I can think of no better time to visit this subject than New Year's Eve.
In the years of 1971-1975 the UK music scene exploded with a new look at rock and roll....Glam Rock ! It seemed as though this explosion of glitter was a rocking response to the advent of disco, There were countless artists in England that adapted to this trend and made it a successful and popular style of music, As popularity grew the genre began to spread into other parts of the world and into different forms of music Rockers as Kiss, and Alice Cooper began to paint up!! Punkers and new wavers began to jump in the mix and the heavy metal "hair"bands began their responses. While the original concept was successful the genre began to saturate itself and that original style began to fade away. The early works of Sweet, Wizzard, T-Rex and David Bowie seemed to be the backbone of the first wave. Then even Bowie himself began to dilute the style himself. Here's a variety of the better Glam Rock tunes,
Musically glam rock was very diverse, varying between the simple rock and roll revivalism of figures like Alvin Stardust to the complex art rock of Roxy Music, and can be seen as much as a fashion as a musical subgenre. Visually it was a mesh of various styles, ranging from 1930s Hollywood glamour, through 1950s pin-up sex appeal, pre-war cabaret theatrics, Victorian literary and symbolist styles, science fiction, to ancient and occult mysticism and mythology; manifesting itself in outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots. Glam is most noted for its sexual and gender ambiguity and representations of androgyny, beside extensive Glam rock emerged from the English psychedelic and art rock scenes of the late 1960s and can be seen as both an extension of, and reaction against those trends
A lyric from the Burton Cummings' song Glamour Boy sums up the scenario very nicely...
"For $35,000 a night you can dress like a woman tonight
for $35.000 I think it will work out right"
So a have a Happy New's Years Eve and spread a little glitter around the world and maybe it will brighten our dimly lit planet!
01 the ballroom blitz - sweet
02 my coo ca choo - alvin stardust
03 ziggy stardust - david bowie
04 see my baby jive - roy wood & wizzard
05 virginia plain - roxy music
06 crazy little thing called love - queen
07 looking for a kiss - new york dolls
08 the jean genie - david bowie
09 waterloo - doctor & the mechanics
10 hollywood blvd - neil merryweather
11 mama weer all crazee now - slade
12 rock on - david essex
13 don't touch me there - tubes
14 vicious - lou reed
15 tiger feet - mud
16 20th century boy - t-rex
17 all the young dudes - mott the hoople
18 angel fingers - roy wood & wizzard
19 burning love - doctor & the mechanics
20 rock & roll pts 1&2 - gary glitter
21 bang-a-gong (get it on) - t-rex
22 walk on the wild side - lou reed
23 lola - kinks
24 glamour boy - guess who
