This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Slade's "Run Runaway"

For anyone who cared to notice, this rousing 1984 song from erstwhile British glam rockers Slade presented a vital link between the often sticky-sweet, catchy glitter rock of the '70s and the still-developing hard rock style of the '80s. It also happened to be a blast of fun that sounded as much like Big Country as it did T. Rex. As comebacks go, this was one of the most grin-inducing of the '80s, riding on a simple power chord riff and one of rock's most infectious nonsense lines of all time: "See chameleon lying there in the sun, all things to everyone, run runaway."

Of course, the group had never entirely gone away, popping up at the turn of the decade after many had pronounced old-style '70s rock dead. Then, following Quiet Riot's smash hit cover of Slade's "Cum on Feel the Noize" in 1983, the latter was poised to make another run at success just before hair metal hit. Alas, Slade's self-aware, tongue-in-cheek schtick probably would have never fit among the far too serious silliness of glam rock's newly hatched bastard cousin. Luckily, though, these chameleons had their time in the '80s sun with "Run Runaway," even registering a No. 20 pop hit in the States, a place the band had always been rather cruelly shut out.

• Sample or download "Run Runaway" here.
• Compare prices on Slade CDs here.
• Compare prices on Quiet Riot CDs here.

Album Cover Image Courtesy of Whild John Music Ltd