Well before Lady Gaga hot the stage with her glam rock performances there were rock stars like David Bowie as "Ziggy Stardust" and Marc Bolan. I was born in Scotland where glam rock fashion was not an easy thin to pull off. of all the places in the world Scotland was not a great place to look like a glam rock star. The street gangs of northern England were not well known at the time but they were all about ready to pounce on anyone looking a bit different. I was a bit removed from this as my family were middle class and we lived outside the city center of Glasgow which was a bit less hostile. The level of un employment and drugs on the street made life in the inner cities of Scotland pretty hard for a kid into glam rock
I was 11 years old when I first discovered glam rock stars like Marc Bolan and T Rex in the form of the single 'Jeepster' which I wore out twice on my parents' record-player. My class at school, in terms of pop sensibility was divided as follows: the boys were fans of either Slade or The Sweet, and the girls all adored Marc Bolan and glam rock. The latter was dismissed by the boys as 'a poof' even though Steve Priest, bass-player of The Sweet was clearly as glam rock & camp as anyone on the scene. But he got a pass for some reason. So I listened to my T Rex records in private, not letting on to any of my class-mates about my new obsession glam rock, fearing that I in turn would be instantly labeled as 'a poof'. My next major discovery was glam rock and Roxy Music's first album. The inside sleeve features glam fashion photos of the band looking like Science Fiction movie-stars, and it was this which first provoked the thought in me: 'I want to look like a glam rock star'.
The early experiences as a glam rock guy in London started by asking my mother for money to get some platform boots. it took a little while to perfect my own glam rock look as many of the top clothes were from Biba a famous shop in London that sold glam rock fashions for very expensive prices. Soon the clothes became available at the average shop and the prices really dropped, there was such a demand from the kids to look like a glam rock star that the fashion even got into the mainstream shops were the everyday shopper would now see it as somewhat normal attire. Looking at old footage of 70s films you can see the platform shoes and the spikey haircuts that were influencing designers of the high street fashions that normal people would shop.
My first encounter with violence came with me walking home after a local glam rock band played in our city. I was attacked by a local gang of kids who called me names and proceeded to rip at my sleeve. I told several of them who I actually knew from school that I was not gay I just liked the clothes and so did the girls, this enraged them even more. I was lucky just to get a black eye, spat on and my shoes taken (presumable so one of them could wear them) and get a date. Anyways it was my introduction to intolerance for no reason but the way you look and the ignorance and stupidity of the act would remain with me all my life. If people could not accept the glam rock clothes you wear how would it feel to have a skin color that they did not like? Times have changes a bit and glam rock stars like Lady Gaga can get away with more now.
Feeling defeated the next day and nursing a swollen eye, bruises and my lost clothes I was at a loss wondering why someone would go out of their way to harm me just for being a bit different. In reality I was mimicking the glam rock stars on television never knowing that their lives were a parody of the glam rock fantasy. Now looking at footage of say the New York Dolls I see that even them all being around age twenty they were already looking burned out from constant touring, no sleep and all the drugs that keep you going when you cannot go on. That morning my clothes getting ruined were my biggest concern, now I realize the bigger picture the intolerance to me just being dressed up in a glam fashion was the iceberg of intolerance people face everyday for being different. One in a blue moon I get the urge to claim my individuality and wear at least something to stand out a being glam rock.
I was 11 years old when I first discovered glam rock stars like Marc Bolan and T Rex in the form of the single 'Jeepster' which I wore out twice on my parents' record-player. My class at school, in terms of pop sensibility was divided as follows: the boys were fans of either Slade or The Sweet, and the girls all adored Marc Bolan and glam rock. The latter was dismissed by the boys as 'a poof' even though Steve Priest, bass-player of The Sweet was clearly as glam rock & camp as anyone on the scene. But he got a pass for some reason. So I listened to my T Rex records in private, not letting on to any of my class-mates about my new obsession glam rock, fearing that I in turn would be instantly labeled as 'a poof'. My next major discovery was glam rock and Roxy Music's first album. The inside sleeve features glam fashion photos of the band looking like Science Fiction movie-stars, and it was this which first provoked the thought in me: 'I want to look like a glam rock star'.
The early experiences as a glam rock guy in London started by asking my mother for money to get some platform boots. it took a little while to perfect my own glam rock look as many of the top clothes were from Biba a famous shop in London that sold glam rock fashions for very expensive prices. Soon the clothes became available at the average shop and the prices really dropped, there was such a demand from the kids to look like a glam rock star that the fashion even got into the mainstream shops were the everyday shopper would now see it as somewhat normal attire. Looking at old footage of 70s films you can see the platform shoes and the spikey haircuts that were influencing designers of the high street fashions that normal people would shop.
My first encounter with violence came with me walking home after a local glam rock band played in our city. I was attacked by a local gang of kids who called me names and proceeded to rip at my sleeve. I told several of them who I actually knew from school that I was not gay I just liked the clothes and so did the girls, this enraged them even more. I was lucky just to get a black eye, spat on and my shoes taken (presumable so one of them could wear them) and get a date. Anyways it was my introduction to intolerance for no reason but the way you look and the ignorance and stupidity of the act would remain with me all my life. If people could not accept the glam rock clothes you wear how would it feel to have a skin color that they did not like? Times have changes a bit and glam rock stars like Lady Gaga can get away with more now.
Feeling defeated the next day and nursing a swollen eye, bruises and my lost clothes I was at a loss wondering why someone would go out of their way to harm me just for being a bit different. In reality I was mimicking the glam rock stars on television never knowing that their lives were a parody of the glam rock fantasy. Now looking at footage of say the New York Dolls I see that even them all being around age twenty they were already looking burned out from constant touring, no sleep and all the drugs that keep you going when you cannot go on. That morning my clothes getting ruined were my biggest concern, now I realize the bigger picture the intolerance to me just being dressed up in a glam fashion was the iceberg of intolerance people face everyday for being different. One in a blue moon I get the urge to claim my individuality and wear at least something to stand out a being glam rock.
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