Glam rockers Slade are always remembered for Merry Christmas Everybody, but their musical legacy was much greater than that. With their unforgettable hairstyles and scarf-waving brand of rock balladry, the Black Country boys were never fashionable or hip, but were hugely successful on their own terms and became a 1970s phenomenon.

In Cum On Feel The Noise! The Story of Slade (Carlton, £14.99), Bicester author Steve Grantley and co-author Alan Parker explain why Slade's songs are still played today, and how they have influenced younger bands including Oasis.

Mr Grantley, drummer in Stiff Little Fingers and The Alarm, and music writer Mr Parker do a fine job in detailing the band's beginnings - Slade toured small pubs and clubs for five years before their first hit. But after Animals legend Chas Chandler took over as manager, the four-piece group, fronted by Neville "Noddy" Holder, went from strength to strength.

In 1971, Coz I Luv You knocked Rod Stewart's Maggie May off the top spot, and the band celebrated with an energetic performance on Top of The Pops.

The smash hits kept on coming throughout the 1970s, with Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Cum On Feel The Noise and Skweeze Me Pleeze Me.

Even the infernally catchy My Friend Stan, released as a stop-gap single following drummer Don Powell's car crash, reached number two.

All good things come to an end, of course, and following a successful comeback gig at the Reading Festival in 1980, the band kept going until 1991.

This book, packed with colourful pictures of the band, is a fascinating reminder of when glam rock ruled the airwaves - and the charts.