Slade - Still the Same (The Tom O’Connor Roadshow, 1987)

Slade performing their 1987 single Still the Same on the Tom O’Connor Roadshow on 9 February 1987. It was filmed at the Sandcastle Centre in Blackpool and the band also mimed their 1984 hit single Run Runaway. Still the Same was written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, and was produced by John Punter. It was released on 2 February 1987 as the lead single from the band’s upcoming album You Boyz Make Big Noize. It reached number 73 in the UK Singles Chart and number 8 in the UK Rock Chart. The music press largely ignored the single and BBC Radio 1 only placed it on their ’B List’ for airplay. RCA had made plans to commission a music video for the single but these were scrapped when it failed to enter the top 60. In a 1987 fan club interview, guitarist Dave Hill spoke of the song’s lack of chart success, “’Still the Same’ is being regarded as a flop in terms of what was expected of it. I think the record company were mostly disappointed as it was more them than the group who chose it. It was always up for a single though, right from the demo stage. We brought this record out, not in the usual Christmas period, which on the face of it seemed to me to be an attempt to get away from the ’Slade only exist at Christmas time’ situation. On listening to opinion since though, it seems to have been regarded as another ’My Oh My’ stype of song, which perhaps should have come out at Christmas. Everyone can say what they like now, and if it was a hit, they’d all be saying what a great idea it was. When ’My Oh My’ was released, it was just as slow to take off, but as soon as we got the radio play, it rocketed. ’Still the same’ did virtually the same as ’My Oh My’ chart-wise in its first few weeks, but at the point where ’My Oh My’ picked up the radio play, ’Still the Same’ was dropped completely, especially by Radio One.“ For more information on the song, see its page on the Slade Discography Website: