curious to know of folks on here views on glam specially brit glam.
questions
1]was glam a brit idea?
2] posters fav glam albums
3] was glam a mainly singles market
4]is glam as attractive a word on ebay as that magic word psychedelic
5] is glam atopic welcome on here
answers on a postcard please or in wallys /jj knowledge of the subject on a pinhead

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Glam Rock to me was an extension of Art Rock (A title usually pinned to prog acts) Glam leaning more to the commercial side of the fence..If any one notices the Glam type glitter clothes which were already been worn by Keith Emerson (ELP) as early as 1970, you only have to watch the 'Pictures At An Exhibition' video at the Lyceum of that year..

First glam number : Ride A white Swan by T. Rex

What was first in your opinion ?

Wallace ventures the opinion that this forum is becoming homo.

Not good for old men.

Instead of blood pressure rising from glam topic-postings, old mens better off lapping pop-syrup or goin' down smooth on good droney newage ganja-soma vibes.


Not to mention that:



I do not suppose this was inspired by glam. Wallace does not see any rhinostones or glitter-sequinsers:



...
Yes Phil.
Glam was deffo a Brit thing.
It all came out of Karny's pub in Sheffield.

Glam is British,certainly, but it was very much a reaction to the plodding singer/songwriter pop and over-complex prog that was becoming the latest critical fad. The OTT clothing is related to the bright,flamboyant clothing of the psych era but style-wise I think it was an attempt to return to the simplicity of beat/Mod/pop songs, with a few exceptions perhaps, mixed in with the more open campness of the sexual revolution and the heightened use of theatricality in performance.

U.K.Jones


Since glam has a strong visual element, Wallace supposes you have a viddy/pics to proove this?

Well the clothes/props, the stage moves and sometimes OTT facial gestures of say,Gary Glitter or Sweet's Steve Priest, would suggest a certain panto/B-movie aesthetic. If you include Alice Cooper,KISS and Raw Power-era Stooges into the mix (and I certainly do)I think it's pretty fair to say that the visual element played a big part in the genre's appeal,wouldn't you? I mean, heck, even the meticulousness of Bowie's makeup and wardrobe suggests alot of stock was placed in the visual image, which wasn't unique to glam,perhaps, but was more emphasised,I believe.

Sorry,I've not yet figured out how to post pics or embed video.

Were Bonzos glam?

(Certainly were suggestive!)

What about Mick Jagger?
Acceptable?

I'm a confirmed glam-a-holic so...

1. Yes, essentially but don't forget the New York Dolls.The USA generally had it's moments with The Quick (Sparks influenced) and Jobriath (Bowie influenced). The Netherlands had a really strong glam scene as well and other European countries had more than their moment as well. New Zealand had Alistair Ridell, who seems to have been a big Ziggy/Bowie fan.

2. T Rex - Electric Warrior, Bowie - Ziggy Stardust / A Lad insane, first 3 Roxy Music albums, 1st Sweet album, Slade Alive, but I always prefer 45s

3. Yes, it was mainly a singles market. I'm a huge 'junk shop glam' fan and that's where a lot of the really interesting stuff is - on forgotten 45s.

4. If you label it with 'junk shop glam' it attracts attention on Ebay. Nowhere near as expensive or keenly competed for as psych, it's a smaller genre for a start, prices can get pretty high for a UK issue of Stud Leather's 'Cut Loose' on Dart or Spiv's 'Oh You Beautiful Child' on PYE for instance.

You have to remember also there were variants of glam -the football terrace stomp of bands like Slade or The Sweet hid hard rock bands behind the glitter and stack heels, flip the 45s and test the B sides to find that out, and they rocked really well. The art rock styles of Roxy Music, Sparks et al were more original perhaps. Remember also the production values changed here too. In my opinion the 1970s had the best production sound ever, really big, full and loud (and that's to disparage the Pepperesque experimentations fo the 60s and ground breaking innovations thereof at all).

Pop over to Australia, especially Melbourne c.1973 and you had a strong second-wave 'sharpie' cult, something akin to UK suedeheads, who were well into indigenous glam-boogie bands like The Coloured Balls (1st album anyway).

Remember the singles charts in the early-mid 70s were not entirely populated by dreary singer-songwriters or teenybop fodder. There were 'hit' singles by essentially album and stadium rock bands like Nazareth and Thin Lizzy who had more in common with Slade or The Sweet muscially I think.

5. Glam is welcome here as far as I am concertned though other people may not agree at all as it obviously goes outside the remit. Fair enough

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Was Quentin Crisp glam two decades before the term was even coined? (or was he just effeminate sans the rock poseur shtick)



N.P.: first (and ONLY good) Roxy Music lp.

Australia certainly had it's own glam scene with bands such as Hush,Skyhooks,Sherbet,Taste,Supenaut and Kush to name some.

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I especially liked the boogie lesser known end Oz glam like Fat Daddy and Twister, both had two singles each and that was that.
Paul

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How come no one corrected Wallace?
Obviously the best Roxy Music lp is "For Your Pleasure".

i love the roxy album which has all the cover versions on but then im a covers nut

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so who is top UK glam rock band out of
SWEET
WIZZARD
T-REX

for my tastes it has to be WIZZaRD followed by SWEET.
and T-REX last
any others of you got any preferences/
phil

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70s Pomp-rock is even more horrendous than glam.

(And by pomp, Im not talking prog.)

T.Rex for the originality of style in re-inventing r'n'r when Mud et al were just aping the 50s - The Sweet for just being a bloody got rock band. Wood's best days were in the Move, though Ball Park Incident is essentially a later era Move record in all but name.

PM

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'You're Still Mine' by The Eggy came out in March 1969 and must be a contender for first glam single.

I was thinking that as well. There's also 'Aye-O' by John Carter vehicle The Running, Jumping Standing Still Band (not the Ozzie garage band) from 1969 that has big tub-thumping glam rock drums.
Paul

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There's probably quite a few contenders for "first glam single", but I do think that 'You're Still Mine' is probably the one that has all the components of a classic glam rock single. It's also an incredibly loud record, perfect for discos, Radio One etc. I wonder why Spark didn't reissue it three or four years later?