In 1977 I was listening to a solid diet of one-chord wonders, varied only with a weekly dose of Top of the Pops to find out what the rest of the country was listening to while I pogoed.

Mostly it was Abba, The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac and the last gasps of prog and disco. Somewhere outside the charts could be found funksters Slave.

Proof positive that a band could exemplify funk by being both raw and slick at the same time, the multi-member band from Dayton, Ohio, followed in the footsteps of state-mates The Ohio Players.

They announced themselves with this tune, Slide, blending the slithering and melodic basslines of Mark “Mr Mark” Adams, exuberatnt brass and – this being the start of the ’70s – some squealy rock guitar.

Formed in 1975, Slave grew out of two other Dayton acts, Black Satin Soul and the Mystics. Unlike most groups, Slave’s catalysts were brass players, namely trombonist Floyd Miller and trumpeter/leader Steve Washington.

The only member not from Ohio, he had moved from New Jersey to live with his uncle – one of the Ohio Players – and those two brought in Adams, two guitarists, two sax players, a keyboard player and a drummer, with vocals initially split between Miller, drummer Dozier and guitarist Danny Webster. 

Taking their name from a word emblazoned on a shirt Miller wore to a band practice, Slave worked on writing and performing original material, and recorded their first demo at a studio in New Jersey.

Encouraged by a Newark radio station programmer, they soon had enough tunes for an album and were signed to Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion in 1977.

Slide was an immediate hit, soon going gold, and the band immediately began work on a follow-up to their self-titled debut album, producing two more singles – The Party Song and Baby Sister.

Multiple lineup changes took place after that, most notably the arrival of Steve Arrington, as drummer and lead vocalist, prompting more hits like Stellar Fungk (sic) and Just A Touch Of Love, and the later addition of female singer Starleana Young brought two more, Watching You and Snap Shot.

 Carrying on into the mid-’90s, held together by Adams and fellow founders Mark Hicks and Danny Webster, they might not have been household names, but still amassed ten charting studio albums and twice that number of charting singles.