over here at all. This track only reached #76 in America. None of this is to say they are not a good band. Kiss, Twisted Sister, Poison, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and others have named them as influences, so they are at least partially responsible for glam metal and hair metal. This song has been covered by Reel Big Fish, Quiet Riot and The Runaways.

It's a perfect capsule of Glam Rock. Heavy shredding guitars mixed with tight harmonies on vocals. The band is dressed like they're ready to join Elton John on stage, all flashy hats and platform shoes; but sing about drinking and parting with abandon. The misspelling of the title was kind of a thing they were doing, at least half a dozen of their hits had purposeful misspellings. This track really builds up, by the end when it sounds like a stadium full of people are singing along, and vocalist Noddy Holder is just shouting Mama rhythmically into the microphone you can begin to imagine how huge this band was in England and in fact, Europe and Australia as well. The primary songwriters for Slade were the vocalist/rhythm guitarist and the bassist. You can almost tell this song was written by a bassist. It stops and thumps and rocks, and keeps you moving forward. It was also produced by a bassist, former Animal Chas Chandler, who also managed Slade and between the Animals and Slade, he introduced the world to Jimi Hendrix.

"Rock You Like a Hurricane"

Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (1984)

This song is now mainly used in the background of video compilations of hot women tossing their hair. Or at sports arenas.



Oh 80s hair bands, only you could be so cheesy and yet have such amazing guitar solos at the same time. The rhythm guitar drums and bass have some of the easiest parts in rock. There are a couple of licks, each about two or four bars long, and you are playing one of those simple parts over and over again. Lyrically the song has about as much going for it as a poem assignment written on the bus on the way to school because you forgot to do it the night before. Now vocally, that's something else, lead singer Klaus Meine has got some range going on, and his pronunciation of Hurricane to rhyme with /Here I am/ is not to be forgotten. He's got a strained whisper like opening like a man who really needs release, and by the end he's screaming into the stratosphere.

The guitar solo work kinda deserves special mention here. Rudolf Schenker plays creative, fast, loud stuff, but it never seams like it's showy just to be showy. All of his licks are in time with, and in tune with the rest of the band. He doesn't just tap the fretboard as fast as he can, he's actually playing real notes and crafting a piece of music. 

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love"

The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love (2002)

Happy Valentine's Day.



A throwback song, to the days of Kiss, Def Leppard, and Poison; by way of Freddie Mercury. Lyrically the song could not be any simpler. The "verse" as it were is two lines long and there is only two of them. The pre-chorus is also only two lines long but we hear it three times. The chorus is five lines if you count the oooh. They reference cars and rocking until the sun goes down, again firmly referencing 80s hair metal. It can be hard to understand him, that's a lot of falsetto going on, and up at the very top of the chorus he's harmonizing with himself. The other three band members do sing back up, but lead singer Justin Hawkins is one of few people who could sing that high. I think he and Mika could shatter world records in shattering glass together.

The throwback actually starts with the guitar intro. The sound of the whole track is compressed for the first few seconds, giving it an "old" sound. It's an angry effects laden sound that really sounds like it could be from any of the "hair metal" bands of the past. The guitar is actually a huge part of this song. There are three separate guitar solos on this track, one after each chorus. The first is a fairly short and clean sounding solo, with a little multi-tracking at the end so that the guitar is playing harmony with itself. The second solo is actually introduced by Hawkins screaming "guitar". It's a much longer solo, without as much speed as the first and ultimately the most forgettable. The third solo is like a longer version of the first, with harmonizing and faster fretwork.

"Rock On"

David Essex - Rock On (1973)

Written by an actor for a movie he was in with Ringo Starr. They didn't use it.

The movie, That'll Be the Day, was set in the lat 50s early 60s. The lyrics therefore make mention of several musical touchstones of the era. David Essex was kind of a Brit pop teen sensation who was trying to break out of that roll and into movies. He wrote a few of his own songs in preparation for a new album, including this one. But once producer Jeff Wayne added his avant-garde instrumentation, the song was no longer wanted for the movie, but instead became a huge hit.

Lots of what makes the song interesting is effects. The bass line has an echo effect on it that has such a serious delay many say it was double tracked rather than pushed through an effect sequencer. The strings (which just sound creepy) are also echo driven. Obviously the vocals have a lot of that reverb sound as well. The drums on the other hand are straight forward. Lots of quiet cymbal work, accented with toms. All together the craziest part is the complete lack of guitar. This song is bass and violin section! Not a lot of tracks from the early 70s that sound like this. Not a lot of tracks anywhere that sound like this. The Bass player responsible for this is Herbie Flowers. He also played bass on Space Oddity and Walk on the Wild Side.

"The Ballroom Blitz"

The Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz (1973)



That rolling drum line into the call out to the rest of the band is so iconic. This song just makes you want to rush the dance floor and do something stupid. The book points out that it is the bass player doing vocal work on the high pitched bridge section:
"... she thinks she's the passionate one!" Such a glam band.

The actual lead vocals are so subdued in comparison to the part that most people remember. The guitars are almost an afterthought in comparison to the vocals, but the short solos are nice, and the tight hard chords added to the rolling drums help the number actually sounds like a fight. The bass rings out during the whole song, as does the bass drum. It makes a nice contrast to the tight snare and guitar chords.

I have always liked this song, but I have also always thought of it as a cut track from Rocky Horror. Not that I actually thought that it was from the movie, just that it could have been.