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“Glam singles became great events, full of sirens, explosions, shocked expressions, themed with mysterious plots, chock-full of chants that sounded meaningless but who really knew”?
“The songs were ultra-ludicrous platform-booted forced marches through exclusively teen domain, designed specifically to annoy dad as he relaxed in front of Thursday nights Top of the Pops. Hell, Sweet’s Steve Priest even delivered his camp one-liner dressed in a Nazi uniform.
Ultimately, Glam Rock may have had no more message than a simple ‘Wake Up!’ But it was unashamedly attempting to be top entertainment at a time when most so-called serious rock was so far up its own ass that even putting on stage clothes was considered gauche by the delicate flowers of the singer/songwriters scene.
And considering David Bowie’s enlightened demand that rock’n’roll be reborn by becoming a parody of itself, the reality as it descended upon the 1970’s pop charts was, at times, quite spectacular and inventive. That we still have trouble defining this apparently simplistic phenomenon is a true testament to its clod-hopping Will ‘o’ the Wispiness”.
From ‘Re-Make/Re-Model’ by Julian Cope – a ‘GlamRockSampler’
http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/1990
Other "second generation" glam acts who were having hits towards the end of the glam rock period include: Hello who had a moderate hit in 1975 with "Star Studded Sham" and Son of a Gun who also had a flop single the same year with the song "La Maison De'L'Amour".
The songs are a good example of late period glam, while not up to the standards of the songs produced by the'premier' glam acts, they are still under-rated songs in their own right.
Hello were discovered by Argent songwriter Russ Ballard and the Zombies' old road manager David Blaylock. Russ Ballards first attempts at writing songs for the band was not successful so Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, then riding high with hits by the Sweet, offered one of their own latest compositions, "Dyna-Mite".
Hello recorded a version of the song, only for its scheduled release to be cancelled by producer Mike Leander, in favour of the band's own "Another School Day." Chinn and Chapman took the song back, handed it to Mud and promptly scored a massive hit.
"Another School Day," on the other hand, went nowhere and Hello disappeared from recorded view for much of the next three years. Their debut album, Keeps Us off the Streets, was wrapped in a mock denim cover which looked great on the racks and the band's next single, Ballard's "Star Studded Sham" brought them another German Top 20 hit on the heels of a sell-out tour with Smokie.
"La Maison De L'Amour was produced by Phil Wainman one of the biggest producers in the country. He produced "Sweet Fanny Adams", the best Sweet album of the lot, he produced two albums for the Bay City Rollers, including both their British #1 singles (the second of which, 'Give A Little Love' he co-wrote with John Goodison), and he worked with Mud after they split from Chinn & Chapman.
