ALL THE YOUNG DUDES – WHEN GLAM ROCK RULED
BOWIE, BOLAN, SWEET & QUEEN – THE STARS OF GLAM ROCK
Heavy Metal Kids in Action on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops performing a raunchy ‘She’s No Angel’, with Gary Holton in full Cockney overdrive.
Stack heels, long hair and lipstick, mirror balls, furs and peacock feathers…yes we’re talking ’bout GLAM ROCK. What a fabulous era when Marc Bolan and David Bowie set the trends for a whole parade of Seventies pop idols. The early Seventies was supposedly dominated by heavy prog rockers from Led Zeppelin to ELP and Jethro Tull. But in a parallel universe, another wave of heroes dominated the pop charts, airwaves and TV channels.
While earnest college students sat on their canteen floors and listened intently to the polyrhythms of King Crimson, fans crowding the studios of BBC TV’s ‘Top Of The Pops’ or Bremen’s ‘Beat Club’ danced wildly to the sights and sounds of Sweet, Gary Glitter, Slade and Roxy Music.
SLADE
Despite the cheesy image of most ‘Glam Rock’ there was nevertheless a barrage of hits from these guys that couldn’t be underestimated. And beneath the mascara and clouds of fairy dust lurked decent songwriters, clever producers, charismatic singers and capable musicians. Who could doubt the bellowing power of vocalist supreme Noddy Holder with Slade? And if you included Queen into the mix then these were clearly gifted artistes of the highest order.
‘Glam Rock’ surely contained rich seams of talent. It deserved respect even if its chief protagonists displayed all the fashion sense of Beau Brummell and King George The 1V. The official verdict? ‘We have concluded this popular phenomenon may also be viewed as a viable cultural movement.’
Rock on dudes! So who started it all? Well, when Marc Bolan converted Tyrannosaurus Rex, the hippie acoustic duo, into an all-electric T.Rex and hit the charts with ‘Ride A White Swan’ in 1970 it was the signal for an outburst of fun and pop simplicity. Marc would enjoy an incredible run of hits and be swept away on a tidal wave of ‘T.Rextasy.’ Yet even before Bolan, early glam signals had sparkled from David Bowie, who like Bolan was a former London Mod. But Bowie had been significantly influenced by Lou Reed and New York fashionistas during the late Sixties.
SPIDERS FROM MARS
He taken his first step with ‘Space Oddity’ on the road to notoriety but the tipping point was surely the LP cover of ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ when David appeared in long curly hair and wearing a glamorous golden dress. It was a bold statement. Cross dressing was okay and that boys could be as glamorous as girls, if they so desired. Once the gasps and shock waves had receded then the flood gates were opened. As Mick Ronson rivalled Bowie for affection as a Spider from Mars, so a horde of up coming groups hastily switched image to take advantage of the UK pop scenes’ latest trend. Glam was cool and so Slade dropped their skinhead look and decked themselves out with mirrored top hats and six inch stack heeled boots.
It became a competition on ‘Top Of The Pops’ to present the most sensational costumes each week, and soon Slade were up against such groups as Sweet, who hit the charts with a succession of Chapman & Chinn bubblegum hits.
Much of the inspiration for Glam fashions came from films like ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and fans cheerfully joined in, dressing up even more outrageously than their idols. David Bowie in his persona as ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and Marc Bolan in his feather boas were still pretty much kings – or queens – of the scene. But it wasn’t long before more gaudy princelings came a clamouring at the palace gates.
Ian Hunter, the singer with Mott The Hoople hit the charts with ‘All The Young Dudes’ with some help from Mr. Bowie. Bryan Ferry was Mr. Cool with Roxy Music together with a co-conspirator Brian Eno, all clad in peacock feathers. Steve Harley in his fur collared jacket created a stir with Cockney Rebel and proved to be a vibrant singer and band leader with strong opinions to match.
FREDDIE MERCURY
One of Mott The Hoople’s support acts was little known group Queen with an effeminate singer Freddie Mercury. They began to attract an audience of millions worldwide. Their succession of block buster hit singles and albums elevated them beyond Glam into the wider world of ‘grown up’ rock. The critics were confused but when ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ hit the airwaves all bets were off.
Queen were rock gods – official.
Gary Glitter too developed his fanatical following with hits like ‘Rock’N’Roll Part 2’ and the former Paul Gadd became a superstar overnight in 1972. But Glam seemed to lose steam during the later Seventies as Punk Rock took hold and the scene was delivered a blow with the tragic death of Marc Bolan in 1977. Nevertheless Glam’s influence remained strong.
In America, despite initial reluctance to accept T.Rex or Slade, the whole make up and ‘crazy image’ business was developed by Kiss and Alice Cooper, who took a major role in the USA’s flirtation with outrage and controversy. Later on the raunchy LA Glam Metal scene epitomised by Motley Crue, could be seen as descendents of those feathery pioneers.
GA GA
Back in England there were occasional flares of excitement from such latter day outfits as the Heavy Metal Kids led by singer and actor, the late Gary Holton. They weren’t really metal and were a far cry from Sweet and yet they established their own niche and reputation for extrovert ‘live’ performances. These were well displayed on an appearance on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops that can now be revisited thanks to the time machine that is YouTube.
Adam Ant with his white faced make up and ‘Dandy Highwayman’ image became perhaps the last true Glam Rock idol, albeit born out of punk origins and more associated with the New Romantics. Whither Glam Now? Well sadly most of the pioneers are now deceased, disgraced or retired. However Lady Gaga seems to be bringing back a touch of true Glam to the bruised and battered music biz. But… she’s a girl!
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 in Those Were The Days.
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