Glam Rock...the music hall of the early 1970s was a fabulous era in British pop music. Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Sweet, Mud and Slade were the best of the bunch with single after single (Ride a White Swan, Starman, Ballroom Blitz, The Cat Crept In and Cum On Feel The Noize to name but five) hitting the top of the charts.
To be Glam you seemed to need glitter on your face and/or clothes and the ability to write or perform loud, brash 45s which acted as rallying calls to teenagers throughout the land. Most of the stars had been around for a while; Bowie and Bolan both had reasonably extensive back catalogues from the previous decade. However, re-inventing yourself became the norm for many around this time and from around late 1970 to mid 1975 Glam Rock ruled the singles charts.
Sparks arrived in Spring 1974 with the remarkable This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us which remains one of the greatest songs in pop music. It is tempting to feel that after this magical moment Glam fell into a decline, but there were still a few classics to come.
Overall, Glam Rock was great fun that refused to take music too seriously. Roll Away The Stone by the great Mott The Hoople is perhaps a fitting way to best remember those times:
