![]() So while Bowie might have borrowed from others, his own influence on the scene is indisputable. Tellingly, legendary producer, and one of Bowie’s most respected collaborators, Tony Visconti, worked with them both during this period. Bowie, who had been friends with Bolan, claims that 50s rocker Vince Taylor provided much of the inspiration for Ziggy, but it was clear that Bolan’s T.Rex had also helped shape the persona. Decades later, Bowie’s performance of “Starman” on Top Of The Pops, with his arm slung around his guitarist Mick Ronson in a pseudo-sexual tease, remains a cultural touch-point for the entire era. The look was androgynous, but the riff-heavy pop-rock blend appealed to teenagers and the more conformist, mature music fan.īy the summer of 1973, Bowie was ready to move on from glam rock and Ziggy was retired at a legendary Hammersmith Odeon gig. Greatly influenced by the avant-garde work by New York artist Andy Warhol, Bowie described himself as a “tactile thinker who picked up on things”, and this theatrical pseudonym, launching hits such as “Starman” and “The Jean Genie” in 1972, also borrowed much from the glam stars breaking through that year. Of course, it was inevitable that such a prodigious talent as his would soon drive him in different directions but, in his Ziggy Stardust persona, he created a caricature that felt entirely of the time. David Bowie and Ziggy StardustĪnother chameleon that briefly became central to the glam rock movement was David Bowie. His death in a car crash, in 1977, put an end to a remarkable legacy of work completed before he had even turned 30. It was perhaps inevitable that this pace would lead to burn out, and, as the hits began to pack less bite in the middle of the decade, Bolan’s health started to suffer. While his US success was patchier, Bolan reveled in international adulation and balanced a relentless recording schedule with a ferocious touring program and promotional projects, including the 1972 film Born To Boogie (directed by Ringo Starr). “Get It On” (his biggest international hit), “Jeepster,” “Telegram Sam,” “Bang A Gong (Get It On),” “Metal Guru” and “Children Of The Revolution” became the UK’s soundtrack to 1971 and ’72. Bolan’s electrifying style – part Oscar Wilde dandy, part working-class wide-boy – transfixed viewers of the BBC’s Top Of The Pops, and a string of smash hits made him a bonafide superstar. The next single, “Hot Love” – famously written in 10 minutes – was a six-week British chart-topper and truly sparked the signature glam rock sound. The poppy “Ride A White Swan” climbed the UK charts that autumn and would peak at No.2, offering a small foothold on the stateside charts the following year. Londoner Mark Field had spent much of the 60s looking for a break in the music business, but by 1970, with a new name and a band built around him, Bolan and T.Rex were starting to get noticed. The flamboyance of acts such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard were, perhaps, the genesis of the glam movement, but while The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger appropriated much of those 50s icons’ style, it was Marc Bolan who was the real deal and glam rock’s first true star. The glam rockers, by contrast to that breed and even the hippies that predated them, didn’t want to change the world they wanted to escape it, creating a rich, out-there theatricality that strayed thrillingly close to performance art territory. The predominance of earnest young men, posturing in denim and long hair but deadly serious about their musical craft, might have evolved from the Flower Power movement of the late 60s, but they had lost all their sparkle along the way. Glam’s fermenting ground lay in a maturing rock market, where the prevailing mood had grown more statesmanlike and serious. Listen to the best glam rock songs on Spotify. This was about thrilling music, for sure, but also the spectacle of identity, dressed up in spectacular costume, and that crucial ingredient: a frisson of provocative sexual tension. In part a reaction to that turgid zeitgeist of the time, and in part further evidence that the music scene still had some solid boundaries to press against, the more forceful the pushing behind glam rock, the more the teenyboppers seemed to like it. Glam rock (or “glitter rock,” as it was better known in the US) added a rare splash of color and sparked a very different kind of cultural evolution. The buzz of the Summer Of Love had long faded and in its place, it seemed, came the escalating tensions in Northern Ireland, economic and political crisis, and a sense that the nation’s moment had passed. The Great Britain of the 70s could be a drab, monochrome place.
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