Glitter and eye liner, David Bowie's glam rock turns 50 - Lifestyle

Sequins, feathers, rafts, makeup, a recovery of lightness in songs after the commitment of the sixties. At the dawn of the seventies a new genre appears in the varied world of rock: it is glam rock, short for "glamor", tightly intertwined with fashion so as to become also a phenomenon of costume. The progenitor is Marc Bolan, leader of T-Rex, but among the most popular examples are David Bowie and Roxy Music. And 50 years after its birth, the decadent style and some songs have survived the time. The beginning of the movement coincides with the appearance, between the late sixties and the early seventies, on the musical scenes of Marc Bolan, with curls, glitter, satin and billy eyes, melodic voice and electric guitar. A mixture of sensuality and androgyny that struck the girls of the time. After a quiet start Bolan and the T-Rex release the Hot Love album that climbs the charts, crowning the singer and the glam movement with the appearance on the BBC music show Top of the Pops. But if Bolan is considered the progenitor, the musician symbol of 'glam rock' is undoubtedly David Bowie in the guise of his alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The eccentric clothes, the makeup inspired by the geishas, ​​the way of being on stage that Lindsay Kemp had taught him, the ostentatious bisexuality, bring a breath of fresh air. "A star is born," writes Melody Maker magazine and fans see it as a symbol of liberation, which urges them to be what they want. Bowie in live concerts often told one of the highlights of his life, the meeting with Marc Bolan and the secret of their look: "In the evening we went shopping in the garbage cans on Carnaby Street, it was a golden age ".
The phenomenon, however, includes other artists such as Mott the Hoople, Faces, Slade, Gary Glitter and above all Roxy Music . Born in 1970, they are the decadent principles of 'glam' , the intellectual side of the phenomenon, with a working class background. The group combines the dandy style of frontman Brian Ferry with the genius of Brian Eno who years later, in a totally different musical season, collaborated with Bowie becoming decisive in the Berlin trilogy. With the single Virginia Plain they arrive straight into the British Top 10, then Eno leaves the group and lingers more on the aesthetic side than on the experimental one. Among the least remembered exponents of 'glam rock' there is Suzie Quatro , while in the early years of their career also Elton John, Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury adopt glam styles. As well as influences can be seen in the famous musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show . The phenomenon, moreover, much more marked in Great Britain, also affects some American musicians such as Alice Cooper, the New York Dolls, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, with a more extreme look that anticipates punk. And in Italy Renato Zero . Glam rock declines in the mid-1970s and many of its leading exponents from Bowie change their style (Bolan died in '77 in a car accident), but sow the seed for other genres such as the 'new romantic' and the 'synthpop' of the early eighties, in particular Duran Duran , Abc, Ultravox and Japan. What remains of the 'glam' in music today? "The fixation with fame as a solution or way out, the idea of ​​decadence," Simon Reynolds, music critic and author of the book 'Stardust, explained to Billboard. Glam Rock from its origins to the present day ', which identifies Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga and Kanye West as the current followers of' glam '