Get Down and Get with It

Background

Originally, both Slade manager/producer Chas Chandler and Slade had decided that in order to make a break into the charts they would need to capture their strong reputation as a live act onto record. They chose "Get Down and Get With It", a kind of hybrid of a Little Richard song and a Bobby Marchan song, as the band would frequently play the song live and it was always a popular live number. The song was successfully captured in the studio, complete with foot-stomping and hand-clapping as intended, eventually breaking Slade into the UK chart as well as Europe.

The single was released twice during 1971; firstly on 21 May with credits stating the song was written by Hill, Holder, Lea, Powell and Penniman (as Little Richard had recorded covers, first in 1965, as "Do The Jerk", then again in 1966, and 1967, as "Get Down With It"). When the apparent mistake was realised the song was hurriedly re-released on 8 June as "Get Down With It" written by Marchan, though the similarity ends within a few opening lines. The single reached the top 20 on 7 July.

Subsequent to its original release, "Get Down and Get With It" has appeared on several Slade compilation albums, including Sladest, Greatest Hits, Wall of Hits, Slade Smashes, Slade's Greats and The Very Best of Slade.

"Get Down and Get With It" was voted #2 of the top three Slade live tracks in the Slade Fan Club Poll of 1979. In the September–December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, the poll results were announced for the 1986 opinion poll based on Slade’s material. For the best live song, "Get Down and Get With It" placed at #1.

The track would become a popular concert track for the rest of Slade's career with live versions appearing on Slade Alive! and Live at Reading.

In a December 1984 interview with Record Mirror, the magazine tested Lea's memory by asking him to recall the story behind certain hits. For "Get Down and Get With It", Lea stated "This was the 'put your hands in the air' number. You notice most bands do this corny thing at the end of the show when they say 'everybody put your hands in the air' and you go - oh no, yawn, how embarrassing. So 'Get Down and Get With It' was Nod's idea, he'd heard it at this discotheque. It was great because it was all in the song, join in."

In 1990, Kiss AMC sampled the song for their single My Docs which featured an appearance from Holder in the music video. In 2001, the song was sampled by BSJ & Fun K for the track titled "Everybody Everywhere".

Promotion

Two music videos were created for the single although one of these was not shown very much and remains rare today, unofficially appearing on YouTube, whilst the other has been aired in recent years. The main form of promotion for the single was the band's live performances as well as the band performing the song on UK and European TV.

The song was performed on the Belgian TV show Popshop and the UK program The Roger Whittaker Show in 1971, whilst the band's Set of Six performance on UK Granada Television in 1972 featured a similar set to the Slade Alive! album, including the song. The Roger Whittaker performance has remained unseen since the original broadcast.

A video of the band performing the song live in Sydney, Australia is unofficially on YouTube, dated February 1973. The performance was filmed for the Australian music TV show Sydney Outdoor Show. Also in 1973, professionally the band performed the song at Earls Court in London, where the performance was professionally filmed, again unofficially available on YouTube. Reportedly, the band's comeback performance at the Reading Festival in 1980 was filmed entirely for the band, which included the song, but has never been seen. In 1981, the band's performance of the song at the Lochem Festival in the Netherlands was also filmed, again only available unofficially on YouTube.

Music video

A music video was created for the single although it was not shown very much and remains rare to day, unofficially appearing on YouTube.

The video was filmed in black and white, produced for the single by Caravelle. The video showed Slade in the back of an open roofed American car on the flyover roads in Central London. The band arrive at a power station, climb onto the roof, dance and walk around, then return to the car and drive off.

In a Raiders Of The Lost Archive episode, vocalist Noddy Holder was shown the clip for the first time since the video was created.

In a 1973 interview with Music Star magazine, Hill recalled the frightening experience of making the song's video after stating he was afraid of heights. Hill stated "We were making a special film for Top of the Pops at a power station. I was wearing a silver suit so they decided to film me walking along an overhead ledge as though I was a spaceman who’d just landed. It was very high up and I suddenly looked down at the ground. That was a mistake because I just froze. I had this terror of falling and I just froze completely, like a cat does when it gets stuck up a tree. You know, you watch that cat and you know it could get down the same way it came up - but the cat’s too frightened, and it just sits there till somebody rescues it."

Track listing

1. "Get Down and Get With It" - 4:12
2. "Do You Want Me" - 4:30
3. "Gospel According To Rasputin" - 4:23

1. "Get Down and Get With It" - 4:12
2. "Gospel According To Rasputin" - 4:23

1. "Get Down and Get With It" - 4:12
2. "Know Who You Are" - 2:50

Critical reception

Record Mirror magazine reviewed the single upon release, "Producer Chas Chandler thinks this will be a hit. So do I. It's a scream-up of an adaption of a Little Richard rocker and there's a positive air of desperation as Noddy Holder builds up the excitement. As the feet-stamping goes on, it purposefully thunders along. A split value for money flip - chart chance."

In early 2010, Classic Rock magazine featured Slade as part of their ‘The Hard Stuff Buyers Guide’ where the magazine reviewed numerous Slade albums. As part of this article, an ‘Essential Playlist’ listed 14 Slade songs which included Get Down and Get With It.

Personnel