My life as a Glam Rock music fan in the 70s Long before Lady Gaga there was David Bowie & T. Rex. I grew up in Dundee, a city on the east coast of Scotland, some 60 miles north of Edinburgh. There are many places in the world where 'looking different' an glam rock fashions can attract negative attention and at that time, Dundee was such a place. Street gangs were common and well-organized, each having its own 'uniform' consisting of a colored jersey, Sta-Prest trousers and Doc Marten boots (a continuation of the skin-head fashion of the 60s). The Lochee Fleet wore blue and red, the Shams wore black and red, the Kirkton Huns blue and white, and so on. Consequently, street violence was rife, combined with high unemployment and an abundance of hard drugs. I was relatively sheltered from all of this, growing up in a stereotypically middle-class family, living in what would have been considered a 'posh' part of town, attending a 'posh' school, the Dundee High, a semi-private, Presbyterian establishment who preached unhealthy, elitist attitudes towards the outside world and glam rock fashions.
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.
The first act of personal attack upon me did not take place very long afterward. I walked the distance from a bus stop on the way home from a glam rock gig by a new band in town. I was being screamed at by about 20 kids from across the street, soon they came charging after me wanting blood. I was trapped and tried to reason saying it was just a fashion thing and all the girls dug it. Unfortunately this made them even more angry as I suppose they were not so popular with the opposite sex as at the time glam rock guys were getting all the dates and best looking women.
I made it out alive with a few torn clothes and a missing platform boot. A small price to pay on reflection as if it were today I am sure there would have been a much more violent response. I did get a black eye and a few bruises but what really hurt is the wounded pride and loss of personal freedom to express yourself after such an encounter. I still wore glam rock fashions but was cautious where to go and be seen in such outfits. it all seemed so simple for the glam rock stats on my TV, they lived their lives (it seemed) dressing up every day in glam rock clothes and never having a care in the world. In truth I was too young to know about marketing, hype and that they were just kids themselves many manipulates to look a certain way just to make money as a glam rock star.
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.
The first act of personal attack upon me did not take place very long afterward. I walked the distance from a bus stop on the way home from a glam rock gig by a new band in town. I was being screamed at by about 20 kids from across the street, soon they came charging after me wanting blood. I was trapped and tried to reason saying it was just a fashion thing and all the girls dug it. Unfortunately this made them even more angry as I suppose they were not so popular with the opposite sex as at the time glam rock guys were getting all the dates and best looking women.
I made it out alive with a few torn clothes and a missing platform boot. A small price to pay on reflection as if it were today I am sure there would have been a much more violent response. I did get a black eye and a few bruises but what really hurt is the wounded pride and loss of personal freedom to express yourself after such an encounter. I still wore glam rock fashions but was cautious where to go and be seen in such outfits. it all seemed so simple for the glam rock stats on my TV, they lived their lives (it seemed) dressing up every day in glam rock clothes and never having a care in the world. In truth I was too young to know about marketing, hype and that they were just kids themselves many manipulates to look a certain way just to make money as a glam rock star.
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