Slade “Slayed?” 1972. Today, June 14th, is singer/songwriter/bassist Jim Lea’s birthday (b. 1949). Slade’s second studio album, Slayed? is “a non-stop party” full of anthemic glam rock-n-roll and terrible spelling.

The classic “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” appears on Slayed? It entered the UK charts at #2 and reached #1 the following week. It was Lea’s first song that he wrote completely on his own, though Noddy Holder was responsible for the lyrics, penning them after “standing on the stage after a typically boisterous London show and surveying the mounds of smashed seating left in the auditorium. “I thought, ‘Christ, everyone must have been crazy tonight.’”(Allmusic) Quiet Riot covered the song in ‘84 where it hit big again, this time also in the US.

Another standout is a cover of Janis Joplin’s “Move Over.” Slade adds the party to a great bluesy rocker, the bassline brought heavily to the forefront and just as much growl/howl as the original.