Global Glam and Popular Music

<p>This book is the first to explore style and spectacle in glam popular music performance from the 1970s to the present day, and from an international perspective. Focus is given to a number of representative artists, bands, and movements, as well as national, regional, and cultural contexts from around the globe. Approaching glam music performance and style broadly, and using the glam/glitter rock genre of the early 1970s as a foundation for case studies and comparisons, the volume engages with subjects that help in defining the glam phenomenon in its many manifestations and contexts. Glam rock, in its original, term-defining inception, had its birth in the UK in 1970/71, and featured at its forefront acts such as David Bowie, T. Rex, Slade, and Roxy Music. Termed "glitter rock" in the US, stateside artists included Alice Cooper, Suzi Quatro, The New York Dolls, and Kiss. In a global context, glam is represented in many other cultures, where the influences of early glam rock can be seen clearly. In this book, glam exists at the intersections of glam rock and other styles (e.g., punk, metal, disco, goth). Its performers are characterized by their flamboyant and theatrical appearance (clothes, costumes, makeup, hairstyles), they often challenge gender stereotypes and sexuality (androgyny), and they create spectacle in popular music performance, fandom, and fashion. The essays in this collection comprise theoretically-informed contributions that address the diversity of the world’s popular music via artists, bands, and movements, with special attention given to the ways glam has been influential not only as a music genre, but also in fashion, design, and other visual culture. </p> <p>List of Figures Introduction <i>Ian Chapman and Henry Johnson</i> <b>PART I. Britain from the Early 1970s</b> 1. "All that Glitters": Glam, Bricolage, and the History of Post-war Youth Culture <i>Christine Feldman-Barrett and Andy Bennett</i> 2. "Cosmic Dancer": Marc Bolan’s Otherworldly Persona <i>Alison Blair</i> 3. David Bowie and the Art of Performance <i>Shelton Waldrep</i> 4. Gus Dudgeon’s Super Sonic Signature <i>Sam Bennett</i> 5. Roxy Musicology: The Substance of Style <i>Jon Fitzgerald and Philip Hayward</i> 6. No Escape from Reality: The Postcolonial Glam of Freddie Mercury <i>Nancy L. Stockdale</i> 7. Glam Britannia: The Intersection of Glam and Britpop <i>Amanda Mills</i> <b>PART II. Europe and North America </b>8. Alice Cooper: Glam Rock’s Problem Child <i>Ian Chapman</i> 9. KISS, Glam Performance, and the Incarnation of Superheroes <i>Lee Chambers and Robert G. Weiner</i> 10. All Those Wasted Years: Hanoi Rocks and the Transitions of Glam <i>Brad Klypchak</i> 11. Naughty Women vs. Macho Men: Glam-punk and Homophobia in Southern California in the late 1970s <i>Jay Keister</i> 12. When Hip Hop Met Glam: The Disidentifications of Mykki Blanco <i>Giuseppe Zevolli</i> 13. Twenty-First-Century Girl: Lady Gaga, Performance Art, and Glam <i>Philip Auslander</i> <b>PART III. Global Perspectives</b> 14. "Visual-kei": Glamour in Japanese Pop Music <i>Henry Johnson and Akitsugu Kawamoto</i> 15. Toward a Gendered Aesthetics of K-Pop <i>Timothy Laurie</i> 16. Southeast Asian Glamour: The Strange Case of <i>Rock Kapak</i> in Malaysia <i>Marco Ferrarese</i> 17. Tropical Glam: The Libertarian Glitter Scene in Brazil <i>Fabiana Caso and Renata Aquino Ribeiro</i> 18. Drongoes in the Dress-up Box: Glam Rock in Australia <i>Paul "Nazz" Oldham</i> 19. Spotting the Rare Sequinned Kiwi: Three Approaches to Glam Rock in 1970s New Zealand <i>Ian Chapman</i> <i>Contributors</i> <i>Index</i></p>