Slade's Noddy Holder: 'People shout 'IT'S CHRISTMAAAAS!' at me 40 times a day'
Noddy spoke to Planet Rock's Jen Thomas
Legendary Slade singer Noddy Holder has told Planet Rock people shout ‘IT’S CHRISTMAAAAS!’ at him up to 40 times a day over the festive period.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Slade’s perennial festive banger ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, the ever-genial Noddy Holder spoke to Planet Rock’s Jen Thomas.
The full chat will air on The Late Show with Jen Thomas at 10pm on Wednesday 20th December.
During the interview, Jen asked Noddy whether he still gets people shouting “IT’S CHRISTMAAAAS!’ at him when he’s out and about.
Answering in the affirmative, Noddy said: “I do. All the time (and) all through the year. Particularly, of course, over this time of year, December. Sometimes it can be 20, 30, 40 times a day in this time of year!
“It’s funny because they all think that it’s the first time anybody has shouted it at me. But I take it in good spirits because it’s sort of become a catchphrase for me. I don’t knock it at all because people like doing it.”
“It was quite an accident on the record,” Noddy continued. “I just did it off the cuff to sort of let the band know doing the backing track that there was one more chorus to go. And that’s how it came about really. But it has stuck in people’s consciousness.”
When Jen said Slade couldn’t have imagined that people would still be singing ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ half a Century on, Noddy replied: “Who’d have thought it?! It’s great!
“We knew at the time we recorded it, we thought ‘well, we’ve got a hit on our hands’ because we were a very hot band at the time and we’d had a lot of Number 1 records. We thought ‘we’ve got another hit here’ but no way did we ever think 50 years later it would be still getting played here there and everywhere at this time of year.
“PRS, who are the collectors of royalties around the world for plays, they were telling us a couple of years ago that 3 billion people around the world listen to it every year. That’s half the world population near enough.”
Commenting on the recording sessions for ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ at the Record Plant in New York in the baking hot summer of 1973, Noddy explained it was very much a litmus test for Don Powell following his serious car crash 10 weeks earlier.
“We had do it in New York (in the summer) because our drummer had had a very, very bad car accident two months before,” Noddy told Jen. “He came to without any memory. No taste or smell. Couldn't remember any of the hit records. Couldn’t remember any songs.
“So we took him to New York to get back into playing the drums to see if he could still play the drums quite frankly. And we took him in the studio and the only song we'd got ready and was written was ‘Merry Xmas Everybody.’ But he couldn’t remember it from start to finish, he couldn't remember the arrangement of a four minute track. So we had to record it in all bits and pieces and put it together like a jigsaw puzzle.”
Noddy continued: “We’d never recorded like that before. We didn't think it was gonna work particularly. But we got it all down. We went off on tour because we had to get him back to see whether he was strong enough to do concerts. Took him out on the road in America and while we were out there, our producer and engineer in New York were piecing it together.
“We came back at the end of the tour, heard how they’d done it and put it all together. It sounded absolutely great. They brought it back to London and played it to the record company. They flipped and said, ‘we think we've got a big hit record on our hands here!’
“We'd never brought a record out at Christmastime before – any sort of song let alone a Christmas song. And the record company said, ‘we've got to put everything behind this record. It's gonna to be a monster.’ And we had off a million pre orders before day of release so it went straight to number one first day release. The first day of reorders, we had 360,000 reorders on the first day of reorders and it had done a million by the time we got to the Christmas Day. Incredible. You'd never get that today.
“It was the fastest selling UK record up to that point and it really did shift some product. They couldn't keep up the demand of pressings in the UK. We had to go to France, Belgium, Holland, the USA even for the pressing plants to keep up the demand. All the other acts on the label look going back because we retake it up all the pressings!”
Listen to Noddy Holder's interview with Planet Rock:
You can listen to Noddy Holder’s interview with Jen Thomas on Planet Rock tonight (20th December) from 10pm.
Noddy also gives a health update, talks about whether he'll record or tour again, and his debauched on-the-road antics with Ozzy Osbourne.
