Radio Wall of Sound

"Radio Wall of Sound"

UK/European cover of "Radio Wall of Sound".
Single by Slade
from the album Wall of Hits
B-side "Lay Your Love on the Line"
Released 7 October 1991
Genre Hard rock, pop rock
Length 3:48
Label Polydor
Writer(s) Jim Lea
Producer(s) Jim Lea
Slade singles chronology
"Let's Dance '88"
(1988)		 "Radio Wall of Sound"
(1991)		 "Universe"
(1991)
Audio sample
file info · help

"Radio Wall of Sound" is a song by the English rock band, Slade, issued as a single in 1991. It was included on their compilation album, Wall of Hits.[1]

The song was the first to be credited solely by Jim Lea since "I Won't Let it 'Appen Agen", from the 1973 album Slayed?.[2] It was sung by Lea, with Noddy Holder joining with him in the chorus.[3] The B-side, "Lay Your Love on the Line", was written by Dave Hill and former Wizzard member Bill Hunt. The track was originally for a solo project of Jim Lea.[3] The recording of the track already existed, complete apart from lead vocals. The track was not in Holder's key and so his vocals were dubbed into the chorus, leaving Lea's lead vocal on the verses.[4] The track also features Radio One DJ Mike Read as 'the voice of radio'.[5]

In the 1990s, Jim Lea was interviewed by Ken Sharpe. Lea explained the track's meaning which was about having a radio and music playing inside your own mind.[6][7]

The song appeared on the various artists compilation "Now That's What I Call Music! 20", released 30 November 1991.

Background

Holder was asked in a 1992 interview on the sales of the single. "It wouldn’t have needed that many sales to have reached that position, not a vast amount. The initial shipping out to the shops was around 30,000 copies, I think, which is a good pre-order figure, good enough to go Top 40 first week out. The problem was sustaining the momentum after using up all the available TV’s there was nowhere else to go. We couldn’t get on Wogan, which would have helped, so really that was all the TV possible. We did more press than ever before, in recent times at least, but there just aren’t that many rock records making the charts these days unless they happen to come from a film soundtrack. The charts have been very dance orientated of late and I can’t really think of any big rock records of 1991. If you look at the rock album charts from last year there are not that many that were really outstanding and had any long chart success."[9]

In the same interview, Holder stated "I knew RWOS was more commercial, a good instant rock track."

In a Ken Sharpe interview, Jim Lea stated "I had already done my demo of it and I was putting the band on top of my demo. During producing, Nod came to sing the verse and I said 'Nod, I feel really embarrassed to say this but I think my voice sounds better than yours, not because I'm a better singer, that's ludicrous, it's just that the key is ridiculously low for you.' And he said 'alright then...' cause Nod's very easy going. The track is about having a radio station in your head, music of the mind and this whole thing about the DJ all going on in your mind. You don't even need a radio, you can just imagine it."

Due to the song's radio friendly sound, the song was specially modified for London's Capital Radio as a radio jingle.[10][11]

In mid-1990, Lea spoke to the Slade fan club about his solo work, stating "There is a track called that I've written called "Radio Wall of Sound" and it sounds just like Slade, even my brother Frank says it sounds like Slade."[11][12]

The fan club in late 1991 described the b-side as "a belting rocker with Nod stuffing the verbals right down your eardrums."[12][13]

Lea spotted the commercial friendly hook of the 1987 album track "Sing Shout (Knock Yourself Out)" which he recycled by slowing the hook down for "Radio Wall of Sound". The song dropped the synthesizers that had dominated the band's previous albums, and returned to a more commercial rock-based sound.

In an April 2000 interview with Lea by Mojo magazine, Lea stated "Our last hit was Radio Wall of Sound, which I wrote and sang. The others thought it was a load of shit. The last thing that came out was Universe - very big and lush. Towards the end the records were completely my songs. I'd taken control and it didn't feel like a band any more. Then this offer came to play Castle Donington with Bon Jovi. Noddy said if we weren't headlining, then we weren't doing it. He more or less said that he wasn't going on the road with Slade again. He wanted to be in the band - but I said that without getting out live it wouldn't cohere any more, that we'd lost it. All the fun had gone out of it, so I started getting into the property business, and took a psychology course at college."

Promotion

A promotional video was created for the single, whilst the song was also performed on UK TV, appearing on Motormouth and Slade's final appearance on Top of The Pops.[14]

The band opened the Top of the Pops show with their performance, the vocals were performed live where Lea used the opportunity to change the lyric. Instead of "So just play the radio loud", he sang "So just turn that T.V. up loud".

Music Video

Originally, in September, just before the single's release, the Slade fan club newsletter announced plans for a music video. The video was set in a radio station where the DJ Mike Read was trying to out volume Slade playing on the roof, where at the end the entire station blows up. Although this idea wasn't exactly filmed, the video did feature Read as the DJ, with Slade performing on the roof. The radio tower explodes during the song.[10][11]

Formats

7" Single
  1. "Radio Wall of Sound" - 3:47
  2. "Lay Your Love on the Line" - 3:09
12" Single
  1. "Radio Wall of Sound" - 3:47
  2. "Lay Your Love on the Line" - 3:09
  3. "Cum On Feel The Noize" - 4:31
CD Single
  1. "Radio Wall of Sound" - 3:47
  2. "Lay Your Love on the Line" - 3:09
  3. "Cum On Feel The Noize" - 4:31
Cassette Single
  1. "Radio Wall of Sound" - 3:47
  2. "Lay Your Love on the Line" - 3:09

Chart performance

Chart (1991) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
Belgian Singles Chart[15] 21 7
Dutch Singles Chart[16] 22 9
Irish Singles Chart[17] 30 1
UK Singles Chart[18] 21 5

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 889–891. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  2. ↑ Slade - Salvo 2006 remastered album The Slade Box booklet
  3. 1 2 "SLADE @ www.slayed.co.uk". Crazeeworld.plus.com. 1966-04-01. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  4. ↑ Slade's Greatest Hits compilation booklet
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ Classic Rock magazine interview
  7. ↑ MARK LOWRY  9 May 2006 (2006-05-09). "SLADE Archiv 2006". SLADE40YEARS. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  8. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/slade-remade-tribute-to-slade-mw0000740851
  9. ↑ "SLADE @ www.slayed.co.uk". Crazeeworld.plus.com. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  10. 1 2 http://sladefanclub.weebly.com/uploads/7/6/6/0/7660950/9029341_orig.jpg
  11. 1 2 3 Slade International Fan Club newsletter July - August - September 1991
  12. 1 2 http://sladefanclub.weebly.com/uploads/7/6/6/0/7660950/7203581_orig.jpg
  13. ↑ lade International Fan Club newsletter July - August - September 1991
  14. ↑ "SLADE @ www.slayed.co.uk". Crazeeworld.plus.com. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  15. ↑ http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Slade&titel=Radio+Wall+Of+Sound&cat=s
  16. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Slade - Radio Wall Of Sound". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  17. ↑ Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Group - http://www.fireballmedia.ie. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  18. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/30945/slade/
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