Glam!: When Superstars Rocked the World, 1970–74

Mark Paytress

Hardcover | 20.32 x 2.79 x 26.67 cm | 304 pp

Omnibus Press | 2022 | 9781913172282

This is a triumphant bid to capture lightning in a bottle! Glam came and went in a few short years, but renowned music journalist Mark Paytress captures its whirlwind story starting with its roots in '20s Hollywood, '50s rock'n'roll, Beatlemania and late '60s bubblegum pop.

Many music styles are driven by a strong sense of the visual, but Glam blurred the lines between The Look and The Sound in a way that hasn't been matched since. The parallels with Mod are obvious, but so is the key difference: Glam was a mainstream-friendly phenomenon, Inspired by stars but absorbed by existing popular culture. The lifestyle was played out at school, in bedrooms, in the family living-room watching Top of the Pops, in youth clubs and concert halls. True to form, this dazzling book tells Glam's story as a page-turning 'lived experience'.

Key events from the wider pop culture abound. The release of A Clockwork Orange, the emergence of the Gay Prlde movement and the raising of the school-leaving age from 15 to 16 were contemporaneous signs of the times. So too were the launch of Bolan's T. Rex Wax Co. record label; Kensington Market (where Freddie Mercury manned a stall); Bowie's 'I'm gay!' interview and shocking new haircut; Chicory
Tip, a Stylophone and bubblegum glam; Slade's bootboy glam; T. Rex at Wembley - 'The Day That Pop Came Back'; The Sweet and Bowie camping it up on Top of the Pops; David Cassidy; Alice Cooper's horror-show, and 'People's Bands' the Faces and Mott the Hoople. Add to this beguiling mix a rare and evocative range of memorabilia, and you have Glam!:When Superstars Rocked the World 1970-74 - a time machine and a book to treasure.