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Glitter Rock and Glam Rock


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I am a fan of the age of glitter and glam rock. Bowie, T-Rex, New York Dolls and more. Since Songfacts has cornered the market on rock and roll knowledge, I'd like to hear opinions of your favorite bands, songs, albums, tours , etc from these genres. It can be new or old, British, american or other. Who was the first glam/glitter rocker? How is that period of rock best defined? :jester:

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I have to believe Bowie started Glitter Rock with his Ziggy Stardust album and then he later became Alladin Sane. I think it was his Alladin character who sported the lightning bolt across his face.

There is also Gary Glitter, Mott The Hoople and Slade who had some success in the early seventies.

I would think the glam band with the largest following to this day has to be KISS. I am pretty sure you can classify them as Glam Rockers as well by the get-ups they wore.

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I love glitter/glam rock. It might even be my favourite muscial period. It is related to the whole punk scene too, punk kinda evolved from glam or at least my fave punk band, The Ramones did. The Stooges were like the bridge between glam and punk. Bands like the Heartbreakers then sorta sprung out of that.

I love Bowie, Alice Cooper, T-Rex, KISS, The New York Dolls, Sweet, Roxy Music, Slade, Mott The Hoople, Twisted Sister, etc.

I found this little definition on allmusic.com:

Often confused with '80s hair metal (at least by American listeners), glam rock was an almost entirely British phenomenon that became wildly popular during the first half of the '70s. Glam rock was fairly simple, crunchy guitar rock put across with outrageous theatricality. Most of the music was unabashedly catchy, with melodies drawn from teenage bubblegum pop and hip-shaking rhythms from early rock & roll. But those innocent-sounding influences were belied by the delivery, which was all campy, glitzy showmanship and sexuality. In fact, one of the main reasons glam never caught on in the U.S. was that glam artists intentionally played around with gender conventions, dressing themselves up in outlandish, androgynous costumes and makeup.

I think that Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane phase was the quintessential glam rocker. KISS and Alice Cooper didn't play around with the androgynous aspect of it but they were right into the costumes, make-up and theatrics. As for who started it, I think it was T-Rex when they released 'Electric Warrior' in 1971. 1972 was like the boom year and then it sorta died out by 1975. I would say that the New York Dolls are definitely a glam band. They had a massive influence on punk bands though. :bow: :bow: :bow: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

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Favorite glam rock: QUEEN by far. Then Poison as someone else said.

Someone said Mott the Hoople as glitter? I dunno I guess maybe. If you consider them glitter I think they are my favorite.

From Queen's "Now I'm Here"

"Down in the city just Hoople and me"

Queen was the opening act for Mott years and years ago.....

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  • 1 month later...

I was just thinking, can glam really be considered a genre? I mean, the only way glam bands are linked is how they look, as opposed to other genres, which are connected by a common sound. It just seems kind of ridiculous that Alice Cooper, Queen, Bowie, T. Rex, and KISS would all be in the same genre, especially such a specific genre.

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