A Poignant and Desperate Anthem of a Fading Dream, a Veteran Band’s Final Bid for American Stardom.
By 1987, the British glam rock revolution that Slade had so fiercely pioneered was a distant memory. A new generation of rock and roll had taken over, dominated by big hair, flashy music videos, and a polished, arena-ready sound. Yet, in the midst of this new era, the legendary British band, once kings of the charts in their homeland, made one last, desperate attempt at a comeback. Their album You Boyz Make Big Noize was a final, theatrical bid for relevance, a record that sadly fell flat, peaking at a dismal number 99 on the UK Albums Chart. Tucked within its tracklist, a song that perfectly captured the band’s ambition, frustration, and quiet desperation. That song was “Ooh La La in L.A.” It was never released as a single and did not find a place on any charts, a fact that only deepens its allure as a cherished, emotional artifact. Its power lies not in commercial success, but in its dramatic, poignant narrative—a veteran band’s journey to the mecca of American rock in a final attempt to chase a dream.
The story behind “Ooh La La in L.A.” is a classic tragicomedy of a band out of time. After seeing American bands like Quiet Riot and Kiss achieve massive global success with a sound they had helped to invent, Slade was filled with a sense of renewed hope. The drama was a high-stakes gamble: they would go to Los Angeles, the beating heart of the rock and roll machine, and try to make it big. The song is a musical document of that journey. It’s a powerful and bittersweet narrative, filled with a mix of genuine excitement and a deep, underlying sadness of knowing that the odds are stacked against them. The contrast between their classic, no-frills British sound and the polished, synthesizer-heavy production of the 80s created a tension that is palpable. It feels like an older, wiser man trying to wear a younger man’s clothes—a theatrical performance of a dream that, in reality, was likely never going to come true.
The lyrical drama of “Ooh La La in L.A.” is delivered with a kind of weary resignation by frontman Noddy Holder. He sings about the “sunset strip” and the “limos and the private planes,” painting a picture of a glamorous, unattainable world. The lyrics are a painful and honest chronicle of a soul adrift, filled with lines that capture a sense of being an outsider in a city that promises everything but delivers to so few. The music itself is a character in this drama, perfectly amplifying the sense of striving and struggle. The song’s upbeat, almost-manic energy feels forced, a desperate attempt to project a confidence they probably didn’t feel. The polished production, a departure from their raw, stomping sound, is a part of this tragic narrative, a testament to how far they were willing to go to fit into a world that had moved on.
For those of us who came of age with this music, “Ooh La La in L.A.” is more than a song; it’s a testament to the band’s resilience and their enduring spirit. It’s a nostalgic echo of a time when our heroes were just as vulnerable and filled with doubt as the rest of us. It is a song that speaks to the universal experience of holding onto a dream, even when the odds are stacked against you. The song endures because the emotion it portrays is timeless and universal. It remains a beautifully raw and profoundly emotional piece of rock history, a quiet, dramatic story about a band that always gave it their all, even when the world had stopped listening.