Sometimes it takes something like a movie to jog some old music memories loose & reignite an old love for something like glam rock. for me it was "life aquatic" and the soundtrack took me back to my youth & those great ($3.99) albums like Mott the Hoople, Mott...Iggy, Raw Power...Alex Harvey, Live....TRex, Electric Warrior...Bowie, Spiders...NY Dolls...Sweet & Slade, sorry can't remember the titles anymore. I've got the itch to get some of that stuff again unfortunately it'll be on CD for convenience & simplicity sake this time. Hopefully the recordings aren't too bad. any recommendations? btw cool movie... thanks & cheers!
There are a lot of great "glam" albums, but one that I listen to a lot is T-Rex's "The Slider." It's absolutely fantastic, with great melodies and arrangements, and really cool, impressionistic lyrics. It's arguable whether it's as good as "Electric Warrior," but it definitely deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as that classic album. Hopefully, one day the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will come to their senses and enshrine Marc Bolan, one of the founding fathers of glam.
Im with Hoopers assessment of Marc Bolan. One could argue if T.Rex- Electric Warrior wasnt the genisus of Glam-Rock all by it self. Then on to Bowie with Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars and Aladdin Sane by the end of Diamond Dogs the psychedelic twinkle of glam started to fade. It was short lived but all in all some gender twisting, mind blowing good rock. Roxy Music carried the torch from s/t thru Manifesto with seven Lps in all. Some consider that the start of Art-Rock. Equally arguable is where glam ended as a genre. There were albums by Bowie and Roxy Music beyond glam well worth owning IMHO, as you may well know. Bowies -Pin Ups, Station to Station, Low and Roxys - Flesh + Blood and Avalon are excellent. Then depending on how far off a tangent from there you care to swing there is Todd Rundgrens -Something/Anything, Enos -Another Green World, Lenny Kravitz- Mama Said, Prince and the list goes on. Enjoy!
I agree with Hooper ,,i have The Slider,Tanx,and Electric Warrior,on LP,and they all sound VERY good !Another fav of mine is Slaughter on 10th Avenue,Bowies guitarist Mick Ronsons solo album is fantastic,he really cuts loose on this album!!!,, good recording too!
Yeah, the reconstituted Dolls are on tour. I saw them in Detroit a few months ago, and they sounded quite good. It's not the same without Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan--and, to a lesser extent, Arthur Kane--but the band did sound appropriately loud and raw. David Johansen looked pretty scary, but he sounded damn good. The sound system wasn't great, but the attitude came through loud and clear.
Raytheprinter: I agree with "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." It's an awesome album, and I agree: Mick really does cut loose. Have you heard his final album, "Heaven and Hull"? It's not glam, obviously, but it's a fitting conclusion to a legendary career.
Sgore1: Oh yeah, "Transformer" certainly belongs in the glam category. I think Lou was definitely aiming for crossover success after all the Velvets' commercial disappointments--he hired two of glam's shining lights, Bowie and Mick Ronson, to coproduce, after all--and it paid off in spades. Definitely one of Lou's best efforts, if not THE best.
Sgore1 mentions Lou Reed's "Transformer" and I was thinking that I didn't mention the Velvet Underground, Opps! In my opinion probably the grandaddy of Art-Rock bands with great albums like the V/U & nico, White light/White heat, s/t and of course Loaded. Loaded is one of my all time fav's. These guys influenced a lot of band. This is such a cool hobby! Enjoy!
One band you might have over missed was Silverhead, Micheal Des Barres Band. Lets not forget Alice Cooper too who was on Jonsey's juke box today. He has to be in there too.
Check out any and all Slade collections, but I personally recommend "Slayed" as their best album. There are also some great CD comps that collect the more obscure stuff. Two to check out are called "Velvet Tinmine" and "GlitterBest"
Glam rock was mid 80s rock by the hair bands such as poison/warrant/bon jovi and so on.......don't you mean hippy music by the artist titles you mentioned?
No. Unfortunately you are a bit off the mark. The bands like Poison, Warrant, and Bon Jovi are "glam metal" or "hair metal".
What was once known as "Glam" was typically British stuff in the early to mid-70s like Slade, Mott the Hoople, Bowie, Sweet, T-Rex, and a many more. On the American side you had bands like The New York Dolls, the Hollywood Brats. Even Kiss had "Glam" crossover appeal. "Glam" eventually ended up morphing into some of the first punk bands (The Damned, The Heartbreakers, Dead Boys, etc) who took the "Glam" aesthetic, but stripped it down...along with the music.
When Motley Crue, Hanoi Rocks, and the earliest LA hair bands started making waves in the early 80's (and started putting on the silly makeup and clothes to compliment their music), the music press started reverting back to the "Glam" moniker in order to describe them. Its a crying shame. The awesomeness of bands like Slade, T-Rex, and the original "Glam" bands should never have had their names tarnished by being even remotely compared with such crap as Poison, Cinderalla, Warrant, Vixen, and their ilk.
Yeah, there is definately no justice in that little sordid chapter of musical history.
There are a lot of contemporary bands that have taken a cue from the REAL glam bands of the 70s though. The Darkness, Marilyn Manson, Turbonegro, and a few others come to mind.
