Glam rock (less commonly, and mostly in the USA, known also as Glitter rock), was a style of rock and roll music popularised in the early 1970s. It was mostly a British phenomenon, at its peak between the years of 1971 and 1973, made famous by acts such as Slade, David Bowie, Gary Glitter and T. Rex and had influence on groups such as Queen and Kiss. In the USA, Glam made less of an impression and was largely confined to selected music fans in the cities of New York and Detroit.

Glam was distinguished by the glittery, sparkly costumes of the performers, perceived as glamourous by fans, and its bouncy rock n‘ roll songs. Lyrical emphasis was often on "teenage revolution" (such as in T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution" and Sweet’s "Teenage Rampage") as well as sexuality, decadence and fame.

Glam performers often dressed androgynously in make up and glittery, florid costumes not dissimilar to costumes that Liberace or Elvis Presley wore when performing in cabaret. An example would be David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane phases. Sexual ambiguity was briefly in vogue: some bands took to playing in drag outfits for a while and Bowie told the press he was bisexual, although he later denied it, whilst the late Jobriath was among rock's first openly gay stars.

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NYT > Music

Music Review: A Taste of Witty, Lean Triumphalism
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:24:34 -0000
Young Jeezy’s new album, “The Recession,” may not be as consistently thrilling as his 2005 debut, but it’s more consistently interesting.
Pop Singer Drops Plan to Compose for the Met
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:41:15 -0000
The singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has dropped plans to compose a work for the Metropolitan Opera in a dispute over the language of the libretto.
Music Review: Happiness Abounds, With Extra for the Ladies
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:10:29 -0000
Alison Hinds is a smiling, trumpeting voice of female empowerment in soca, the modernized calypso music of carnival in Trinidad, Barbados and, this weekend, New York.

NPR Topics: Music

1969 Record By Detroit's Rodriguez Resurfaces
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:48:00 -0400
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez sounded like a cross between Bob Dylan and Love's Arthur Lee. But after his recording debut in 1969, both Rodriguez and his record disappeared in the U.S. He enjoyed success in other countries and now the record is being re-released.
Sam Phillips Says Everything With 'Anything'
Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:38:00 -0400
For the first time in her 20-year career, singer-songwriter Sam Phillips goes it alone on the curiously titled Don't Do Anything. Phillips performs songs from her album with violinist and guitarist Erik Gorfain in a session on World Cafe.
DNC Music Minute: 'Yes We Can'
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0400
As part of the program's Music Minute from the Democratic National Convention, listen to a portion of the song, Yes We Can, by popular musician Will-I-Am. The song was based on a speech given by democratic candidate Barack Obama.

tennessean.com - Rss-News-Music Industry news

Song pluggers savor pitches to artists
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:33:00 -0500
Oftentimes, the shortest distance to a hit is playing tunes for the singer.
Jackson, Montgomery Gentry give Sony reasons to celebrate
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:20:00 -0500
Music Row celebrated the successes of two Sony BMG Nashville artists this week: Montgomery Gentry earned two parties to honor No. 1 "Back When I Knew It All," and a massive gathering at Vanderbilt's Student Life Center feted Alan Jackson, who recently reached the milestone of 50 million records sold.
Briefs
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:12:00 -0500
Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group was sued for allegedly cheating members of The Allman Brothers Band out of some $10 million in royalties on music recorded from 1969 to 1980. Band members Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe Johanson alleged Universal is paying only a "small fraction" of the royalties due them for digital downloads of their songs and is refusing to negotiate royalty rates for newly released digital configurations, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Manhattan. UMG spokesman Peter Lofrumento declined to comment.

Rolling Stone: Features

How Bush Destroyed the Republican Party
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:58:32 -0700
A president driven by ideology. A Congress rife with corruption. A political party hellbent on a "permanent majority." A leading scholar examines the radicals who hijacked the GOP — and wrecked the longest conservative ascendancy in American history • Video: Five Ways Bush Sunk the GOP The failure of the administration of George W. Bush — and the accompanying crisis of the Republican Party — has caused a political meltdown of historic proportions. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Bush enjoyed the greatest popularity ever recorded for a modern American president. Republicans on Capitol Hill, under the iron rule of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, fattened their coffers through a fearsome...
Fall Movie Preview
Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:52:34 -0700
The Smart Season: First looks at fall's 31 hottest movies by Peter Travers Buzz off if you think the big fall whoop is "High School Musical 3." Or Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson trying to steal scenes from a dog in Marley and Me. Or Robert De Niro and Al Pacino slumming in another paycheck movie in Righteous Kill. My admittedly selective guide to what's up in film for the rest of 2008 is all about punch and provocation. Sequels get the shaft, including Saw V (enough already), but Quantum of Solace (November 7th) earns a pass because Daniel Craig is so damn...
Bad Mood Rising
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:12:08 -0700
Randy Newman battles Republicans, death and a goddamn alligator Randy Newman limps across the blue carpeting of his home studio, past the grand piano and a window looking onto a stream running through his back yard, and pauses at a cluttered countertop, his eyes settling on a piece of sheet music. "This is a song I had to write for a goddamn alligator," Newman says. In the early Seventies, Newman released three of the darkest, wittiest albums of the decade: 12 Songs, Sail Away and Good Old Boys, featuring unreliably narrated songs about rednecks, slave...

Ultimate-Guitar.Com [News]

Sound And Fury Announce Fall Tour With Bang Camaro
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:33:30 -0000
Found and Fury are continuing their rock n’ roll freight train of excess with the group’s Fall US tour.
Snow Patrol: New Album 'A Hundred Million Suns'
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:31:51 -0000
Snow Patrol will release A Hundred Million Suns (Polydor/Fiction/Geffen Records) on October 28th 2008.
McCartney To Perform In Israel For First Time
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:27:13 -0000
Paul McCartney will perform for the first time ever in Israel next month.

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