GLAM ROCK Fashionably Late & Fresh From Art School

SPARKS arrived on the American scene in 1972, but despite two critically acclaimed albums it took a transplant to the UK for brothers Ron and Russell Mael, and a complete line-up change of their band before 1974’s ‘Kimono My House’ and it’s hit single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ found their niche with the public. The Mael Brothers, with frequent group line-up changes, survived by constantly reinventing their sound, re-emerging onto the charts at the height of the disco boom with the Giorgio Moroder produced 'No.1 Song In Heaven' Thirty years on they are still going strong without ever having had to sell out or resort to the cabaret circuit where so many of their contemporaries ended up.

COCKNEY REBEL, the original group, barely lasted for two albums before frontman, former journalist Steve Harley and the group came to artistic blows whilst on tour. Harley relaunched the act almost immediately as the more ego-centric STEVE HARLEY AND COCKNEY REBEL (see Going Solo), in which the other band members suddenly took a turn for the anonymous. The first two Rebel albums, ‘The Human Menagerie’ and The Psychomodo’ do, however, remain as Harley’s most enduring work, and, at least as far as public perception went, at this point in their career Rebel were seen as being a group. Harley has attempted to publically distance himself from the glam movement, but one look at their early publicity photos leaves you in no doubt that they were firmly a part of the scene.

QUEEN were practically the only group to survive the demise of glam in the late seventies with their career intact. Formed in 1971, the group survived initial critical scorn to achieve massive international success, most notably when 'Bohemian Rhapsody' topped the British charts for nine weeks and was widely credited with launching the video revolution.

Freddie Mercury was the one glam star who I can claim to have known personally, and I have now added my own Personal Memoir of Freddie Mercury.

BE BOP DELUXE were formed by singer Bill Nelson in 1971, but following the release of their first album in 1974 Nelson split the group (in a move similar to that of Steve Harley with Cockney Rebel, whose sound was also similar), recruiting a completely new line-up - including briefly 2 former Rebel members. It took a further 2 years before the group achieved chart success, with Nelson eventually going solo in 1979.