[8] Following an unsuccessful move to the U.S. in 1975, Slade's popularity in the UK waned, but was unexpectedly revived in 1980 when they were last-minute replacements for Ozzy Osbourne at the Reading Rock Festival.

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Music tells of Holder's powerful vocals, guitarist Dave Hill's equally arresting dress sense and the deliberate misspelling of their song titles (such as "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now") for which they became well known.

[11] After listening to American blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf, the Vendors decided on a change of direction and name:[11] As the 'N Betweens they gained greater recognition and began to get supporting gigs with acts such as the Hollies, the Yardbirds, Georgie Fame and Spencer Davis.

The band adopted a skinhead look as an attempt to gain publicity from what was a newsworthy youth fashion trend, but this also added an unwelcome association with football hooliganism.

In 1970, the band shortened their name to Slade and released a new single, a cover of "Shape of Things to Come" which, despite a performance on United Kingdom music show Top of the Pops, failed to chart.

[21] The attendant appearance on BBC Television's Top of the Pops brought Slade to a wider audience as well as pushing "Coz I Luv You" to number one in the UK Singles Chart.

[30] The band's future was left in the balance as Slade refused to continue without their drummer; however, Lea's brother, Frank, covered Powell's position at the Isle of Man Festival to avoid disappointing fans.

Powell, who had suffered breaks to both ankles and five ribs, successfully recovered after surgery and was able to rejoin the band ten weeks later in New York, where they recorded "Merry Xmas Everybody" – in the middle of a heatwave.

Feeling that they were becoming stale and had achieved all they could in Europe, Slade decided to a make a permanent move to the States and try to build a solid reputation from live performances; just as they had previously done in the UK.

The track was performed on the children's show Blue Peter, but complaints arose due to supposed drug references and the record was subsequently banned by the BBC.

[23] The title of the subsequent album was taken from a piece of graffiti seen in London, and made reference to the band's current position in the public eye: Whatever Happened to Slade was released in March and failed to make any chart appearance in the UK.

"[53] Ozzy Osbourne was due to play the Reading Festival in August 1980, during his Blizzard of Ozz tour, but cancelled at short notice as his band was not ready, leaving the organisers searching for a last-minute replacement.

[23][55] "Wheels Ain't Coming Down", which originally appeared as the opening track on the album Return to Base, was released in March 1981 and reached number 60 in the UK.

[59] An article in NME shortly after release claimed Slade were in trouble over the album cover, which featured an 'offensive' picture of a nail piercing an ear drum, and that many dealers were refusing to stock it.

[70] In late 1983, Holder joined Lea in record production producing, among other things, Girlschool's cover of the T-Rex song "20th Century Boy" and the album Play Dirty which featured two Slade tracks, "Burning in the Heat of Love" and "High and Dry".

[23] In 1989, Hill formed his own group, Blessings in Disguise, with ex-Wizzard keyboard player Bill Hunt, Craig Fenney and Bob Lamb.

Working solidly on the UK theatre circuit during the winter months and throughout Europe the rest of the year, the band released one studio album in 1994 entitled Keep on Rockin', which featured Steve Whalley on vocals.

[107][108] In 2000, Holder was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire[109] for his services to music and his voice was famously recorded for lift announcements at the Walsall New Art Gallery.

[131] After years of working with Lise Lyng Falkenberg, since 2006, Powell's biography Look Wot I Dun – My Life in Slade was released on 14 October 2013, by Omnibus Press (Music Sales Ltd).

[132] The book is based on more than 50 hours of interviews with Powell as well as his own 20 years of diaries and notebooks he kept due to his problems with short-term memory following his 1973 accident.

During 2020 and 2021, Powell, Holder and Lea conducted an extensive series of Zoom video interviews for the www.slayed.co.uk website and its forum at www.sladeforum.co.uk [138] - comments from which were mined for the expanded second edition of the book on their unauthorised discography, THE NOIZE.

Many Slade songs were written specifically for audience participation, such as "Get Down and Get With It", "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Cum on Feel the Noize", "Give Us a Goal", "We'll Bring The House Down", "Rock and Roll Preacher" and "My Oh My".

[140] In the days before Slade, Holder, Lea, Hill and Powell were influenced by American blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf but then became interested in the work of Little Richard.

[141][142] Later they were to draw artistic influence from contemporary rock acts including the Beatles, Chuck Berry, Joe Brown, Cream, the Kinks, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, the Rolling Stones, Rufus Thomas, the Who, the Pretty Things, and Screaming Lord Sutch.

[144] The 1969 album Beginnings, released under the name Ambrose Slade, featured many songs that basically comprised their live act with covers of psychedelic rock and classic 1960s rocksongs by Steppenwolf, Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, The Moody Blues, The Beatles and Marvin Gaye.

Their 1972 live album, Slade Alive!, featured cover versions of songs by Ten Years After, The Lovin' Spoonful, Bobby Marchan and Steppenwolf and is considered a strong classic rock effort.

[147] Slade have influenced numerous artists including: Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, Poison, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Twisted Sister, the Undertones, the Replacements and the Runaways.

"[152] In 1981, Adam and the Ants' lead guitarist and co-songwriter Marco Pirroni, who now owns Dave Hill's original trademark 'Superyob' guitar, stated that he was greatly influenced by the first gig he ever attended which was Slade at Wembley Pool in 1973.

"[167] On the 2011 final Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie BBC Radio Two show, Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire stated that he believed Slade's post-Reading material was very underrated.

However, Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali claims that DuBrow was not a fan of Slade, favouring fellow British rock bands Queen and Humble Pie.