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The first of the big glam bands to lead the way was Marc Bolan’s T.Rex. Having had a few singles chart in the late 60’s he finally hit the big time with “Ride a White Swan” in October 1970. It’s secret was a distorted guitar accompanied by a high string section. Unbelievably the track never actually reached the top spot, being kept out by Clive Dunn’s Granddad. This was quickly followed in 1971 by two top charters and one number two, Get it on, Hot Love and Jeepster. Glam had arrived and it was banging it’s gong. Meanwhile they weren’t having it all their own way, other bands were getting their act together and one particular one from Wolverhampton were going to add their own style to the proceedings. Armed with a charismatic lead singer with a real unique rocking voice they stormed the charts. Slade were getting down and getting with it. They were
every teacher’s nightmare with their crazee song titles but us kids
loved them. “Coz I luv you” went to the number one spot and
stayed charted for 15 weeks. In 1972 Glam and Glitter hit the big time. T.Rex had
topped the charts with “Metal Guru”, Slade were enjoying the
top spot with “Take me Bak ‘Ome” when out of nowhere
came this silver clad figure singing an instrumental! Gary Glitter had
taken the stage with his unique two drummer beat and made the sound his
own. He took the stage like he owned it with his wild tribal chants, I
can remember watching him on Top of the Pops totally mesmerized. The stomping
‘sound of glitter’ was born. He wasn’t the only one
to shock either, David Bowie came into his own with Starman fully made
up and wearing the loudest multi-coloured outfit I have ever seen, quickly
followed by the great Alice Cooper, wearing more eye-shadow than Bett
Lynch, telling us “School’s Out”. What an anthem for
us kids and it was no surprise when it hit number one. While all this
was happening there were other bands warming to the new movement. The
Sweet were about to try to stake their claim to the throne as was Roy
Wood’s Wizzard, and with leather clad Suzi Quatro undoubtably about
to become the queen, who could blame the boys for trying.
There was a fine ding-ding of a battle going on for supremacy though.
Gary Glitter pulled out all the stops with his entrance to Top of the
Pops with his huge motorbike for ‘ I’m the Leader of the Gang,’
which paid off as it hit the top spot along with his follow up ballad
‘I love you love,’ which is a great glam party record. Gazza
had two number 2’s and two number 1’s in 1973 and you would
have thought that would have been enough to take the Glam mantle but Slade were still rocking and thanks to their Christmas release sealed their
place in history. With ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ they finished
the year with three number 1’s and one number 2. Well, when you get so high the only way is down and sadly in 1974 the glitter began lose it’s sparkle. Things just started to slow down with the big guys doing some ballads. Slade’s “Everyday” and Gary’s “Remember me this way” neither managing to hit the top spots and with T.Rex’s appeal waning it was left to Mud, Sweet and The Rubettes to carry the flag. Sweet and
Mud kicked it off nicely with a double pronged attack “A teenage
rampage” and “Tiger Feet” with the latter putting Les
Grey’s fun rock ‘n’ rollers top of the pops. At this time Sparks were another band to hit the charts with a superb record ‘This town ain’t big enough for the both of us’. These guys came right out of the blue and had a real style and, I think, should have had much more success than they did. One fuzzy haired singer and one tiny moustached, stony faced keyboard player that were the Mael brothers, never seemed to capitalize on their success but did seem to create a cult status. There was
one other band that made an appearance in 1974 that I guess I should mention,
see I can be tongue in cheek too, ‘Seven seas of Rye’ was
released in March and made it to number 10 in the charts. Now normally
a single is released around every 3 months but it wasn’t until October
that the follow up, my all time favorite, ‘Killer Queen’ was
released. Queen had stepped on to the stage and Freddy had a whole new
audience to camp it up to. Gary Glitter had a number one during the summer
with ‘Always Yours’ but the signs were there when both Gazza
and Slade released ballads later in the year. Gary with ‘Oh yes
you’re beautiful” and Slade with ‘Far far away.’
It seems the stomping time was over. Christmas 73 was just too much to
follow and all we had to cheer us up was David Essex’s ‘Gonna
make you a star,’ an absolute cracker of a record, and The Rubettes’
‘Juke Box Jive.’ 1975 It’s over, but someone forgot to tell a few of the guys. Gary Glitter was still trying to wring out a hit but no-one was really listening. The only record of any significance this year was Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel’s ‘Come up and see me.’ Slade the rockers had slowed down with another ballad “How does it feel” and pretty much signed off with “Thanks for the Memory” which managed to reach number 7. So that’s that. Glam is over, but what a ride it was. The fun side of rock ‘n’ roll has never been surpassed since. I believe that was the key to it all. Unpretentious fun. All the bands back then were all out to have the time of their lives and it came through in the music they played. Totally outrageous and tongue in cheek antics, that made a generation laugh, chant and stomp to the tribal beat of Glam rock. So to all you guys and gals. Thanks for
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