"Give Us a Goal" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released in 1978 as a non-album single. It was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler. A football-themed song, it failed to chart on the UK Singles Chart.
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Background
Having returned to the UK from the United States in August 1976, Slade found themselves out-of-favour at the time of the UK's Punk rock explosion. The band's 1977 album Whatever Happened to Slade proved a commercial failure while their tour that spring had shown that they could no longer fill large venues. Slade's waning success soon led to the band playing small gigs after that, including universities and clubs. Despite being successful at filling small venues for their live performances, the band's new records were barely selling. Although the band's October 1977 single "My Baby Left Me - That's All Right" had reached the UK Top 40, the successive single "Give Us a Goal", released in February 1978, was one of the band's string of singles to fail to chart during this period. It had been released to coincide with the band's UK tour during March-April. Despite failing to reach the UK Top 50, the song reached No. 70 on chart compiler Gallup's Weekly Sales Top 100 Chart.
Having written the tune, the idea for the lyrics of "Give Us a Goal" came after Holder suggested the band come up with a song about football to try and appeal to the band's following, many of which were football supporters. For the 1991 video compilation Wall of Hits, Lea recalled: "I wrote this tune and I said to Nod 'I've got this rock 'n' roll tune and this is the way it goes' and Nod said 'Let's do one about football because we've always had this football following, and scarves and "You'll Never Walk Alone" and always this great empathy with the whole thing about football. I was never really convinced about doing a football song, nevertheless the video was fun." The song was originally recorded at Advision Studios in London in January/February 1978, and later re-recorded at Olympic Studios later in February.
In 2008, the song was used in a UK TV advert for the football video game Fifa 09.
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Release
"Give Us a Goal" was released on 7" vinyl by Barn Records in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Belgium. It was also released on 12" vinyl in Italy, which was Slade's first release on 12" vinyl. The B-Side, "Daddio", was exclusive to the single and would later appear on the band's 2007 compilation B-Sides.
Promotion
In the UK, the band performed the song on the TV shows Cheggers Plays Pop and Get It Together. In Record Mirror, an advertisement for the single featured a cartoon drawing of the band scoring a goal against Lea who appeared as the goalkeeper.
Music video
A music video was filmed to promote the single, which was shot in February at Brighton Football Club's Goldstone Ground in Hove. The band's manager Chas Chandler had arranged the use of the ground. The video featured shots of the band performing the song in front of a crowd, while other sequences showed the band playing football with the Brighton team. The footage of the band performing the song was shot prior to a home match, while the footage of the band playing football had been filmed a couple of days before during a practice match. On the days of filming, it was so cold that guitarist Dave Hill had to wear a hat, while the band could hardly play football in the weather.
The director of the video insisted the film crew keep filming one of the band members scored a goal against Brighton's goalkeeper. It took a long time for the band to achieve this, with drummer Don Powell scoring the goal. In 1991, Holder recalled: "We were actually playing with the Brighton team and they kicked the shit out of us. Alan Mullery was the manager at the time and he was shouting to the team from the sidelines, "Let them have a kick!". And I had to take a penalty at one point and could I get the ball in the net? I must have tried ten times and in the end the goalie was rolling on the floor pissing himself laughing."
Track listing
- "Give Us a Goal" - 2:49
- "Daddio" - 2:30
- "Give Us a Goal" - 2:49
- "Daddio" - 2:30
Critical reception
Upon release, Record Mirror stated: "I'd like to see the oldies make it again, I really would. I always loved their gigs, just for the atmosphere. I think that's what they must have been thinking about when they wrote this song, because it recaptures the football fervour they used to build up. That's why it's a bit sad, because I don't think it's worked. I think they're groping in the dark, looking backwards for their future. The song's got plenty of guts, the typical rasping vocals, all that stuff, but it's missed the goal." In a review of the band's 1978 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, New Musical Express writer David Blake described the "new anthem" as being "of considerable interest to rabid footy fans and of no interest to anyone else."
Personnel
- Noddy Holder - lead vocals, guitar
- Dave Hill - lead guitar, backing vocals
- Jim Lea - bass, backing vocals
- Don Powell - drums
- Chas Chandler - producer
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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