what is glam rock?

• glam rock is a style of rock that emerges from the UK in the 1970’s

• glam rock is usually performed by male performers who wear flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles. it’s also sick as fuck. this is awesome.

david bowie

• david bowie is an english singer-songwriter.

• he is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

• bowie starts his career during the british invasion. most of the bands and the music they release fail to gain any success.

• bowie’s early success

  • bowie finally achieved success in 1969 when he writes the song space oddity. the song earns him a contract with mercury records.

  • even though space oddity is a hit, it is his last for three years.

  • he has an album called honky dory which has a hit song “changes.”

• ziggy stardust

  • in 1972, bowie re-emerged with short, red hair and glam rock inspired outfits

  • this new look is part of his new glam rock stage persona - ziggy stardust

• the rise of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars

  • released in 1972

  • this album is one of the defining albums of glam rock

  • the album was a concept album about an alien rockstar named ziggy stardust who is sent to earth as a savior before an impending apocalypse. he wins the hearts of his fans but his career is destroyed by his own ego.

  • top songs

    • starman

    • ziggy stardust

    • suffragette city

  • after releasing the album and touring extensively, bowie decides to break up the spiders and move on from ziggy stardust

• after ziggy

  • after leaving the ziggy stardust persona behind, bowie’s music changes over time to span many genres

• diamond dogs

  • released in 1974

  • top song

    • rebel rebel

• young americans

  • top songs

    • young americans

    • fame (with john lennon)

• heroes

  • released in 1977

  • top song

    • heroes - i feel infinite

• let’s dance

  • released in 1983

  • co produced by nile rogers (chic and daft punk)

  • top song

    • lets dance

• david bowie’s legacy

  • in total, bowie releases 26 studio albums, 9 live albums, and 128 singles.

  • bowie’s career spans from the 1960’s to his death in 2016.

kiss

• kiss was an american band formed in nyc in 1973.

• kiss was known for their face paint and costumes

• their stage show incorporates lots of theatrics such as fire breathing, pyrotechnics, floating drum kits, smoking guitars. they did some crazy shit.

• kiss was also known for turning their band into a brand, you can purchase kiss themed

  • t shirts

  • hats

  • action figures

  • pinball machine

  • kiss koffin

• kiss is one of the best selling bands of all time, selling 75 million records worldwide

• early kiss

  • kiss’ main period of success was from their debut album in 1974 through the ‘70s

• kiss (self titled)

  • released in 1974

  • kiss was the band’s first album released

  • top songs

    • kissin’ time

    • strutter

• dressed to kill

  • released in 1975

  • it’s their third album

  • top songs

    • c’mon and love me

    • rock and roll all nite

• alive

  • released in 1975

  • first live album

• destroyer

  • released in 1976

  • destroyer is the first kiss album to go platinum

  • top songs

    • detroit rock city

    • shout it out loud

    • beth

• dynasty

  • released in 1979

  • dynasty was a departure from their earlier glam rock albums

  • dynasty has more dance inspired sounds

  • top song

    • i was made for loving you

• later kiss

  • kiss’ career continues into the 1980’s and 1990’s with a few member changes

  • at one point, the band decided to leave the costumes and makeup behind

  • by the early 2000s, the band was back in makeup, touring and releasing new music

  • the band continued to tour until the end of 2023 when they went on their final tour

QUEEN LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

• queen is a uk rock band formed in 1970

• while we consider early queen glam rock, their early music is also considered progressive rock, hard rock, and even heavy metal.

• early queen

  • queen is formed when members of a band called smile start a new band with a new lead singer, farrokh “freddie” bulsara. bulsara studied fashion design and graphic design. freddie is born in zanzibar and is of indian parsi descent.

    • he had an unusually big four octave vocal range. a lot of people think his vocal range was de to him being born with four extra teeth

  • brian may, a member of smile, continues on as a guitar player for the new band. brian studies astrophysics and built his guitar out of the wood from his home's fireplace.

  • roger taylor a member of smile, continues on as the drummer in the new band. roger sings most of the high harmonies in queen

  • freddie changes his last name to mercury and suggests they name the band queen

  • john deacon joins the band a year later in 1971. john is a talented songwriter who writes some of queen’s biggest hits

• queen (self-titled)

  • released in 1973

  • debut album for the band

  • queen releases the album independently, they don’t have a record deal.. yet!

  • even though we study queen as a glam rock band, queen i is rooted in heavy metal and hard rock

  • top songs

    • keep yourself alive

    • doing alright

    • seven seas of rhye

• queen ii

  • released in 1974

  • first album released under a record deal with emi

  • considered the hardest queen album

  • top song

    • seven seas of rhye

• classic queen

• sheer heart attack

  • released in 1974

  • sheer heart attack moves away from the hard rock and is more pop oriented - known as the classic queen sound

  • sheer heart attack goes platinum in the us, canada, and poland

  • top songs

    • killer queen

    • stone cold crazy

• a night at the opera

  • queen experimented on a night at the opera with multi tracking voices and many different styles of music

  • a night at the opera is queen’s fist album to reach platinum status in the us

  • the album is considered queen’s greatest

  • top songs

    • i’m in love with my car

    • you’re my best friend

    • love of my life

    • bohemian rhapsody

• a day at the races

  • released in 1976

  • it is queen’s first self-produced album

  • considered a companion album to a night at the opera

  • top songs

    • tie your mother down

    • good old fashioned lover boy

    • somebody to love

• news of the world

  • released in 1977

  • news of the world was written as a response to other artists challenging their progressive and hard rock roots

  • the album introduced the world to frank the robot. frank becomes the band’s mascot to this day. he was from a cartoon in the 1920s or so and the band found the artist and had them redraw the robot.

  • top songs

    • we will rock you

    • we are the champions

• jazz

  • released in 1978

  • not very popular when first released, however it gains popularity later

  • top songs

    • fat bottomed girls

    • bicycle race

    • don’t stop me now

• the game

  • releases in 1980

  • the game is the only queen album to hit #1 in the us

  • the game features another one bites the dust, one of john deacon’s most famous songs. it was suggested as a single by michael jackson.

  • top songs

    • play the game

    • another one bites the dust

    • crazy little thing called love

• hot space

  • released in 1982

  • hot space is a unique queen album. it contains mostly disco, funk, and pop songs.

  • although it is included on the album, under pressure was recorded a year before the album was released. under pressure is a duet with david bowie.

• the works

  • released in 1984

  • returned to the heavy rock sound plus the addition of electronic sounds and funk bass

  • top songs

    • radio gaga

    • i want to break free

    • hammer to fall

• later queen

  • from 1986 to 1992, queen releases four more albums

  • top songs from later albums

    • a kind of magic

    • who wants to live forever

    • i want it all

    • innuendo

• historic concerts

  • queen performed several historic concerts during their career

  • two important ones were live and and wembley stadium

• the death of freddie mercury

  • freddie mercury, a member of the gay community, showed signs of the virus in the early 1980s, but denied having the virus.

  • on november 23rd, 1991, mercury officially announced that he had contracted aids.

  • mercury died 24 hours later on november 24th

• after freddie

  • queen takes time to mourn the death of their friend, but they return to perform a memorial concert.

  • queen releases one last album, made in heaven, with tracks that freddie had been working on before his death.

• queen + paul rodgers

  • from 2005-2009, brian may and roger taylor toured with rock singer paul rodgers

• queen + adam lambert

  • in 2011, queen hired american idol contestant adam lambert to replace rodgers in queen. you can still see this version of queen today.