What is "six of the best"

n. (context idiomatic English) Six strokes with a cane, a traditional school punishment.

Six of the Best was the name chosen for the reunion concert of the rock band Genesis with former founding member Peter Gabriel and took place on a wet 2 October 1982 at National Bowl, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The show was introduced by Jonathan King.

Support bands for the concert were John Martyn, The Blues Band and Talk Talk.

"Six of the Best" is rock band Slade's first extended play (EP) from 1980. The EP features six tracks, three originally from the album Return to Base which was released in 1979, two tracks that featured from the 1981 album We'll Bring the House Down and the track "9 to 5" which was exclusive to this release. The track eventually featured on the remastered edition of We'll Bring the House Down.

The EP was released whilst Slade were still unpopular and before their triumph at the 1980 Reading festival in August. As a result, the EP failed to chart despite being for sale at a low £1.49 as printed on the EP's cover. Shortly following the single's release, the fan club newsletter explained that there was not enough airplay to get the single to chart.

The featured track of the E.P. is Night Starvation.

The EP chart into the top 5 in Belgium telemoustique chart, the band's previous album "Return to Base" peaking at #1 around the same time.

The first three tracks were named the rock side whilst the other three were named back side. The featured track was the opener Night Starvation.

The three tracks were used from the "Return to Base" album, "I'm A Rocka", "Don't Waste Your Time" and "The Wheels Ain't Coming Down" were slightly remixed for this extended play.

Jim Lea personally created the extended play's artwork.

When I'm Dancin' I Ain't Fightin' was later covered by The Wall and The Dummies which was a project of Slade's bassist Jim Lea.

A promotional 7" single was released to support the E.P., featuring Night Starvation as the a-side and When I'm Dancin' I Ain't Fightin' as the b-side. It was released on 10 May 1980.

For the Dutch and Belgian market, an E.P. titled Three of the Best - Alive at Reading was released in 1980, featuring the entire Six of the Best E.P., minus I'm A Rocka and Don't Waste Your Time as the a-side. This was although the title stated 'Three of the Best'. The b-side features the entire Alive at Reading '80 E.P.