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Glam Rock
By Louise Bolotin
Bacofoil jumpsuits, platform boots, star-shaped sunglasses,
garish blue eye shadow and that's just the blokes. Yes, it's
glam rock!
After an early 1970s
music scene epitomised by serious progressive bands such as
Yes, Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake and Palmer who churned out
20-minute epics, glam rock came as a welcome return to pure
rock n roll dressed up in silly outfits.
Dominated by a foot-stomping 4-beat, glam was tribal and flamboyant
- the top bands inspired loyal followings and let men express
their feminine side while still remaining butch. David Bowie
is hailed as the granddaddy of glam - he wore make-up, spoke
openly about his bisexual experimentations and single-handedly
invented the mullet, which is quite possibly the world's worst-ever
haircut. This became the style du jour for glam rockers everywhere.
Slade, Marc Bolan and T-Rex, and the Sweet clocked up the
earliest glam chart hits in 1971. Slade were a time-served
pub band with good tunes and an eccentric singer, Noddy Holder,
who looked like a Dickensian wide-boy. The elfin Marc Bolan
epitomised the sexual ambiguity that was a hallmark of glam,
with his wild, long curls and facial glitter. The Sweet sported
long hair and lurid outfits complete with lashings of lippy
and mascara, but still managed to look like a bunch of brickies.
By the following year, the outfits were becoming more outrageous
- 8-inch platforms were everywhere and Gary Glitter dressed
in head-to-toe silver boiler suits with shoulder-width collars.
Elton John jumped on the bandwagon, dressing up as a duck
and sporting naff sunglasses.
1973 was the peak of the glam rock movement - Gary Glitter,
the Sweet, T-Rex and Slade had all become chart fixtures.
Meanwhile, Roxy Music had emerged as the more sophisticated
side of glam, alongside Bowie, while newcomers Wizzard and
Suzi Quatro began having hits. Roy Wood of Wizzard took the
style silliness to new heights with his multi-coloured dreadlocks
and outrageous specs. Quatro, interestingly, was the only
female glam pop star in a genre that was decidedly male-oriented.
Perhaps it was her leather jackets and the kind of stance
that said "come outside for a real fight" that ensured her
place in glam history.The Sweet, in the meantime, released
Ballroom Blitz, which became the anthem for glam fans everywhere.
In 1974, Gary Glitter prematurely announced his retirement
(later renounced), sounding the death-knell for glam. Chinnichap,
the songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman who were
behind many of the hit glam records for Quatro, Mud, the Sweet
et al, had their last big run of chart toppers this year.
By mid-1975, most of the stars were beginning to sound tired
- where do you go after you've worn the daftest gear and sported
3 inches of slap?
The groups that had enjoyed hits written by Chinnichap, such
as the Sweet, began writing their own songs and signed their
own death warrants. Bowie picked up on the emerging disco
trend and Noddy Holder quit while he was ahead, disbanding
Slade.
Glam was finished, although it lives on in The Darkness.
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