Glam Rock: Music in Sound and Vision

Glam rock has been a significant but overlooked part of popular music history, shaping the late twentieth century's artistic, political, economic, emotional, sexual, and commercial scenes. Glam Rock: Music in Sound and Vision reveals the true story of how glam carved out a place as a diverse musical style and how it related to the artistic, political, economic, emotional, sexual, and commercial scenes of the late twentieth century. It offers a prism through which to explore 70s pop culture in all its glitter and charm.

Format: Hardback
Length: 236 pages
Publication date: 15 December 2018
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Glam Rock: Music in Sound and Vision reveals the true story of how glam carved out a place as a diverse musical style and how it related to the artistic, political, economic, emotional, sexual, and commercial scenes of the late twentieth century. Committed to spectacle but also to musical ingenuity, glam delivered an exhilarating burst of color that offered a joyful reboot for pop culture—“a total blam blam!” Glam swept through Britain to North America in the early 1970s with the foundational stardom of T Rex and David Bowie, offering an alternative to the established rock and pop styles that had started to bore a segment of young listeners. As Alice Cooper and KISS filled concert arenas, British acts as diverse as the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Queen consciously adopted glam's flair for drama. Refreshing and reinvigorating, glam influenced later musical movements and moments from glitterfunk to punk, from new wave to new romanticism, and from hair metal to the synth-pop of self-conscious changelings like Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga. In Simon Philos engaging history, glam finally gets the spotlight it deserves. As an essential force in the history of popular music, glam offers a prism through which to explore 70s pop culture in all its glitter and charm.
Glam Rock: Music in Sound and Vision is a captivating exploration of the true story of glam rock's emergence as a diverse musical style and its profound impact on the artistic, political, economic, emotional, sexual, and commercial scenes of the late twentieth century. Committed to spectacle and musical ingenuity, glam rock delivered an exhilarating burst of color that offered a joyful reboot for pop culture, earning it the nickname "a total blam blam!" Glam rock swept through Britain and North America in the early 1970s, with the foundational stardom of T Rex and David Bowie offering an alternative to the established rock and pop styles that had started to bore a segment of young listeners. British acts such as Alice Cooper and KISS embraced glam's flair for drama, while British acts as diverse as the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Queen consciously adopted glam's flair for drama. Refreshing and reinvigorating, glam rock influenced later musical movements and moments from glitterfunk to punk, from new wave to new romanticism, and from hair metal to the synth-pop of self-conscious changelings like Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga. In Simon Philos' engaging history, glam rock finally gets the spotlight it deserves as an essential force in the history of popular music. As a prism through which to explore 70s pop culture in all its glitter and charm, glam rock offers a unique perspective on the era's cultural and artistic landscape.

Weight: 514g
Dimension: 160 x 236 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781442271470