Whatever Happened to Slade

Whatever Happened to Slade is the seventh studio album by the British rock group Slade. It was released on 21 March 1977 by Barn Records, but did not enter any national album chart. By the time of the album's release, Slade's popularity was waning as were their record sales, which they acknowledged in the album's title. The glam rock movement, with which Slade was associated, had died, and the careers of other glam rock artists such as Mud, Gary Glitter and Sweet had hit the buffers. In Britain, where Slade had traditionally been most popular, the fashion of the day was punk rock. With this album, Slade stood their ground as a straight ahead rock group; gone were their "glam" statements of the early decade. The album was met with critical praise and support from the English punk uprising. Nevertheless, the record was a commercial failure and the band's financial woes continued. For many years, the album was a much sought after collector's item amongst fans. However, the album is available today via CD remaster from 2007 and download. In later years, the album became a popular trade amongst American musicians developing what would be known as "grunge" as both Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) cited the album as influential. The album was voted No. 1 of the top three Slade albums in the Slade Fan Club Poll of 1979.

By 1975, Slade felt their commercial success had peaked in Great Britain and Europe. At manager Chas Chandler's suggestion, the band agreed to move to the United States, the only major territory that the band had yet to crack. The band held out in the US for almost two years, recording the soul influenced Nobody's Fools (1976). Although the band did not achieve significant airplay and record sales in the US, their reputation as a reliable and exciting live rock act was enhanced and the band felt rejuvenated. According to the Slade Fan Club, the band hoped to record a total of 16 tracks and pick the best to release on the album. In January 1977, the band's released the upcoming album's only single "Gypsy Roadhog". However, after performing the song on the children's television show Blue Peter, complaints about the song's drug references led to the BBC banning the record. As a result, the single stalled at No. 48. Whatever Happened to Slade was released in March but failed to chart. Recalling the album in the 1984 biography Feel the Noize!, bassist Jim Lea said: "It was a heavy metal album. It was a mistake and I was against that title." Lead vocalist Noddy Holder said in his 1999 biography Who's Crazee Now? : "Whatever Happened to Slade was much rockier than Nobody's Fools. It was a return to our original sound". In a 2009 interview answering fan questions, drummer Don Powell was asked which Slade album he would recommend to a new listener as the "definitive Slade studio album". He said: "Whatever Happened to Slade because at that particular time we had nothing to lose." During a 2017 live question and answer event with Lea at the Robin 2 club, Lea spoke of the album: "The Whatever Happened to Slade album came out of us touring in America. There were a lot of bands over there that had got this guitar identity. There was the Allman Brothers with Duane Allman, there was ZZ Top coming along, and the guitar player was a big thing. So we started coming up with Whatever Happened to Slade and I thought it was important we had the guitar breaks. I worked them out and then we went through it. Dave did all the playing on the record."

After the varied sound of their previous album, Nobody's Fools (1976), which prominently featured a "Californian" sound and influences from soul music, Whatever Happened to Slade presents a "straight" rock sound, a sound which would have helped it to settle into the punk rock focused British music industry of the time had it had more success. AllMusic also noted the album as sounding similar to early Kiss, but noted "its still pure Slade, though". They also noted "the songs and playing [on the album] are pretty much out of sight, with monster riffs and a different production style." AllMusic described the song as being "unlike any other the band had done".

There had been no new release from Slade since the "Nobody's Fool" single had been lifted from the Nobody's Fools album in April 1976 to commercial failure. The first that was heard of Slade in 1977 was the single "Gypsy Roadhog". After the single was banned and stalled on the UK Singles Chart, the album that followed didn't have much commercial chance after that. Titled by Chandler after a piece of graffiti spotted painted on a London bridge, Whatever Happened to Slade, while intended as a defiant, ironic comment on their absence from UK shores, was more likely received as a virtual admission of how far the group's star had fallen, and few people, except perhaps a fraction of their old fan base, were in the mood to contradict them. It was also influential on the grunge and alternative rock genres, with both Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana citing the album as influential. The album was remastered by Tim Turan at Turan Audio for CD release in 2007 by Salvo Records, a subsidiary of Union Square Productions, as part of a series of Slade CD remasters known as the "Feel the Noize" remasters. The liner notes of the new edition describe the album as "underrated".