Hey there you dazzling glittery beauties. I’ve decided that I will post the songs that give me the most aural pleasure. Im basically going to select some songs that I think have similarities to a lot of basic rhythms in Glam Rock n Roll and how its has influenced me and the music that I make as well as focusing on bands that have been influenced by Glam as well. My hope is to broaden the spectrum of the Glam rock genre of music. I’m not going to focus on Glam Rock bands specifically (there are other sites that do it better). My goal is to share some songs that I have fallen in love with. Hopefully you’ll discover new songs in a different way or rediscover old favorites with a new perspective.
Hard Luck - The Undertones
Its no secret that this rhythmically gifted Irish punk band is amazing. Again, there are lots of sites that provide endless references, I’m speaking of the tireless references to Glam rock in their music, Gary Glitter Specifically. remember first listening to the undertones as a teenager and falling in love with “Family Entertainment”. I love the barbaric thudding beats I could pogo to. I loved the gang vocals and perfectly placed handclaps I heard and it gave my ears a glittery and orgasmic sensation (you know that flushed feeling when you”re kinda buzzed or nervous?).
Upon listening to the Undertones’ second record “Hypnotized” I felt a few tracks stand out but i primarily loved the b side of this particular record. I’m usually a b-side fanatic of everything anyway but HARD LUCK was the first track of theirs to really stand out for me. It was only after researching this song did I find out about their instrumental b-side version on the 7″. As I read the liner notes to a singles collection I got on cd (True Confessions) I read how much of a fan Feargal Sharkey was of Gary Glitter. Instant sparks of joy entered my brain upon reading this. So if course i became obsessively playing the track over and over and later found out they did a dover of “Rock n Roll” on a peel sessions record!
There is a little bit of a tease with the guitars fiddling around before they officially start playing for the recording. What also makes it pretty perfect the call and response gang vocals and the tribal glam rock steady beat that ensues. I absolutely adore how anthemic their “HEY!”s are. Again the steady consistent and relatively simple sounding beat is amazing and makes you wanna jump up and down. This song has everything a Glam Punk song could ever need! The pulse of the beat is what is most attractive to me along with Feargal’s own style of his high pitched/shaky vocalizing.
Other similar style song recommendations from this band include:
Nine times out of Ten
Family Entertainment
Rock n Roll (Peel Sessions G.Glitter cover)
Get Over You
Whats with Terry
My Perfect Cousin