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David BowieGlam Rock 101
I'm one of the world's actors, in the broadest sense of the word. I'm an exhibitionist. I like showing off. I'm a peacock.
— David Bowie, as quoted in Glam!: An Eyewitness Account, by Mick Rock
They called it glam, shrinking glamorous into a curt, single-syllable catchphrase. Ironically, there was nothing small or diminished about glam rock. It was a scene obsessed with more: flashier, gaudier, and grander. Kickstarted by frizzy-haired Marc Bolan (singer/leader of T. Rex) in 1971, glam quickly became a musical, social, and, most of all, fashion sensation in the U.K., as girls and boys threw off their hippie threads for platform boots, brazen makeup, garish costumes, and lots of glitter.
It wasn't all lipstick and Final Net, though; there was great music too. Bowie brought lovingly pretentious theatrical concepts (see: Ziggy Stardust), Roxy Music noodled and brooded with both substance and panache (you try it!), Mott the Hoople made pub rock with virtuosic flash, and Lou Reed turned his Manhattan gutter tales into stage-ready musical vignettes. Applying fake eyelashes, affecting a detached upper-crust accent, and squeezing into a sequined halter top might enhance your appreciation of glam rock — but, if you're eager to dive in, it's not 100 percent necessary. All you need is a will to bang a gong and let our guide lead you down this sparkly road.
Next page: 10 essential glam albums
