Publication date:
15 October 2018Length of book:
236 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442271470
Until recently, glam rock has been a mere footnote in popular music history: a style-over-substance lark in an otherwise serious industry. Glam Rock: Music in Sound and Vision reveals the true story of how glam carved out a place as a diverse musical style and how it related to the artistic, political, economic, emotional, sexual, and commercial scenes of the late twentieth century. Committed to spectacle but also to musical ingenuity, glam delivered an exhilarating burst of color that offered a joyful reboot for pop culture—“a total blam blam!”
Glam swept through Britain to North America in the early 1970s with the foundational stardom of T Rex and David Bowie, offering an alternative to the established rock and pop styles that had started to bore a segment of young listeners. As Alice Cooper and KISS filled concert arenas, British acts as diverse as the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Queen consciously adopted glam’s flair for drama. Refreshing and reinvigorating, glam influenced later musical movements and moments from glitterfunk to punk, from new wave to new romanticism, and from hair metal to the synth-pop of self-conscious changelings like Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga.
In Simon Philo’s engaging history, glam finally gets the spotlight it deserves. As an essential force in the history of popular music, glam offers a prism through which to explore ’70s pop culture in all its glitter and charm.
Glam swept through Britain to North America in the early 1970s with the foundational stardom of T Rex and David Bowie, offering an alternative to the established rock and pop styles that had started to bore a segment of young listeners. As Alice Cooper and KISS filled concert arenas, British acts as diverse as the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Queen consciously adopted glam’s flair for drama. Refreshing and reinvigorating, glam influenced later musical movements and moments from glitterfunk to punk, from new wave to new romanticism, and from hair metal to the synth-pop of self-conscious changelings like Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga.
In Simon Philo’s engaging history, glam finally gets the spotlight it deserves. As an essential force in the history of popular music, glam offers a prism through which to explore ’70s pop culture in all its glitter and charm.
Rowman & Littlefield adds to its eclectic Tempo Music Series a deep dive into the glam-rock scene
of the late 1960s and its influence on present-day performers. Music academic Philo takes on David
Bowie, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music, and Marc Bolan of T. Rex in an entertaining yet scholarly approach.
peeling back the curtain on what motivated each performer to glam it up in their very popular music,
personae, and performances. Among many insights, Philo makes a key point that Bolan strived for top hits
that seemed contrary to the arching album concepts that Bowie constructed, yet both exalted in a similar
embrace of outlandish fashion to provoke as well as entertain. The bending of gender roles and sexual
orientation is carefully explored, especially in light of the easing of strict laws against homosexuality in the
UK in 1967. An immense glam-rock time line is included, listing major global events alongside recording
history to provide historical context. Philo’s well-researched study is a shining primer of the glam side of
rock and roll.
of the late 1960s and its influence on present-day performers. Music academic Philo takes on David
Bowie, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music, and Marc Bolan of T. Rex in an entertaining yet scholarly approach.
peeling back the curtain on what motivated each performer to glam it up in their very popular music,
personae, and performances. Among many insights, Philo makes a key point that Bolan strived for top hits
that seemed contrary to the arching album concepts that Bowie constructed, yet both exalted in a similar
embrace of outlandish fashion to provoke as well as entertain. The bending of gender roles and sexual
orientation is carefully explored, especially in light of the easing of strict laws against homosexuality in the
UK in 1967. An immense glam-rock time line is included, listing major global events alongside recording
history to provide historical context. Philo’s well-researched study is a shining primer of the glam side of
rock and roll.