Wheels Ain't Coming Down
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Wheels Ain't Coming Down
| cover = Sladesingle-wheelsaintcomindown.gif
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Slade
| album = We'll Bring the House Down
| B-side = Not Tonight Josephine
| released = 27 March 1981
| recorded = 1979
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Rock
| length = 3:37
| label = Cheapskate
| writer = * Noddy Holder
| producer = Slade
| prev_title = We'll Bring The House Down
| prev_year = 1981
| next_title = Knuckle Sandwich Nancy
| next_year = 1981
| misc = {{Audio sample
| type = single
| file = Slade_Wheels_Ain't_Comin'_Down.ogg
}}
}}
"Wheels Ain't Coming Down" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released in 1979 as the opening track from their eighth studio album Return to Base. The song was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Slade. In 1981, the song re-appeared on the band's follow-up album We'll Bring the House Down and was released as the second single from it on 27 March,{{cite magazine |title=Data Control - Tour News: Slade Persist |magazine=New Musical Express |date=14 March 1981 |page=39 |issn=0028-6362}} which reached No. 60 in the UK.{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/cheap21 |title=Slade – Wheels Ain't Coming Down / Not Tonight Josephine – Cheapskate – UK – CHEAP 21 |publisher=45cat |date=1981-03-27 |access-date=2017-07-12}}{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/30945/slade/ |title=slade | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company |publisher=Officialcharts.com |access-date=2017-07-12}}
Background
"Wheels Ain't Coming Down" was released as the opening track on Return to Base, which was a commercial failure in 1979; a period when the band's popularity was low.We'll Bring the House Down – 2007 Salvo remaster booklet liner notes The song also appeared on the 1980 extended play Six of the Best, which also failed to chart. In 1980, the band's fortunes were revived after a performance at Reading Festival. To capitalise on the new interest in the band, the album We'll Bring the House Down was released in March 1981, which featured a number of tracks re-used from Return to Base, including "Wheels Ain't Coming Down". Following up the Top Ten hit "We'll Bring the House Down", the band decided to release "Wheels Ain't Coming Down" as a single in March 1981. It reached No. 60, lasting three weeks on the chart.
"Wheels Ain't Coming Down" tells the tale of a near-death flying experience suffered by Holder and Lea when travelling to Los Angeles.Noddy Holder, Vic Reeves and others. Does The Team Think, Episode 6., 21 February 2009 In a 1981 interview with Daily Star, Holder recalled: "Jim and I were on the way to a radio station when the captain told us he could not get the wheels down to land. We were diverted to another airport for a crash landing. It's not a great feeling knowing you might have only 45 minutes left in life. We drank all the booze there was going. Happily the pilot brought the plane down safely."{{cite web|url=http://www.timesup.dsl.pipex.com/clip13.html |title=Related Links |publisher=Timesup.dsl.pipex.com |date=2005-10-29 |access-date=2011-08-10}}
Release
"Wheels Ain't Coming Down" was released on 7" vinyl by Cheapskate in the UK only.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectadisc.co.uk/discography/discography.php?VAR_ARTIST=%25%25&PP=25&VAR_RECORD=wheels&VAR_SONGS=&VAR_LABEL=&VAR_CATALOGUE=&VAR_TYPE=%25%25&VAR_IMPORT=%25%25&VAR_PROMO=%25%25&VAR_SLEEVE=%25%25&VAR_UPDATE=%25%25&Submit=Search |title=ALL Discography @ www.collectadisc.co.uk |publisher=Collectadisc.co.uk |access-date=2017-07-12}} The first 20,000 copies of the single were issued with a picture sleeve.{{cite web|url=http://www.sladefanclub.com/1981.html |title=1981 - Slade Fan Club www.sladefanclub.com |publisher=Sladefanclub.com |access-date=2017-07-12}}Slade Supporters Club Newsletter March – April 1981 The B-side, "Not Tonight Josephine", was previously the B-side to the 1979 single "Sign of the Times".{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/barn010 |title=Slade – Sign Of The Times / Not Tonight Josephine – Barn – UK – BARN 010 |publisher=45cat |access-date=2017-07-12}}
Music video
