Noddy Holder explains the five reasons Slade split up

3 June 2025, 12:47

Noddy Holder hasn't performed with Slade since back in 1992.

This Christmas, Slade will play what is being billed as their final ever tour.

But the band called Slade in 2025 features just one original member – Dave Hill – with 21st century newcomers John Berry, Russell Keefe and Alex Bines rounding out the numbers.

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Slade had the same lineup from 1966 through to 1992, when singer Noddy Holder and bass player Jim Lea, the group's main songwriters, left the band.

Drummer Don Powell was controversially forced from the lineup in 2020, leaving Hill as the sole founding member.

In a new interview to promote the recent re-release of cult classic movie Slade in Flame, Noddy explained just why it. was that Slade called it a day 30 years ago.

New trailer for Slade in Flame (1975) | With Slade, Tom Conti and Alan Lake | In cinemas 2 May

"I always say there's five things that contribute to a band splitting," Noddy told The i Paper.

"The first one is egos, the second one is money, the third one is drink and drugs, the fourth one is women, and the fifth one is musical differences. And in the case of Slade, it was all five!"

Previously, Noddy has pointed to his own personal reasons and desire to move on as the reason why he quit the group.

"It's a long time and I just felt I was getting stale," he told The Big Issue a couple of years ago.

"It seemed to be getting repetitious. And I never was into that. I'm a positive thinker and I always have been, even from when I was a kid.

"I don't hanker in nostalgia. Not my bag. I always want to look to the future. And I just felt at the end of the '80s we had pretty much achieved everything that we set out to do."

Quizzed on why Slade haven't been revered in recent years in the same way as their glam peers David Bowie, T. Rex and Roxy Music, Noddy pointed to both the band's overpowering image, and the ubiquity of 'Merry Xmas Everybody'.

Slade's Dave Hill interview: 50 years of 'Merry Xmas Everybody' and how John Lennon helped make it

"A lot of the theories are that our image overshadowed our music," Noddy said. "For want of a better word, we were never a cool band. You have to live with it.”

He added: "Most people of a younger generation now don't realise we had 40 hit records. All they know us for is 'Merry Xmas Everybody'. That’s another thing we have to overcome.

"I love the record. It’s a classic. But it does overshadow all the other great songs and number ones."

In recent years there have been persistent rumours of a full reunion of the original Slade lineup, but they have been brushed off by the band themselves.