Glam rock

Glam Rock
Glam Rock
Stylistic origins	rock and roll, garage rock
Cultural origins	1970s United Kingdom. Detroit and New York in the United States
Typical instruments	Guitar - Bass - Drums - Synthesizers
Derivative forms	Punk rock, Gothic rock, New wave, Pub rock
	; (complete list)
Fusion genres
	Glam Metal

Glam redirects here. Glam is also the name of the lead singer of Wig Wam.

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 a British phenomenon, at its peak between the years of 1971 and 1973, made famous by acts such as Slade, David Bowie, Gary Glitter and T. Rex and had influence on groups such as Queen and KISS. 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, although Alice Cooper incorporated a lot of the glam rock style.

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.

Progenitors

Credit for starting the Glam genre is often given to Marc Bolan of T. Rex or David Bowie. Proponents included Slade, Mud, Gary Glitter, Sweet, Queen and at the more cerebral end of the scale, early Roxy Music including Brian Eno. Lou Reed was another influential glam performer with his Transformer album produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson.

In 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.

Glam rock in Theatre and Cinema

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, T. Rex's documentary Born To Boogie, David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust", Alice Cooper's "Good to See You Again", Gary Glitter's "Remember Me This Way", Slade's "Flame",and Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine.

Subsequent Influence

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.

Glam rock acts

List of Glam rock bands

External links