A music video was filmed, however it was never shown at the time of single's release. It was directed by Eric Boliski. The video was filmed on the afternoon of 10 March 1981 at the Southampton Gaumont, prior to the band's concert there that evening.{{cite web|url=http://www.sladefanclub.com/1986.html |title=1986 - Slade Fan Club www.sladefanclub.com |publisher=Sladefanclub.com |access-date=2017-07-12}}
Fans of the band first saw the video on a bootleg DVD that was produced as part of the 'One More Time' DVD. Uber fans Mark Richards and Steve Knight forwarded the Video tape on to Slade In England where David Graham re edited and cleaned up the VHS tape. A DVD was produced and distributed amongst those Slade fans in the know.David Graham ~ Slade In England
Critical reception
In a review of Return to Base, Wolverhampton Express and Star described "Wheels Ain't Coming Down" as a "power-packed churning song with a catchy hook line". Geoff Ginsberg of AllMusic retrospectively ranked the song among the band's best work and described it as "infectious to the degree that humming [it] could become a chronic problem".{{cite web |last=Ginsberg |first=Geoff |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/return-to-base-mw0000850428 |title=Return to Base – Slade; Songs, Reviews, Credits |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2017-07-12}}
Upon its release as a single in 1981, James Johnson, writing for the Daily Mirror, considered it "another blockbuster from Slade" and added, "It looks like their comeback is not just a brief return to glory."{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=James |title=Reviews: Singles |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19810404/117/0021 |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=4 April 1981 |page=21 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=25 October 2023}} Jim Whiteford of The Kilmarnock Standard described it as a "fairly subdued rocker telling the story of a 'near thing' when the undercarriage of their jet jammed" and believed it would reach the top 30.{{cite news |last=Whiteford |first=Jim |title=Records: Singles |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003423/19810327/012/0012 |newspaper=The Kilmarnock Standard |date=27 March 1981 |page=12 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=25 October 2023}}
Simon Tebbutt of Record Mirror noted that "you wouldn't know it was Slade if it wasn't for the chorus" due to an "uncharacteristic musical sophistication" and considered the subject matter to be a "funny sort of thing to sing about really". He concluded, "Slade might be able to bring the house down, but they're a bit stuck when it comes to flying on a plane when the wheels won't come down. Anyway, keep your head low because if this one lands it might bring all the houses down."{{cite magazine |last=Tebbutt |first=Simon |title=Singles |magazine=Record Mirror |date=28 March 1981 |page=14 |issn=0144-5804}} Betty Page of Sounds felt the song was both "nowhere near the rebel-rousin' quality" of "We'll Bring the House Down" and a "blatant rip-off" of the Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride". She continued, "Glossy Americanised heaviness and a smooth Holder vocal distinctly lacking in raucous glambamming."{{cite magazine |last=Page |first=Betty |title=Singles |magazine=Sounds |date=4 April 1981 |page=19 |issn=0144-5774}} Paul Du Noyer of NME was negative in his review, writing, "Dull, heavy-handed melodrama, follow-up to the surprise success of 'We'll Bore Your Pants Off'. Lots of whizz-bang sound effects but precious little inspiration. Hard work."{{cite magazine |last=Du Noyer |first=Paul |title=Singles |magazine=New Musical Express |date=28 March 1981 |page=16 |issn=0028-6362}}
Track listing
7-inch single
- "Wheels Ain't Coming Down" – 3:37
- "Not Tonight Josephine" – 3:03
Personnel
- Noddy Holder – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, producer, arranger
- Dave Hill – lead guitar, backing vocals, producer, arranger
- Jim Lea – bass, backing vocals, producer, arranger
- Don Powell – drums, producer, arranger
Charts
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |
| Chart (1981)
!Peak |
|---|
| scope="row"|UK Singles Chart (OCC)
| style="text-align:center;"|60 |
| scope="row"|UK Top 100 Singles (Record Business){{cite magazine |title=Singles Top 100 |magazine=Record Business |date=13 April 1981 |volume=4 |issue=4 |page=6}}
| style="text-align:center;"|51 |