glam rock

Musikkstiler | 0 kommentarer

  • All You Pretty Things – Glam rock testament and call to arms. Profiles of 70s glam artists and fashion tips.
  • Escape to the Seventies – Re-discover the seventies with a huge music database, film reviews, very active forums, sweets,toys,online retro games and more. Bring back the good times.
  • Glam Rock Of The 70s – A look at the artists and songs of the early 70s musical phenomenon.

Rubettes, The – UK appreciation site for the 70s glam rock group. Includes news, interviews, images, and reviews.

Glam rock (less commonly, and mostly in the US, known as glitter rock), was a style of rock music popularised in the early 1970s. It was mostly an English phenomenon between the years of 1971 and 1973. In the US, Glam made less of an impression and was largely confined to selected music fans in the cities of New York and Los Angeles.

Glam was distinguished by the glamourous, glittery, sparkly costumes of the performers and its’ bouncy rock n‘ roll songs which would often be oozing sexual energy. Lyrical emphasis was often on «teenage revolution» (T. Rex’s – “Children of the Revolution“, Sweet’s – “Teenage Rampage“) as well as a strong leaning towards sexuality, decadence and fame.

Glam performers often dressed androgynously in make up and glittery, outrageous costumes not dissimilar to costumes that Liberace or Elvis Presley wore when performing in cabaret. A famous example would be David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane phases. Perceived sexual ambiguity was briefly in vogue: some bands took to playing in patently ridiculous drag outfits for a while (cf. Mud) and Bowie told the press he was bisexual, although he later denied it, whilst the late Jobriath was quite likely rock’s first openly gay star.

Credit for starting the Glam genre is often given to David Bowie or Marc Bolan of T. Rex. Proponents included Slade, Mud, Gary Glitter, Sweet, and at the more cerebral end of the scale, early Roxy Music including Brian Eno.

David BowieIn America, glam rock was most prominently represented by the proto-punk New York Dolls, whose sleazy Rolling Stones-influenced rawk-n-roll was matched by the wildly feminine look of the band. A sensation in New York City. Earlier, in 1968-69, Alice Cooper had arguably sketched the first hints of glam rock when they used a transvestite look and an overtly sexual attitude as part of their outrageousness.

Theatre and Cinema played an important role in the Glam rock movement.

The stars of Andy Warhol’s stage play «Pork» are considered influential on the movement. Wayne County was in particular an influence on David Bowie. Another Andy Warhol Superstar, Jackie Curtis, was influential on the look and dress of glam rock.

Glam rock was also reflected in the following movies Brian DePalma’s Phantom of the Paradise, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, David Bowie’s «The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust», Alice Cooper’s «Good to See You Again», Slade’s «Flame»,and Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine.

Glam rock was a major influence upon the late 1970s UK punk rock movement, particularly the Sex Pistols. It was also an influence on the British Goth rock movement, particularly the bands who played at the Batcave in London.

The glam rock movement even made the shores of Japan at the turn of the 70s, with local bands the Sadistic Mika Band and Vodka Collins having successful glam recordings on EMI records.

A trend amongst some Glam rock groups was releasing a Christmas single, examples of this are Slade’s “Merry Christmas Everybody“, Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday”, and Gary Glitter‘s “Another Rock N’ Roll Christmas”. These tracks receive heavy rotation in the United Kingdom every Christmas.

Today, the glam rock legacy is carried out by a sparse few worldwide, for example, ‘The Darkness’.

top of the page