I meant to post this yesterday, but life and my weekly water worship class. H2O is the way to go! Like my Tuesday Top Ten last week about '70s punk songs, I felt like I needed to do a glam Tuesday Top Ten because there isn't enough time in the month for me to get to all of the songs and bands I want to highlight.
My second song of this year's Rocktober was "20th Century Boy" by T. Rex, and in that post, I noted how Marc Bolan and T. Rex essentially invented glam music, with its makeup and garish, glittery costumes. The genre was taken to new levels by David Bowie, who reinvented himself as Ziggy Stardust and put out three classic glam albums, 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1973's Aladdin Sane, and 1974's Diamond Dogs. On "Rebel Rebel" from Diamond Dogs, Bowie essentially declared the end of glam and its poseurs, but that really didn't stop other bands from following in the footsteps of T. Rex and Bowie.
'70s glam influenced the next generation of rockers, which became the hard rockers and hair bands of the '80s, so you know I have a spot in my heart for glam. While glam wasn't an exclusively British genre, most of what I would consider the classic '70s glam bands were from the UK, so I'm going to limit this list to bands from the British Isle. Here are my ten favorite British glam songs in no particular order. As I always do in these types of posts, I'm going to limit the list to one song per artist.
1. "All The Way From Memphis" by Mott the Hoople (1973)
Mott the Hoople is best known for their Bowie-penned "All the Young Dudes," which is a great song, but I'm a bigger fan of "All The Way From Memphis," a song about a guy whose guitar is shipped to somewhere in Kentucky instead of Memphis. I saw these guys in concert earlier this year. A friend of mine from high school who lives in Vegas was jealous because they weren't coming through Vegas as part of their tour. Then he saw Def Leppard a month ago or so in Vegas. He did a meet-and-greet with them, which I am super jealous of, but he was chatting up Joe Elliot and told him my name and that I had seen Mott the Hoople earlier this year, knowing that Elliot is a big Mott the Hoople fan. I kid you not, Joe Elliot said my name, saying -- in his Sheffield accent -- "Lucky mate, that [Give Me Your Handreau]." My life is complete.
2. "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie (1972)
This is my favorite Bowie song. I love the riff. I love the lyrics. I love the choruses. It's just a fantastic song by an artist who was redefining himself and music.
3. "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet (1973)
Sweet -- or The Sweet, if you're British -- put out a lot of great glam songs, but none is better in my mind than "Ballroom Blitz," an energetic rocker inspired by a gig where the band was driven from the stage because people were throwing bottles at them. Good times!
4. "Saturday Night" by Bay City Rollers (1973, 1974)
Bay City Rollers were certainly more pop-oriented than glam-oriented, but their biggest hit, "Saturday Night," qualifies as glam. It was originally released in 1973, sung by Nobby Clark, who was replaced a year later as lead singer by Les McKeown, and the band re-recorded the song in 1974 with McKeown on lead vocals. It was that version that hit #1 in the U.S. and was a favorite of Stuart MacKenzie in So I Married An Axe Murderer. Heeeed!
5. "Street Life" by Roxy Music (1973)
I first heard this one as a cover by Def Leppard on their wonderful 2006 covers album, Yeah! Roxy Music was more arty than the other glam bands, but many of their songs still fell within the genre. "Street Life" is a one of those.
6. "Jeepster" by T. Rex (1971)
Since I already did the aforementioned separate post about my favorite T. Rex song ("20th Century Boy"), I'm going with my second-favorite song, "Jeepster," off of the band's seminal 1971 album, Electric Warrior. This is just a fun little ditty, in which Bolan declares, "Girl, I'm just a jeepster for your love." I have no idea what that means.
7. "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" by Slade (1972)
Slade were kind of the crazy uncles of glam. They dressed in funny outfits -- well, funnier than the normal glam outfits -- and they had purposely misspelled words in their songs. Of course, two of their songs -- this one and "Cum On Feel The Noize" -- were covered in the '80s by Quiet Riot with great success. Here's a version of the song from Top of the Pops.
8. "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" by Wizzard (1973)
I love me some Christmas music, and Wizzard released a classic in 1973 with "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday," which went to #4 on the UK pop charts and was, oddly enough, beat out by a Christmas song by another glam band, Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," which hit #1.
9. "Tie Your Mother Down" by Queen (1976)
Queen wasn't necessarily a glam band, but many of their songs fall within the genre, and several of their albums are considered quintessential glam rock albums. "Tie Your Mother Down" off of 1976's A Day at the Races, is a glammy rocker that fits nicely on this list.
10. "Jealous Mind" by Alvin Stardust (1974)
Alvin Stardust, the alter ego of Bernard William Jewry, channeled Elvis in both his look and vocals. "Jealous Mind" was his only #1 in the UK, and the video is sufficiently creepy. It's a glam classic, although it likely wouldn't be on this list if I hadn't limited myself to one song per artist.
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