I woke up to an email from my friend hpunch with a subject line that said, "Read It & Rage." My first thought was "Oh no." After opening the link that was attached, my next thought was, "The writing staff of Paste Magazine is a bunch of morons."
Here they are ladies and germs, Paste Magazine's 30 Greatest Glam Albums.
30. Hedwig & The Angry Inch
29. Poison- Look What The Cat Dragged In
28. Wizzard- Wizzard Brew
27. The Lemon Twigs- Songs For The General Public
26. Slade- Slayed?
25. Alice Cooper- Billion Dollar Babies
24. Kiss- Love Gun
23. Foxygen- Hang
22. Elton John- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
21. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
20. Brian Eno- Here Come The Warm Jets
19. Sparks- Kimono My House
18. Sweet- Desolation Boulevard
17. Mott The Hoople- All The Young Dudes
16. Van Halen- 1984
15. Jobriath- S/T
14. T. Rex- Electric Warrior
13. Queen- Sheer Heart Attack
12. Meat Loaf- Bat Out Of Hell
11. Def Leppard- Pyromania
10. Suzi Quatro- S/T
9. Suede- Dog Man Star
8. The Runaways- S/T
7. Iggy Pop- Lust For Life
6. Todd Rundgren- Something/Anything?
5. New York Dolls- S/T
4. Pulp- Different Class
3. Roxy Music- For Your Pleasure
2. Lou Reed- Transformer
1. David Bowie- Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
I count 9 actual glam albums on this list, 10 if you count Sweet's "Desolation Boulevard," which really sounds closer to heavy metal than their earlier glam singles.
I realize this type of click bait is designed to piss off old people like me, but I would think there'd be one person over 35 at Paste who had the balls to raise his hand at the meeting and say, "Uh...WRONG!"
Guess not.
Even after reading the explanation for the inclusion of "Something/Anything?," I couldn't figure out why it was on this list. And as a big Roy Wood fan, I can tell you, "Wizzard Brew" is about one overdubbed bagpipe short of unlistenable.
Here's the link.
Have fun.
20 comments:
Van Halen????
any appraisal of glam-rock that leaves out Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel is instantly unworthy ...
"“alien, sensationalistic, hysterical in both senses, a place where the sublime and ridiculous merge and become indistinguishable.”
I guess if you use that definition, I can see why some of these would fit, but I can see that not probably being everybody's initial concept of what Glam was/is.
I appreciate the shout-out to Hedwig, though. That soundtrack never gets enough love and it should.
I always thought glam had more to do with costumes and platform shoes and makeup and how the songs were performed at a show, so I can't really comment intelligently. ;)
However, I await with great anticipation your playlist! (Hint, hint!)
I am so thrilled that Jobriath is finally getting his due.😎
That's really one of the worst lists, ever. Completely divorced from reality. It's like doing a list of best punk albums and including The Carpenters (and not as a joke, or ironic commentary on what it means to be punk). Truly most of the albums are not remotely glam by any definition. We are drowning in lists. I do lists too. But this is just...wrong.
Have fun, indeed.
Randy
Glam-rock is a rather fuzzy term as evidenced by the list, however incorrect it is. I guess you have to be the Dead, the Band, the Allmans, Zeppelin, Purple, Floyd and their ilk to avoid it.
Something/Anything? is not glam. Maybe it was just Todd's choice of hair, make-up and clothing. He did produce the Dolls, after all. Elton John glam? The Liberace of rock is not glam. Flamboyance doesn't count. In E-Jay's case, the ridiculous glasses and wardrobe make it difficult to take his work seriously.
Is it Meat Loaf or Meatloaf? Whatever. Him and Steinman ain't glam. And 80's hair metal ain't either. But that depends on how narrow or broad one's criteria is. This list is stupid but I understand why. They forgot ABBA:)
But what about Little Richard, Esquerita and Gorgeous George? Forerunners? For me, no. That was a different trip. Just like the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
It all boils down to T. Rex and Bowie. Especially Bowie. Everyone else just followed or were led.
My cousin Marita lives in the Netherlands. When I was younger my family visited her family every couple of years. We bonded and we would write each other regularly. We occasionally sent records back and forth. In late '69 she sent me a 45 of Space Oddity. My first exposure to Bowie and I liked it. But not enough to buy anything else by him.
Then, about a year later, Barbara Birdfeather played a strange song on KPPC-FM and I recognized Bowie's voice immediately. It was like a circus waltz. I waited till the end of the set for her to announce the title. But she didn't, so I called the station to find out. It was called "After All." My incorrect guess was "Oh By Jingo."
