Don't Be GLUM, Let's Talk About GLAM.

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    Don't Be GLUM, Let's Talk About GLAM.
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    At the moment I am really enjoying “Oh Yes We Can Love: A History of Glam Rock”. It’s a nice reminder of times like these:
     

     

    OYWCL is one of those nice little box sets that record companies like doing to reuse catalogue and in this case (and despite ghastly artwork) it hits the spot. I don’t care what anyone says, and what jokes they know about Gary Glitter, I was bought up on Glam Rock and I’m an unashamed fan. Glam, to quote the great genius Julian Cope;

    “Forced regular songwriters to pimp their works with daft, brutal FX, skyrocket guitar solos, glitterstomp drums and meaningless choruses, turning Pap into, well, Expressionist Pap! Glam singles became great events, full of sirens, explosions, shocked expressions, themed with mysterious plots, chock-full o’chants that sounded meaningless but who really knew?”

    It also produced men who looked like bricklayers wearing scarves and make up on TV, people with arty “3 Barrel” names ( stand up the likes of Stephen Peregrine Took, and Curved Air’s Florian Pilkington-Miksa, and take a bow for giving us David St Hubbins), a vague embracing of sexual ambiguity, a propensity for deliberate misspellings like “Cum On Feel The Noize” and a general feeling that Clockwork Orange was an important text about the way life would be. Art rock filtered through boot boy culture probably does it some kind of justice.

    More importantly to me it bought glamour and fun into a world of powercuts, no central heating and porridge. It was unquestionably “a good thing”. And it made for great viewing on Top Of The Pops.

    The compilers (well done Darryl Eastlea!) have done an intriguing job in reaching away from a simple “The Very Best Of Glam Rock” in search of context and consequences. All the real big names are here – Bowie, T-Rex, Roxy Music, Suzi Quatro, Rollers, Sweet etc – and so are the obvious sideswipes – New York Dolls, Stooges, Sparks, Kiss and the like. The arty side of glam is covered, and so is the shameless pop.

    But then CD1 is a combination of ideas that pre-formed Glam and tweaks the interest with Noel Coward, Anthony Newley, Billy Fury and Chicory Tip. Plenty to debate there. And CD4 looks at the direct legacy. Who could forget The Human League in Glitter action from the extremely out there “Being Boiled” EP or doubt that Adam Ant loved Glam?
     

    Makes total sense, right? Just as The Ramones were clearly Glamchildren and understood perfectly the value of a good chant. I’m not sure I’d put Patti Smith in there but why not?

    And finally CD5 comes up somewhat up to date with Pulp, Marilyn Manson, Sisters of Mercy and (of course) Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Call it the later legacy of Glam. Maybe 4 & 5 are children and Grandchildren? Anyway its fun.

    I suppose the compilers didn’t think to add the new wave of The Black Keys… 
     

    Or Arctic Monkeys?
     

    And even Australia’s own Tame Impala…
     

    which are all straight up glam stompers. But I don’t want to pick holes.

    It all makes for good pub chit chat for musicologists and wannabes. Especially if you take along Jon Savage’s Glam 20 or Julian Cope’s GlamRockSampler which both present very different takes (Savage is more focused on the right tracks from the big names, whilst Cope goes for the more esoteric and maybe more interesting).

    Which led me to wonder why these 3 didn’t make the cut? How could the team possibly miss them out?
     

    Lucifer - (I’m not sure how this is Glam but Cope knows)
     

    Kiss - (best Glam lyric – “you like my 7” leather heels”)
     

    Bonnie St Claire - (Perfect Glam title by perfect Glam name!)
     

    But isn’t that the beauty of a really well done compilation? Provoking meaningful (and enjoyable) debate.

     

    -TH

    151326
    Tags:
    david bowie, marilyn manson, the black keys, arctic monkeys,
Submitted by Site Factory admin on


 

 



At the moment I am really enjoying “Oh Yes We Can Love: A History of Glam Rock”. It’s a nice reminder of times like these:

 

 



OYWCL is one of those nice little box sets that record companies like doing to reuse catalogue and in this case (and despite ghastly artwork) it hits the spot. I don’t care what anyone says, and what jokes they know about Gary Glitter, I was bought up on Glam Rock and I’m an unashamed fan. Glam, to quote the great genius Julian Cope;

“Forced regular songwriters to pimp their works with daft, brutal FX, skyrocket guitar solos, glitterstomp drums and meaningless choruses, turning Pap into, well, Expressionist Pap! Glam singles became great events, full of sirens, explosions, shocked expressions, themed with mysterious plots, chock-full o’chants that sounded meaningless but who really knew?”

It also produced men who looked like bricklayers wearing scarves and make up on TV, people with arty “3 Barrel” names ( stand up the likes of Stephen Peregrine Took, and Curved Air’s Florian Pilkington-Miksa, and take a bow for giving us David St Hubbins), a vague embracing of sexual ambiguity, a propensity for deliberate misspellings like “Cum On Feel The Noize” and a general feeling that Clockwork Orange was an important text about the way life would be. Art rock filtered through boot boy culture probably does it some kind of justice.

More importantly to me it bought glamour and fun into a world of powercuts, no central heating and porridge. It was unquestionably “a good thing”. And it made for great viewing on Top Of The Pops.

The compilers (well done Darryl Eastlea!) have done an intriguing job in reaching away from a simple “The Very Best Of Glam Rock” in search of context and consequences. All the real big names are here – Bowie, T-Rex, Roxy Music, Suzi Quatro, Rollers, Sweet etc – and so are the obvious sideswipes – New York Dolls, Stooges, Sparks, Kiss and the like. The arty side of glam is covered, and so is the shameless pop.

But then CD1 is a combination of ideas that pre-formed Glam and tweaks the interest with Noel Coward, Anthony Newley, Billy Fury and Chicory Tip. Plenty to debate there. And CD4 looks at the direct legacy. Who could forget The Human League in Glitter action from the extremely out there “Being Boiled” EP or doubt that Adam Ant loved Glam?

 



Makes total sense, right? Just as The Ramones were clearly Glamchildren and understood perfectly the value of a good chant. I’m not sure I’d put Patti Smith in there but why not?

And finally CD5 comes up somewhat up to date with Pulp, Marilyn Manson, Sisters of Mercy and (of course) Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Call it the later legacy of Glam. Maybe 4 & 5 are children and Grandchildren? Anyway its fun.

I suppose the compilers didn’t think to add the new wave of The Black Keys… 

 



Or Arctic Monkeys?

 



And even Australia’s own Tame Impala…

 





which are all straight up glam stompers. But I don’t want to pick holes.

It all makes for good pub chit chat for musicologists and wannabes. Especially if you take along Jon Savage’s Glam 20 or Julian Cope’s GlamRockSampler which both present very different takes (Savage is more focused on the right tracks from the big names, whilst Cope goes for the more esoteric and maybe more interesting).

Which led me to wonder why these 3 didn’t make the cut? How could the team possibly miss them out?

 

Lucifer - (I’m not sure how this is Glam but Cope knows)

 

Kiss - (best Glam lyric – “you like my 7” leather heels”)

 

Bonnie St Claire - (Perfect Glam title by perfect Glam name!)

 





But isn’t that the beauty of a really well done compilation? Provoking meaningful (and enjoyable) debate.



 

-TH

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david bowie
marilyn manson
the black keys
arctic monkeys
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