The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock

Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion James E. Perone "The development of British invasion rock music is chronicled from the 1960s to modern times, documenting tensions between two very different resort communities---the Mods and the Rockers. Each group claimed its own culture and style---but it was the Rockers that entered America with the Beatles in 1964, leading a generation of vast musical change fueled by British influences. Any library strong in rock music history needs this." Midwest Book Review

Macho Man: The Disco Era and Gay America's Coming Out Randy Jones and Mark Bego "Musician and actor Jones and entertainment writer Bego have been close friends and business partners for 40 years, and have finally decided to write a book together. They begin by surveying the changing attitude toward homosexuality throughout history and more specifically in American show business. Then they slow down to take in more detail, starting with Stonewall and the 1970s. Other topics include the Navy, the birth of disco, life after disco, important gay movies, and gay rock songs." Reference & Research Book News

The Words and Music of David Bowie James E. Perone "Joining others in The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection series is The Words and Music of David Bowie, an excellent survey of a rock era champion who gained early success in the glam rock subgenre, and whose work raised many issues about sexual orientation in rock music. Bowie has written and recorded music which has made an impact not just in the charts but upon rock music as a whole: because of this widespread impact, The Words and Music of David Bowie should not be overlooked by any serious music library." California Bookwatch

Though initially derided as "glitter rock." glam rock has endured for 40 years. Mixing theatre, pop, media, and identity politics, it fuses style, costumes, theatricality, and technology into a wild, euphoric music that perfectly fits the new millennium---and has much to say about our society over the past 40 years.

The very qualities that made glam unusual and undervalued are now being reintroduced into our culture through video, music, and cyber and computer mediums, while artists such as Lady Gaga have made glam popular once more. Carefully explaining this misunderstood genre, The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock explores glam's attraction and the reasons it has endured.

With the help of copious examples, the book covers the style from the pre-glam British invasion of 1964-69 through the classical glam era (1970-1975); the metamorphosis into glam goth, glam metal, and glam new-romanticism (1976-1990); and the style's reemergence (1990-present). It provides a theoretical basis for musicians' attraction to this highly visual and theatrical form of pop music and sets glam in a historical context, following the format through MTV, videos, and vibrant stage and theatre presentations. Finally, the book explores the hybridization of glam with other styles, illustrating how the genre has progressively reemerged as a premier form of performance pop.

Stuart Lenig, PhD, is the interim chair of the Humanities and Fine Arts Division at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, TN. Dr. Lenig's published works include Communication Odysseys with professors Lacey Benns and Daniel Johnson, a chapter on David Bowie for a book on cover songs, encyclopedia entries on graphic novels, and some humorous playlets based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.