Myzsterious Mizster Jones
| "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" | ||||
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| Single by Slade | ||||
| from the album Rogues Gallery | ||||
| B-side | "Mama Nature Is a Rocker" | |||
| Released | 11 March 1985 | |||
| Format | 7" Single, 12" single | |||
| Genre | Pop rock, electronic rock | |||
| Length | 3:37 | |||
| Label | RCA Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Noddy Holder, Jim Lea | |||
| Producer(s) |
John Punter (A-Side) Jim Lea (B-Sides) |
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| Slade singles chronology | ||||
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"Myzsterious Mizster Jones" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released in 1985 as the third single from the band's twelfth studio album Rogues Gallery. The song was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by John Punter. It reached No. 50 in the UK, remaining in the charts for five weeks.
Having agreed to take a break from touring but still continue to record new material, the band started recording Rogues Gallery in 1984. Although the late 1984 single "All Join Hands" reached the UK Top 20, the following single, "7 Year Bitch", stalled at No. 60 after it was banned by a number of UK broadcasters. In the hope of recovering from the "backlash", "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" was released as the album's third single in March 1985, two weeks prior to the release of the album. Despite the song's radio-friendly sound, the single peaked at No. 50 in the UK.
In a 1985 interview on Australian TV, Holder spoke of the song's titular character: "It's about a friend of mine from Wolverhampton who used to be a Hell's Angel actually, but I changed his name to protect the innocent 'cause I don't think he'd like a song about him. It's not knocking him, you know, but it's a song about him." The song's title was purposely misspelled; a trademark of a number of Slade songs, particularly of those in the early 1970s. "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" was the first Slade single to feature a misspelled title since 1973's "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me".
In a 1986 fan club interview, Lea revealed that he had come up with the song's melody while holding a conservation. He said: ""Myzsterious Mizster Jones" was written while I was talking to my brother in a pub. I was holding a conversation and wrote it at the same time." Later in the mid-1990s, Lea commented on the song to Ken Sharpe:
"Yeah, yeah, it's alright. You know, it's like, umm, being a sort of 'singles' person, you know, 45's are they were, I used to write in that mode, and that, I never saw that as a 45. When I came up with "Gudbuy T'Jane", I knew that was a single. "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Cum on Feel the Noize", "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me", you know that's a single. And the worst singles are the ones like "Myzsterious Mizster Jones" which were never gonna be singles. I sound very derogatory to my own material, I don't mean it like that. I like "Myzsterious Mizster Jones", but it was never, you know, 'wow, that's a single', you know? It's just a good track."
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