Slade Bring “Ooh La La in L.A.” to UK Television on Get Fresh, August 15, 1987
In the summer of 1987, Slade returned to British television with a performance that captured both their resilience and their willingness to evolve. Appearing on the UK music show Get Fresh on August 15, the band performed “Ooh La La in L.A.”, a song that reflected their late-eighties perspective while retaining the unmistakable Slade identity forged years earlier.
By this point, Slade were already veterans of the British rock scene, having dominated charts and stages throughout the 1970s. Yet this appearance was not a nostalgic exercise. “Ooh La La in L.A.” represented a band still engaging with contemporary sounds and themes, blending polished production with their trademark sense of character and attitude. The song offered a wry, observational take on life and ambition in Los Angeles, seen through distinctly British eyes.
The Get Fresh performance placed Slade in a television environment designed to highlight immediacy and energy rather than spectacle. Onstage, the band delivered a confident and tightly focused rendition, showing that their chemistry remained intact despite the changing musical climate of the decade. Noddy Holder’s vocal presence carried authority and personality, while the band’s playing balanced control with an underlying rawness that long-time fans would instantly recognize.
What makes this performance especially interesting in retrospect is how it documents Slade’s late-career adaptability. Rather than chasing trends outright, they filtered the sound of the era through their own musical language. The result was a performance that felt current in 1987 without abandoning the spirit that had defined them from the start.
Today, this Get Fresh appearance stands as a valuable snapshot of Slade in transition. It shows a band refusing to stand still, still willing to step into the television spotlight with new material and deliver it with conviction. For fans and historians alike, “Ooh La La in L.A.” on Get Fresh remains a reminder that longevity in rock music is earned not just by past success, but by the courage to keep moving forward.