If anybody takes a cue from the hair bands from the 80s....well, then we're screwed. As if the current music industry was not vapid enough. The last thing we would ever need is to have glam/hair metal rise up from the ashes.
In response to rottenclam, i dont think a 12 year run of music can be constituted as a "sordid chapter". Yeah, the style was a little over the top, but that of T.Rex, and the NY Dolls wasnt?? At least these bands(for the most part) were able to play. The 80s metal scene set a whole new class of guitarists. It reinvented the instrument. Malmsteen, Vai, Petrelli, Wylde to mention a few. Those into the scene, knew every band member, every song, what the instruments were played etc. The music scene is for ever evolving, bands of the past are influences for bands of the future. How can you knock the 80s metal scene when basically it was just an evolving continuance of your glam scene of the 70s.
There is no way that I'm knocking the 80s metal scene as a whole. Hell, in the last few years I've seen Testament, Exodus, S.O.D., Satyricon, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, etc, all at seperate shows...and none of them were at that crappy Ozz-Fest either. I love metal!
The guys like Malmsteen, Vai, Wylde, DiMartini, Rhoads, etc were (and still are) totally badass. I'm knocking the hairbands specifically. Although you could make a case for Ratt, Whitesnake, and at one point even Ozzy (The Ultimate Sin era) for being hair-metal bands, I dont really classify them as such. The "glam metal scene" was a total joke to Metal as a whole. Whether it be New Wave of British Heavy Metal, power metal, speed metal, death metal, or thrash metal; I think the bands that were part of those genres share absolutely NOTHING with Cinderalla, Warrant, Bon Jovi, and those kinds of oppurtunists.
And as for the implication that members of T-Rex or the New York Dolls "could not play", you've got to be joking. Most glam bands of the 70s contained great musicians (Roxy Music, Bowie's various lineups, Queen, etc). They may not have been as good as their prog-rock contemporaries that were dominating the airwaves simultaneously, but hey, when you're up against guys like Fripp and Steve Howe for technical chops, its gonna be pretty hard to even come close.
My points, in case we're losing sight of them, are as follows:
1. 70s Glam (the REAL glam) had great musicians and songwriting.
2. 80s Glam/hair Metal was crap. Similar to manufactured Pop, this was a more industry driven exploitation of the real metal scene, only re-dressed in less offensive clothing.
holy moly......maybe the most overlooked of all, BEBOP DELUXE......bill nelson along with bolan, robbie dunbar from earthquake(van halen made a career out of copping his licks), and dare i say buck dharma pretty much wrote the book of seventies 'attitude' guitar. "any guitarist who needs more than three chords, just hasnt found the right three"-john cippolina
Sometimes the cosmetics don't have alot to do w/ the music. The Slade "Play it Loud" record was totally mascara free, and it was a crunching good rock record, (not alot different than the glitter festooned "Slade Alive"). Thin Lizzy, B.O.C., Alquin, Doctors of Madness and the great early Be Bop Deluxe all did the platforms and the silly clothes while putting out some of their best stuff. A few of the shredder latex hairspray specialists that came later smoked like hell too. Occasionally great stuff has managed to sneak out from under a pile of corporately engineered cheez whiz. It comes down to the old "there's two kinds of music" cliche. Anybody know if there's a good recording of Zal Cleminson's brain ripping solo on Vambo (Sensational Alex Harvey Band)???
Ok now i can enjoy my weekend. I totally agree as far as the bands that were "manufactured" by the industry itself. I still dont remember driving home from the Ultimate Sin tour @ Stabler Arena in 86. Love all that stuff. Even though the wife and 3 kids make it hard, concerts are still my thing. Priest, Maiden, Wylde, etc. BUT i have to admit and i am not embarrassed to (well i dont think i am) put on my Cinderella shirt for a show. 80s LA music scene is kind of a hobby of mine. Dont laugh:)..My wife does..If you ever get a chance Hollywood Rocks is a pretty good read re the entire scene..But if you put some Larry Carlton, or Stanley Clark i'm there too...
At least i can debate in this forum. I feel like a 5th grader talking to Harvard Grads in the others.
I think the fact that you actually wear a Cinderalla shirt may be on par with me having bought a Rosemary Clooney SACD last week. They are both kinda silly, but hey, if you like the tunes, go for it. This is America! It is our given right (indeed, almost an obligation) to indulge in trash.
And yeah, I bought the "Shot in the Dark" single when I was 12 years old. Definately not afraid to admit that. Although it begins to sound like I'm writing off the whole hair-band thing, you can be damn sure that Motley Crue, Hanoi Rocks, Guns 'n Roses, and a few others get a doctor's note. It was not *all* bad.
Take it slow and happy listening, Jake
BTW, I agree that it is easier (at least for me) to debate in this forum rather than the others. To some people around here, if you cannot tell the difference between a KT88 and an EL34, you're pond scum.
Saw Crue 5 times this year. Musically, the best show was Hartford. Visually, 1st row at Madison Square Garden. Actually bought the tickets through the fan club, included meeting the band etc. They spent over an hour with us. Excellent time.....
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