Ooh La La in L.A.

Background

Hill spoke about the track in 1987, "This is my favourite track on the album. There is something about the chorus on this one, which to me would make it a hit if it was released as a single. It is a very different sort of song for Slade. The lyric is very autobiographical. One verse is about Don being pissed all the time. There is mention of the Marquee, which refers to 'The Sunset Marquee', where a lot of bands stay. There is a verse about 'Barney's Beanery', where we used to play pool all the time. This song was in fact written originally for the 'Rogues Gallery' album and is based on the last time we were in L.A, promoting Run Runaway". The track also referenced the brief headline news that drummer Don Powell (referred to by his middle name George in the lyrics), had become the boyfriend of Bob Dylan's daughter (referred to as 'Miss Zimmerman' in the lyrics).

"Ooh La La in L.A." was produced by John Punter, whilst the b-side of the single was "Don't Talk to Me about Love" which originally appeared as a bonus track to the special commemorative pack of the early 1987 single "Still the Same". The b-side features lead vocal from Lea, who also produced the song, where the track was originally due to be on the You Boyz Make Big Noize album. The 12" version of the single featured the extra track "That's What Friends are For" which was taken from the same album and released as a UK only single in April 1987. The song was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. "Ooh La La in L.A." would also later be used as the b-side to the following 1987 UK only single "We Won't Give In".

Due to the lack of commercial success from the band, RCA did not keep the band on their label after this single. As a result, the band returned to their own Cheapskate Records.

In the Slade International Fan Club newsletter for July, August and September 1987, one fan commented on the song, "I think Ooh La La in L.A. would be a good choice for the next single as it is getting away from what is expected of Slade."

In the Slade International Fan Club newsletter for July, August and September 1987, a fan poll was created based on the album. Ooh La La in L.A. was listed at #1 on the top three favourite track list. The song was also listed at #1 of the top three choices for the next Slade single.

The single's artwork was exactly the same as the artwork for the band's 1987 single "That's What Friends are For", also from the You Boyz Make Big Noize album.

The song is popular within Russia where the track remains one of Slade's best known songs. On 1 December 2011, guitarist Dave Hill appeared on Vintage TV, interviewed by English DJ and TV presenter Mike Read. Hill mentioned the song's popularity in Russia when he announced plans for a new Slade album with the current line-up, and stated the idea of re-recording some original Slade tracks. When Read asked Hill if he had any idea of which original Slade songs would be used, Hill replied "Well it's really funny cause the stuff that people mention to me I don't actually play live. My Friend Stan is a funny one but it gets mentioned. Another is Ooh La La in L.A. which was never a hit for us, but in Russia it's huge. And it's a bit like how come it's huge in this massive country and yet it didn't happen here?"

In recent years, the track has become increasingly popular. On YouTube, the song has gained approx 969,000 views over six different videos, with the main video of the band performing the song on UK TV gaining 744,000 views since mid-2007.

For a single day on 5 April 2010, the song appeared on the Finnish Rock Music Chart of iTunes, where it peaked at #44.

Recording

"Ooh La La in L.A." was recorded at Utopia Studios.

In November 2007, drummer Don Powell answered questions from Slade fans on an unofficial forum. One question asked Powell if an unreleased extended version of "Ooh La La in L.A." was created. Powell replied "Not what I can remember, but what happened a lot was when we recorded with John Punter we always did the songs a bit longer, then he said, I can edit that to a single and make it a bit shorter. Or edit it to a 12” single and make it a bit longer. It was like that. So there are extended versions of quite a few of the tracks because that was the way that he worked."

Release

In a fan club interview with Noddy Holder, Holder spoke of the album and plans for the single, "The album is not coming out in the States until July or August, but CBS certainly like it. CBS are going to put out 'Ooh La La in L.A.' as the first single out there. In Germany at the moment, 'Ooh La La in L.A.' is at number 2 on the radio playlist and 'Still the Same' is at number 4, so things certainly seem to be going well over there."

The single was released on 7" vinyl and 12" vinyl in Germany and America, whilst a 7" promotional single was released in America via RCA. This Japanese released featured Ooh La La in L.A. on one side, whilst American hard rock/heavy metal band Autograph had their 1987 single "Loud and Clear" on the other side, creating a double single set on one vinyl. The artwork for this release features two images - one of each band. The photo of Slade is taken from the same shoot as the photo used in the artwork for the song's main single release in America and Germany, whilst the Slade logo is also used next to the image.

The song was reportedly popular within Los Angeles, receiving a fair amount of radio play in the area, but the single failed to make any national impact.

The song was included on the American 1987 promotional CD album The Album Network CD Tune Up #5, where it appeared as the second track. The back insert sleeve of the CD dates 3 August 1987.

Promotion

A video filmed in Los Angeles was planned to help promote the American single release of the song. The video was said to feature various places described in the lyric, such as the Sunset Strip and Barney's Beanery. The video idea was scrapped by CBS after the single didn't achieve sufficient airplay in America.

In a late 1987 interview with Jim Lea for the Slade fan club, Lea was asked about the reports of the band flying to the States to record a video for Ooh la la in L.A. which was released as a U.S. and German only single. Jim responded "Well, when you are dealing with record companies, it all comes down to money, power strokes and the way they think a record is going to go. CBS deliberately held back on doing the video because, although they could see it picking up a few heavyweight stations, they wanted to wait to see if it picked up any more. It actually did pick up one or two more, but then suddenly tailed off, so the video idea was scrapped. It got to the stage when there was this small matter of many tens of thousands of pounds and who was going to pay? It is a bit different in the States in that the record companies are totally ruled by the business affairs people, whereas over here the A&R men run things."

The song was mimed on UK ITV show titled Get Fresh along with the newly released UK-only single You Boyz Make Big Noize on 15 August 1987. On the Get Fresh show, Holder states the band are two weeks away from shooting a promotional video for the song, telling the audience that it will be on UK TV soon. The show was presented by present Gaz Top, a Slade fan himself, who had created the 1986 Slade documentary titled Perseverance.

In late 1987, Lea spoke about the band's performance on the show. "It is actually a bit difficult to mime to material, having never played it on stage before. To start off with, we had all forgotten how 'Ooh La La in L.A.' went. You may have noticed Nod in one of the guitar breaks coming over to me as he was running up and down the frets of his guitar. There was an expression on his face as if to say 'I don't know what the f**k I'm doing!' I enjoyed doing that TV and others like it, because there's no aggravation."

Formats

1. "Ooh La La In L.A." - 3:38
2. "Don't Talk to Me About Love" - 2:28

1. "Ooh La La In L.A." - 3:52
2. "Don't Talk to Me About Love" - 2:28
3. "That's What Friends are For" - 3:16

Critical reception

Allmusic recommended the track by highlighting the song as an Allmusic Pick, also stating "'Ooh La La in L.A.' is, naturally, another anthemic and trashy barnstormer."

Personnel