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Rock 'n' Roll Bolero

"Rock 'n' Roll Bolero"
Slade Rock 'n' Roll Bolero 1978 Single Cover.jpg
Single by Slade
B-side "It's Alright Buy Me"
Released 6 October 1978
Format 7" Single
Genre Rock
Length 3:50
Label Barn Records
Songwriter(s) Noddy Holder, Jim Lea
Producer(s) Slade (A-Side)
Chas Chandler (B-Side)
Slade singles chronology
"Give Us a Goal"
(1978)
"Rock 'n' Roll Bolero"
(1978)
"Ginny, Ginny"
(1979)
"Give Us a Goal"
(1978)
"Rock 'n' Roll Bolero"
(1978)
"Ginny, Ginny"
(1979)

"Rock 'n' Roll Bolero" 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. The song failed to make an appearance in the UK charts.

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. "Rock 'n' Roll Bolero" was released in October 1978 and was one of the band's string of singles to fail to chart during this period.

"Rock 'n' Roll Bolero" featured the return of Lea's electric violin; the first time on a Slade single since 1971's "Coz I Luv You". The song was originally recorded in June 1978 under the working title "I've Been Rejected". In July, the band re-recorded the song as "Rock 'n' Roll Bolero" at Portland Studios in London. In a 1979 fan club interview, Lea said of the song: "The comment on "Rock 'n' Roll Bolero" is that it was different for Slade, but it was ordinary compared to everything else that was going around at the time. But I really dig the record myself!" He further added: "You see, when we walk on stage we can rip the arse off straight rock, but we can't do the same with "Rock 'n' Roll Bolero". It's great on record, but it's us thinking, it's not us being ourselves."

"Rock 'n' Roll Bolero" was released on 7" vinyl by Barn Records in the UK, Belgium and Germany. The B-Side, "It's Alright Buy Me", was exclusive to the single and would later appear on the band's 2007 compilation B-Sides. In France, the A-Side and B-Sides were switched, with "It's Alright Buy Me" becoming the A-Side.

Upon release, Record Mirror stated: "A more mellow Slade here; gone are the raucous Noddy Holder vocals and the crashing guitars. The fact remains that they're in dire need of a hit and this could be the one." In a review of the live album Slade Alive, Vol. 2, Superpop commented: "...one complaint though, they did not include their recent single "Rock 'n' Roll Bolero", a classic no doubt." Later in a 1986 fan club opinion poll, fans voted the song at No. 2 for the band's three best non-hit singles.


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