Glam rock
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a style of rock and roll music, which initially surfaced in the post-hippie early 1970s. Largely an English phenomenon, glam rock had its peak between the years of 1971 and 1973, and was made famous by acts such as David Bowie, T. Rex, David Werner, Gary Glitter, Queen, Slade, Sweet, Alvin Stardust, Sparks, Mud, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Cockney Rebel, Lou Reed and Mott The Hoople. In the United States, glam made far less of a commercial impression and was largely confined to enclaves of fans in the cities of New York, Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles. American bands included Alice Cooper, Kiss, New York Dolls, Iggy Pop and Wayne County.
Characteristics
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 sub-genre. 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 use of theatrics. It was prefigured by the showmanship and gender identity manipulation of American acts such as The Cockettes and Alice Cooper, the latter of which combined glam with shock rock.
See also
