Glam Rock

Glam rock (also known as glitter rock) is a style of rock and pop music that originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It was a mix of various styles such as 1930s Hollywood glamour, 1950s pin-up sex appeal, pre-war cabaret theatrics, Victorian literary and symbolist styles, science fiction, and ancient and occult mysticism and mythology. It can be seen as a reaction against or an extension of English psychedelic and art rock styles.

Fashion was very big influence.Glam artists usually performed wearing outrageous clothing, makeup, hairstyles, and with lots of glitter.Platform-soled boots particularly were a big hit for the glamor fashion. It was very common that performers didn't have views of gender roles and used a lot of theatrics.

Marc Bolan took up the use of electrical instruments by the end of the 1960s and in March 1971 marked "the start of glam rock " when he appeared on the UK TV program Top of the Pops wearing lots of glitter and satins. In 1973, a few months after he released the album Tanx, Bolan was on the cover of Melody Maker magaine and declared "Glam rock is dead!"

David Bowie is not only a popular name in the news lately, but also a popular name in glam rock. In 1971 he developed Ziggy Sardust, one of his many personalities, adding elements of professional makeup and performance into his act. In 1972 Bowie in an interveiw said "I think glam rock is a lovely way to categorize me and it's even nicer to be one of the leaders of it." While being very successful in the single charts in the United Kingdom only very few glam rock artists made an impact in the United States. Bowie was of course a major exception. He was a internationational superstar!

Glitter rock was the term used to describe the more extreme version of glam. Gary Glitter and the band he often performed with had 18 Top Ten Singles in the UK between 1972 and 1976. Some glitter rock artists from the U.S. are Lou Reed, New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, and Jobriath. They commonly had a darker lyrical content then the British. Another act that came later in the second wave of artists was Suzi Quantro who later souly inspired the all girls group from the U.S. The Runaways. Some familiar bands and artists that also adopted the glam rock genre but aren't considered centeral to the genre were Rod Stewart, Elton John, Queen, and for a time The Rolling Stones.

Punk rock soon evolved from glam and used major elements such as makeup but contributed to ending glam fashion by 1976.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glam_rock