How the glam-rock chart-toppers started their career in a brand new Euston.
Slade were one of the most successful bands of the 1970s. They topped the singles chart six times, more than any other act except ABBA. But their genesis lies in the 1960s, and Euston Station played an unlikely role.
The much-maligned terminus was the height of modernity in the late 60s. A stately Victorian booking hall had been swept away, along with the famous Euston Arch, to be replaced by a more functional design. It was spacious, fresh and forward-looking, or a regrettable act of cultural vandalism, depending on your viewpoint.
Into the gleaming new concourse strutted the four young men who would soon be called Slade. The band had been around in embryonic form as the 'N Betweens for several years, and even put out a limited-release single in 1966. But their discography-proper begins in 1969 under the name Ambrose Slade. This was a clearly signalled fresh start: their debut album was called Beginnings, and their riff-driven single was named Genesis.
They also got a video, of sorts. Philips Records were keen to promote their new band. So, in December 1968, the four musicians were sent off to Euston station to film some promotional material. The new-look station had reopened just two months before. It was, itself, enjoying a fresh beginning. This was also a station the bandmates would have often used for real, with its regular services to their native Wolverhampton.
The footage is entertaining. It shows the young men prancing around the station, mucking about with telephones, riding the escalators, playing with a trolley and fighting over a suitcase. Already Crazee Now.
The film was lost for many years until, a decade or so ago, a grainy copy was unearthed in the archives. It's since been spliced together with stock footage of the station and turned into a post-hoc video for the debut single Genesis, courtesy of the Slade in England video channel.
Sadly, both Genesis and Beginnings were commercial flops. The band persevered, however, and began their sustained assault on the charts a couple of years later. They remain one of the best-selling British bands of all time (with a Christmas song that everyone still sings). Euston station is now a piece of crap.
