Glam rock developed in the UK in the early 1970s after the hippie era, featuring glitter outfits, pop culture references, and hard guitar riffs. Glam rock artists like Kiss, Queen, and David Bowie embraced sexual ambiguity and blurred gender lines, with men wearing colorful leggings and makeup and women dressing similarly. Glam rock was characterized by male performers who wore makeup and feminine clothing while performing rock music with elaborate stage shows. Although glam rock implied homosexuality, most artists were not gay but used shock factors like makeup and jumpsuits to gain attention.
3. 1980s sub culture Glam rockers developed
in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. After the
hippie era, the fashions of the times changed, and so did
music. Glitter outfits, pop culture references and hard guitar riffs
became the essence of glam rock, which embraced sexual
ambiguity. Kiss, Queen and David Bowie are all examples of
popular glam rock artists.
Men and women wore outrageous clothes; for example men
would wear colourful leggings and body suits, leg warmers and
jewellery. At some point crazy makeup was also seen on men,
especially if they were a musician. They listened to rock music.
Moreover hairstyles were extreme and big.
Although men dressed in an abnormal way
which was to be seen as feminine, women
however dressed in similar ways too. So this
was quite strange as it affected the gender
role.
4. women men
As you can see above both images strangely look pretty similar.
This is because of their appearance; flared trousers, chunky heeled
shoes/boots, tight tops
and long hair on both men and women.
5. Glam rock was also
mainly characterised by
male performers who
wore makeup and
feminine style clothing
while performing rock
music. Some of the bands
of this early time had
extremely elaborate stage
shows, often emphasizing
futuristic themes. On of
the earliest and best
known glam rockers
was David Bowie ,
who blurred gender lines
with his heavily, make up
face and the personas he
adopted during concerts.
6. Representation in the media...
Glam rock often implied homosexuality to the public, but
most glam stars were not homosexual. However, a few
claimed they were bisexual, but only a handful actually
were gay, or were openly gay. Instead makeup and shiny
jumpsuits were meant to create public notice and provide
a shock factor.
In America, glam rock was a big influence to one of the
best known glam metal bands, ‘Kiss’, which formed at the
end of the 1970s. ‘Kiss’ stage shows were performed in
heavy makeup, featured some gender bending clothing,
and especially worked on providing shows focused on
horror themes. Kiss remained glam though focus was less
on science fiction and more on horror.
Other glam rockers dropped the sexual ambiguity but
remained popular. Queen, Elton John, and David Bowie all
emerged from the movement, retaining their popularity,
but choosing costumes that were less genderless. Glam
rock influenced later movements in rock.