You Boyz Make Big Noize (song)

Background

The single was the first released under Cheapskate Records for years, Slade's own label. By this time, Slade had permission from RCA to release one single independently, with RCA handling the single's distribution. The single featured a Beastie Boys rap styled verses where some lines were sung by each member of the band except drummer Don Powell.

The single also featured the first female singer on a Slade single since 1976 on the single Nobody's Fool. The album You Boyz Make Big Noize did feature female vocals on the first track, Love Is Like A Rock, a cover of Donnie Iris & The Cruisers. This particular track featured Vicki Brown, wife of singer Joe Brown.

The artwork for the single is an exact copy of the same titled album, released earlier in the year.

The track references Slade's 1972 hit Mama Weer All Crazee Now at the end of the song with the line "here come the boys who make a lot of row, mama, mama, mama we're all crazy now".

Holder explained the track in a mid-1987 interview for the Slade fan club shortly before the release of the single. "Well, the situation here is that, although all the members of Slade really like this new song and want to see it released as the next single, RCA don't want to release it themselves. They have, however, given us the option to release it independently on our own label, with RCA distributing it. Our deal is not up yet at RCA, they've just agreed to let us release this one single on our own. CBS really like the song as well, so it looks like the American version of the album will include this song as the title track. The song is an up-tempo rock thing in the 'Beastie Boys' sort of ilk. The B-side will probably be an instrumental version of the same song. There will also be a 12" extended version. At the moment there are several different versions of this song with different lyrics, so we've got to try to decide on which ones we are going to use."

Before the release of the song, Hill described the song as "a 'rock rap' thing with a Beastie Boys feel to it."

Recording

The song was recorded at Music Works studio in London.

In a late 1987 fan club magazine interview, Lea was asked who the female singer was on the song. "Vicky Brown, wife of Joe Brown. She was wandering along a corridor and Noddy said "ere, you're female, do you want to be on our record?" She was not supposed to sing, she was supposed to say two lines but she sang one of the lines and she had this amazing voice. I wish we had written more for her. The girl on the Get Fresh TV performance was someone else - Brenda from Newcastle."

In a late 1988 fan club magazine, it was confirmed that on the 12" version of "You Boyz Make Big Noize", the extended guitar solo was played by Jim Lea.

Release

The first pressings of the single accidentally featured the "U.S.A mix" on the b-side instead of the instrumental version that the sleeve stated. In a late 1987 fan club magazine interview, Lea was asked what happened to the instrumental. "My brother Frank would say it was my fault. What happened was I cut it, told him what to do and I actually left but it was not done in the right order. I only found out by accident. If it was anybodys fault then I take the blame for it but I cannot see how it happened."

Promotion

The track was performed on UK ITV show titled Get Fresh along with another track from the You Boyz Make Big Noize album titled Ooh La La in L.A. on 15 August 1987. Bren Laidler featured on the show with Slade, miming the female vocals in the track. The show was presented by present Gaz Top, a Slade fan himself, who had created the 1986 Slade documentary titled Perseverance.

In late 1987, bassist Jim Lea spoke about 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."

Remixes

A total of three remixes were created for the single.

"You Boyz Make Big Noize (Instrumental Boyz Version)" is an exact copy of the single version however without any vocals at all.

"You Boyz Make Big Noize (Noize Remix)" opens with Holder singing the last line of the song, followed by an instrumental section featuring lead guitar exclusive to this remix. The first two verses and two choruses run exactly like the original version which is followed by another exclusive lead guitar solo. After this solo, the remix follows like the original version with the final verse and the ending. The final part of the track features a new version of the chorus to Slade’s 1972 UK number one hit Mama Weer All Crazee Now which is complete with party atmosphere sound effects. This new version of the chorus is sung by vocalists outside of the band, almost resembling a choir.

"You Boyz Make Big Noize (The USA Mix)" is a remix of the original version, designed for the American music market. This version is virtually the same as the original with the exception of a few small differences.

The first is the line featured in the first verse "You're a rubber legged looney in a scruff-bag band" which for this remix is changed to "You're a rubber legged looney in a hard rock band". The second difference is another line of the first verse "A decent sort of chap wouldn't talk a load of c-rap". This line was originally sung by Slade's bassist Jim Lea, whereas here the line is sung by Holder alone.

The third difference is within the line "Got to try to use your 20-20 vision", during the second verse. The "20-20 vision" phrase was originally sung by Holder himself whilst this remix features Lea also singing the phrase behind Holder. The fourth difference is featured in the third verse with the two lines "It's better that the nutter who nuts you in the nuts, one piece of drastic plastic is a hit". In the original, these two lines were sung by Holder alone, whilst here the line features Lea also singing the lines in the background behind Holder.

The fifth difference occurs in the third verse's final line "Then a master ghetto blaster drops you in the head." which for this version is sung by Holder differently with the word "master" changed to "crazy" and "head" changed to "piss". The sixth difference is featured in the final verse where the line "Funny money burns a hole in your pocket", originally sung by guitarist Dave Hill, is changed to "Feeling cocky with a hole in your pocket" which is now sung by Holder. The following line "Lady danger lookin' good as ever" is changed to "Feel the noise, I'm feeling kinda funny", both sung by Holder. The final verse line "Can't afford her on the never never" is changed to "If it's out of tune, you'll never make the money", both sung by Lea.

Formats

1. "You Boyz Make Big Noize" - 3:01
2. "Boyz (Instrumental)" - 3:02

1. "You Boyz Make Big Noize (Noize Remix)" - 5:31
2. "You Boyz Make Big Noize (Instrumental Boyz Version)" - 3:01
3. "You Boyz Make Big Noize (The USA Mix)" - 3:00

Personnel

Additional personnel