Feature: 44 of the greatest rock and heavy metal Christmas songs ever
The real names of famous rock stars:
Cozy Powell’s real name: Colin Trevor Flooks
Alex Lifeson’s real name: Alexandar Živojinović
'Lifeson' is a semi-literal English translation of the Yugoslavian surname Živojinović, which means 'son of life'
Ginger Baker's real name: Peter Edward Baker
John 5’s real name: John William Lowery
Yngwie Malmsteen’s real name: Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback
Rudy Sarzo’s real name: Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont
Eric Carr's real name: Paul Charles Caravello
Vinnie Vincent’s real name: Vincent John Cusano
Tina Turner’s real name: Anna Mae Bullock
King Diamond’s real name: Kim Bendix Petersen
Joey Tempest's real name: Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson
Michael Monroe’s real name: Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm
Mikkey Dee’s real name: Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou
Jonathan Cain’s real name: Jonathan Leonard Friga
Nikki Sixx's real name: Frank Ferrano
Steven Adler’s real name: Michael Coletti
Axl Rose's real name: William Bruce Rose
Bon Scott's real name: Ronald Belford Scott
Fish’s real name: Derek William Dick
Eddie Vedder's real name: Edward Louis Severson III
Peter Criss’ real name: George Peter John Criscuola
Freddie Mercury's real name: Farrokh Bulsara
Flea's real name: Michael Peter Balzary
Perry Farrell's real name: Perry Bernstein
Geddy Lee’s real name: Gary Lee Weinrib
Mick Mars' real name: Robert Deal
Tré Cool's real name: Frank Edwin Wright III
Courtney Love's real name: Courtney Michelle Harrison
Pat Smear's real name: Georg Albert Ruthenberg
Gene Simmons' real name: Chaim Klein Witz
Spike’s real name: Jonathan Gray
Iggy Pop's real name: James Newell Osterberg, JR.
Alice Cooper's real name: Vincent Damon Furnier
Slash's real name: Saul Hudson
Mike Dirnt's real name: Michael Ryan Pritchard
Ronnie James Dio's real name: Ronald James Padavona
Brody Dalle's real name: Bree Joanna Alice Robinson
Skin's real name: Deborah Anne Dyer
Nicky Wire's real name: Nicholas Jones
Amy Lee's real name: Amy Lynn Hartzler
Bill Wyman's real name: William Perks
Izzy Stradlin's real name: Jeffrey Isbell
Paul Stanley's real name: Stanley Eisen
Vince Neil's real name: Vincent Neil Wharton
Duff McKagan's real name: Michael McKagan
Jack Black’s real name: Thomas Jacob Black
Lemmy's real name: Ian Fraser Kilmister
John Paul Jones' real name: John Baldwin
Joan Jett's real name: Joan Larkin
Eric Clapton's real name: Eric Patrick Clapp
Siouxsie Sioux's real name: Susan Janet Ballion
Rachel Bolan’s real name: James Richard Southworth
David Bowie's real name: David Robert Hayward Stenton Jones
Little Richard's real name: Richard Wayne Penniman
Sid Vicious' real name: John Simon Ritchie
Ace Frehley's real name: Paul Daniel Frehley
Lou Reed's real name: Louis Firbank
Joe Strummer's real name: John Graham Mellor
Marc Bolan's real name: Mark Feld
The Edge's real name: David Howell Evans
Meat Loaf's real name: Marvin Lee Aday
Steven Tyler's real name: Steven Victor Tallarico
Ozzy Osbourne's real name: John Michael Osbourne
Jon Bon Jovi's real name: John Francis Bongiovi
Joey Belladonna’s real name: Joseph Bellardini
Jack White's real name: John Anthony Gillis
Bono's real name: Paul David Hewson
Sting's real name: Gordon Sumner
Billy Idol’s real name: William Michael Albert Broad
Geezer Butler’s real name: Terence Butler
Pat Benatar’s real name: Patricia Mae Giraldo
Bo Diddley’s real name: Ellas McDaniel
Muddy Waters’ real name: McKinley Morganfield
Stevie Nicks’ real name: Stephanie Lynn Nicks
Doro’s real name: Dorothee Pesch
Sebastian Bach’s real name: Sebastian Philip Bierk
Joe Perry’s real name: Joseph Pereira
Jimi Hendrix’s real name: James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix)
Zakk Wylde’s real name: Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt
Maynard James Keenan’s real name: James Herbert Keenan
Blaze Bayley’s real name: Bayley Alexander Cooke
Biff Byford's real name: Peter Rodney Byford
M. Shadows' real name: Matthew Charles Sanders
Syd Barrett's real name: Roger Keith Barrett
Chris Jericho's real name: Christopher Keith Irvine
Ginger Wildheart's real name: David Leslie Walls
Paul Di'Anno's real name: Paul Andrews
Phil X’s real name: Theofilos Xenidis
Peter Green’s real name: Peter Allen Greenbaum
Nicko McBrain’s real name: Michael Henry McBrain
Noddy Holder’s real name: Neville John Holder
Steel Panther’s real names
Michael Starr: Ralph Michael Saenz, Satchel: Russell John Parrish, Stix Zadinia: Darren Leader, Spyder: Joe Lester.