25 November 1971
Bolan was the first. Bowie was the hippest. Roxy were the artiest. The Sweet were the campiest. Sparks were the edgiest. Slade, though, could claim to be the glam act that were the most popular. After all, they had six UK number ones—the same amount as in Ireland—and were the biggest-selling British singles band of the ’70s. What’s more, ‘Coz I Luv You’ could claim to set the template for the popular idea of the glam sound: not the feline groove of the ’71 Bolan boogie but a stomping beat with stomping guitar chords to match, while stomping around on platform soles more like furniture than footwear. By early ’72 T. Rex will also sound like this, though Marc Bolan’s shoe of choice will remain the dainty stack-heeled Mary Jane. Slade also, like Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, take glam down from the cosmic realm of glitter-dusted art-school aliens and give it to the people; from here on, glam bands can look and sound like Mud.
For all that moral culpability as the precursor to basic-wave glam ordinaire, ‘Coz I Luv You’ is still agreeably weird. I chalk it down to the fiddle: those Psycho-esque slashes under the stomping beat, then the folksy lines elsewhere. Put those vibes together and you get something akin to a sinister Black Country folk-horror where ancient ways lurk under the Industrial Revolution’s new urban dystopia. Also, it just sounds cool.
Present too on ‘Coz I Luv You’ are Slade’s winning blend of cheeky charm and relatable sincerity, Noddy Holder’s gregarious rasp of a voice, and the band’s knack with a huge chorus: the Oasis of glam but likeable and, even including Dave Hill’s notorious non-fringe, with better haircuts. We’ll see Slade’s most enduring moment at number one in Ireland in due course, along with some others from them, but for now ‘Coz I Luv You’ starts us off nicely.
