Lost Classics: Slade's "My Oh My"
An anthemic power ballad's rise to its rightful world domination fizzled in the U.S. just after the song cracked the Top 40.
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. I wasn’t sure there would be an issue of the newsletter this week, and indeed there is no companion video or podcast due to circumstances beyond my control. The short version is that some things I thought would come together in the last two weeks did not do so, and a few other things that I thought were confirmed ended up being postponed. Instead, it’ll be a problem for another day when I have too many interviews in the can rather than not enough.
I was, however, inspired to revisit my “Lost Classics” series and it was like a bolt out of the blue. I hadn’t been particularly thinking of doing so, nor had I heard the titular song of this week’s issue recently. So, it is just by dumb, random chance that I bring you an issue about a terrific song that is not remembered as widely as it should be here in the United States.
Let’s get to that story.
I was preparing to graduate from high school in the spring of 1984 and I was filled warring emotions. There was relief that I wouldn’t be subjected to some of the abuses (real and imagined) with which the smallest kid in the class (and not one who was particularly popular) must often deal. I was excited, obviously, to reach that milestone in life and start the next chapter. There was nervousness and apprehension about the uncertainty of a future in college and beyond. And there was a hint of sadness, knowing it might be many years before I saw some of my favorite familiar faces again — and some I never have, as it turned out.
MTV was at the beginning of the height of its popularity. Between music videos and pop/rock radio, the world was exploding with disparate sounds from bands hailing from around the world. I pinned band buttons on my Members Only jacket and a Def Leppard painters cap that I owned (I still don’t remember where I got that hat and I have no idea where or when it left my possession).
I still hadn’t been to my first rock concert. I was the oldest child in my family, and my mother was a bit overprotective of me, loosening up house rules slightly with each of my subsequent siblings. That first show wasn’t too far away, as it turned out, and included a multi-band heavy metal bill at nearby Legend Valley, a no-frills outdoor venue in rural Ohio that essentially amounted to a stage erected at the bottom end of a gully.
The bands I would see there were, in order, Kick Axe, Fastway, Quiet Riot, and Scorpions. I loved all four of those bands and lived only a couple of miles from the venue. I was set to graduate a couple of months before that concert, so there were no more excuses. My first show was set in stone.
Practically everyone I knew was enjoying Quiet Riot’s Metal Health album at that time, and “Cum on Feel the Noize” was ubiquitous on both the radio and MTV. You could not escape that song, and everyone seemed to love it. I know that I did. But that song wasn’t an original Quiet Riot composition. The English band Slade had released it 10 years earlier. I wasn’t familiar with Slade and none of my friends seemed to know much about them.
But CBS signed the band to a new U.S. record deal on the strength of the success of Quiet Riot’s megahit. So, in the spring of 1984, the children/future adults of my generation in Middle America were introduced to Slade when the band’s Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply was released in the United States. Oddly, the album had a different title when it had previously been released overseas — The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome. The first single from the album released in the U.S. was an outstanding song called “Run Runaway.”
With “Run Runaway” jumping up the charts, gaining airplay on the radio, and being shown often on MTV, we now understood who Slade was and why Quiet Riot would record one of their songs (and would record more of them later). “Run Runaway” was catchy, energetic, fun, and it rocked. It just cracked the top 20 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and went all the way to the top of the Billboard Album Rock Tracks.
And then a second Slade single was released from that same album, and as much as I liked “Run Runaway,” I was even more blown away by “My Oh My,” which dropped in in June of 1984, as I was becoming a high school graduate and enrolling in college.
Slade’s second hit off of Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply/The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome held me in its thrall every time I heard it. There were so many things I loved about it. First, it was a power ballad, which was very much ‘my thing’ at the time and, if we’re being honest, it still is.
The song had a gorgeous Elton John-esque piano intro, as if it had jumped out of a “Levon” outtake instead of off the fingertips of Slade’s Jim Lea. It was melodic. It was catchy. The lyrics were strong (albeit repetitive), and the sentiment was relatable.
We all need someone to talk to, my oh my
We all need someone to talk to, my oh my
You need a shoulder to cry on
Call me, I'll be standing by
We all need someone to talk to, my oh my
The production by John Punter was immaculate, although it sounds very 80s now.
The song builds in intensity as lead vocalist Noddy Holder sings the first couple of verses — there isn’t a chorus, just the phrase “my oh my” at the end of every line. I don’t know what the musical term is for the song’s construction, but it’s a bit like “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain,” only slower.
Don Powell’s drums come crashing onto the scene 90 seconds in, and Dave Hill adds an exquisite and tasteful guitar solo. Like Big Country did in 1983, Slade gave their guitars a bit of a bagpipe tone. It’s less pronounced than Big Country’s and with a much more polished production than the Scottish band had on its 1983 album, The Crossing, but it’s noticeable.
And then there’s a bombastic finish with beautifully layered backing vocals, making it sound like a large choir is backing up the band. I honestly get goosebumps and a little teary-eyed just thinking about that last verse when Noddy sings:
So, let's all pull together, my oh my
Yeah, let's all pull together, my oh my
We can ride the stormy weather
If we all get out and try
So let's all pull together, my oh my
Yeah, let's all pull together, my oh my
The song reaches its crescendo and then holds a final keyboard note. And then…just when it seems to be over with the last, prolonged “my oh myyyyy,” there’s a thunderous drum break — a la Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” — and the guitars and keyboards kick back in for a second ending. Holder, Hill, Lea, and Powell bring the gorgeous outro to a close with the final instrumental section.
“My Oh My” represents just over four minutes of sonic bliss. I can never turn it off before it finishes. It is my preferred song from the album, as much as I love “Run Runaway” and other tracks from the first Slade record I ever heard.
Written by Holder and Lea, “My Oh My” did not reach the lofty heights of success in this country that “Run Runaway” had. The song made it only to no. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, a full 17 spots lower than the first single had apexed. It only made it to no. 32 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart, peaking 31 spots before “Run Runaway.”
However, in the UK, “My Oh My” was the better-received song. It made it to no. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, compared to No. 7 for “Run Runaway.” Additionally, “My Oh My” reached the top of the singles charts in Sweden and Norway, where “Run Runaway” maxed out at no. 4 and no. 7, respectively. I’m half English, so maybe that’s why I lean toward “My Oh My” over “Run Runaway.” But honestly, who really knows why some songs speak to us more than others? It doesn’t matter anyway.
For me, “My Oh My” was the high point of a great Slade album and it remains my favorite song by a band that has had a highly successful and qualitative career. It did OK in this country but should have been a bigger hit.
I even love the video:
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