The song intrigued me. To the utmost! I had to hear it again. So I took my TR-6 to Gillette's, the best mom & pop record store in the area. The place was a hangout for youth and Doug Gillette was a most curious 60 year old fucker. He wanted to know what was on your mind and he picked your brain for info. He thought of himself as a part of the scene. Whatever that meant. In his mind, his store was the scene.
He considered me a barometer of what might trend. I had more disposable income than most teens because of the modeling gigs, plus I did part time at my dad's office. Blew most of it on records and concerts with no regrets. Before Doug ordered records for the store he'd ask for my input.
At any rate, he had one copy of the Bowie album with "After All." It was titled "The Man Who Sold the World." The cover art was kinda stupid, but when I saw "Oh by Jingo" in the word balloon on the back, I knew I'd hit paydirt. Mr. Gillette, who I called Pops, asked me if it was good enough to buy stock. I told him probably not. It was too weird. But I only knew the one song from the radio. I was into a lot of weird shit back then like Tyrannosaurus Rex's early stuff.
Which reminded me, a few days before, I had watched a special on KTTV called "London Rock." It featured behind the scenes looks at Rod Stewart & the Faces, Matthews Southern Comfort, Linda Lewis, Fairport Convention and Tyrannosaurus Rex. It had Bolan doing "Children of Rarn." I wanted that record too. And Doug had one in stock.
The cool thing about Gillette's was that instead of having listening booths, they had listening rooms. They were outfitted with good stereos and Altec-Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers. That's one of the reasons it was a hangout.
I paid for the albums and asked if I could give Bowie a spin at the store. I wanted to hear it with 200 watts per channel. I dropped the needle on the opening track, "The Width of a Circle." It changed my life. I'm talking Road to Damascus shit here.
My first exposure to glam, although, as far as I know, the term hadn't been coined yet.
So, once again, all rivers flow from Bolan and Bowie. Especially Bowie. Post-Bowie Mott the Hoople, post-Bowie Lou Reed, post-Bowie Iggy, New York Dolls even early Be-Bop Deluxe and Roxy Music.
I think Sweet qualifies as glam too. And Slade. And the first 3 Queen, although they are kinda their own genre. Also, Steve Harley and elements of SAHB and a bunch of lesser bands. Ziggy and Aladdin Sane set the standard that no once since has been able to top.
VR
If your lead singer ever wore eye liner, you too may be a glam rock band!!!
Like the rock n roll hall of fame they haven’t got a clue.
Silly list. Still, I’m happy that Dog Man Star got a shoutout
Pulp? PULP????
"If your lead singer ever wore eye liner, you too may be a glam rock band!!!" -- pmac
Good one!
It's Meat Loaf, his professional name. The New York Times once did a profile and debated how to address him in the piece. On second reference, they decided to call him Mr. Loaf.
All such lists are silly. But I have to respectfully disagree with you on Wizzard's Brew. I have always enjoyed that elpee for all of it's over the top loonyness! I can't think of another record anything like it. Overdubbed bagpipes and all. Also Wear A Fast Gun from that album is just so beautiful. It can bring me to tears )if I'm in the right mood to be brought to tears)!
@Palakaloo
Well, Wizzard Brew is definitely better than Super Active Wizzo. I'll give ya that.
But also, I guess I really don't mind Wizzard Brew. Maybe I was a bit too harsh. It still isn't a glam album, though.
I'm guessing that we can agree that Mustard is brilliant from beginning to end!
And Boulders! And I love "On The Road Again." All Move and many Wizzard singles, as well as Roy solo singles. I love Roy!
Just not big on Eddy and Brew. I'm mostly put off by the muddy sound.
I don't know... I'm not as offended by this list as everyone else seems to be here. I'm game for most of this. I think there's "definition of glam", and then there's "spirit of glam". Both open to interpretation. This list is more "spirit". Def Leppard & Poison count.
I really only have 3 complaints here: I think Van Halen counts, sort of, but I would have picked one of the 1st 2 albums. Iggy Pop, kind of like Queen, is his own thing, but where he crossed paths with glam was Raw Power, not Lust For Life. And Something/Anything is not glam. Only if you look at pix of Todd from then. So what is that, like, "zeitgeist glam"? I wouldn't have included that.
Some of the late Move was just as glam as Wizzard (California Man, Do Ya, etc.). And I love that muddiness on Brew/Eddy! Heavy compression mash.
--G
Re: Roy Wood/Wizzard
Brew is something you have to be in the mood for. If you're not, it's a tough listen. Eddy I've always loved. IMHO one of the best albums of 1974. Boulders - it goes without saying. My favorite Wizzard album is the See My Baby Jive import comp. The singles were the bomb.
VR
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