Whatever Happened to Slade

Whatever Happened to Slade
Studio album by Slade
Released	21 March 1977
Genre	Hard rock, glam rock
Length	40:40
Label	Barn
Producer	Chas Chandler
Slade chronology
Nobody's Fools (1976) Whatever Happened to Slade (1977) Slade Alive, Vol. 2 (1978)
Singles from Whatever Happened to Slade
"Gypsy Roadhog" Released: January 1977

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.^[1]

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.^[2][3]