From: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org (avalon-digest) To: avalon-digest@smoe.org Subject: avalon-digest V3 #89 Reply-To: avalon@smoe.org Sender: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk avalon-digest Friday, April 17 1998 Volume 03 : Number 089 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [AVALON] Glam Coming Back? ["Decophile" ] Re: [AVALON] Glam Coming Back? [Heather Marie Propes Subject: [AVALON] Glam Coming Back? I found this artical and wanted to pass it on. From the New York News: All that glitters isn't: Old glam rock is back Flouncy music. Campy clothes. Flighty gestures. Such flourishes flagged early '70s glam-rock, a trend marked by colorful music and and amusingly demented accent on style. Now those dramatic elements seem poised for a comeback. A new wave of bands has been affixing glitter to their clothes, erecting elaborate sets for touring and taking influence from a whole range of glam mainstays like Queen, T-Rex, Roxy Music and the patron saint of the entire movement, David Bowie. The band Vaganza (short for extravaganza) appears in sci-fi zoot suits that seem swiped from the first Roxy Music record. Their music features the fruity falsettos of glitter acts from Sparks to The Sweet. They've even got a berserk 9 1/2-minute mock opera on their self-titled debut (which arrives next week) called "Rock 'n' Roll Apocalpyse," whose 10-layer-cake arrangment could make it a sister to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Sample lines: "Listen to me all you boys and girls/ better pucker up your lips/ get ready for a rock 'n' roll apocalypse" — sung by a full choir, no less. Though the duo that makes up Vaganza hails from Maplewood, N.J., they boast wryly snooty English names — Quigley and David Longworth-Wallingford. On the West Coast, the band 10 Speed features a singer, Hutch Walker, who's a dead ringer for glam's first tousle-haired star, Marc Bolan. There's also plenty of Bowie in Walker's voice, and Queen's orchestral guitars in the music, on their self-titled debut, arriving in May. In case you miss the point, the first single is called "Space Queen." Overseas, there's the band Plastico, three Swedes who sport faux furs and leather and whose music swipes the drumbeat of Gary Glitter and the infantile choruses of Slade. Even the music of some more-established performers shows a glitter sheen of late. The new Pulp album "This is Hardcore" takes inspiration from the grand ballads of Mott the Hoople, while Scott Weiland casts himself in Bowie's role from the movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth" in his current video for "Barbarella." Meanwhile, a fictional movie set at the height of the glitter era ('72-74), titled "The Velvet Goldmine," opens at Cannes in May. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a Bowie-style rouge-rock star, the movie was directed by respected cineaste Todd Haynes ("Poison," "Safe"), with an expected U.S. release in November. At the same time, the play "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," about a glam-style rock star with a sex change, has been playing to packed houses at the Jane Street Theater. And a play about Queen's late singer Freddie Mercury is being developed for Broadway by the director of the latest production of "The King & I," Christopher Renshaw. So why has glam come slamming back to rock just now? "Earlier in the '90s, color and theatrics weren't valued," says 10 Speed's Walker. "We're all reacting against that." According to Vaganza's Longworth-Wallingford, "there's been such a lack of showmanship in rock. We wanted to do a bigger-scale production. We want to bring back bombast." Such a desire mirrors the advent of the original glam wave. In 1970, Alice Cooper became the first rocker to present a fully theatrical show, flaunting an irony that stood in defiant reaction to the drab naturalism of hippie rock. In the '90s, the Cooperesque Marilyn Manson became the first modern rocker to challenge the earnestness and unpretentiousness of grunge rock. The new glam wave repeats the scene just after Cooper, mining the intergalactic/androgynous cabaret forged by Bowie. Not that the new bands simply recycle sounds and visions from the past. "We're not interested in preserving rock traditions," Longworth-Wallingford says. "We want to experiment to the same degree that our heroes did." Still, the old glitter gang clearly influenced the new bands' stage shows. 10 Speed employs an old-fashioned drum riser, smoke machines and early-'70s swollen amplifiers. Vaganza plans to play with more than 10 musicians onstage and will feature eye-catching costumes at the Mercury Lounge each Wednesday beginning in late May. Both acts say that should they break big, they'll only add to their props. For now, they're just glad to have the chance to bring rock "more options," as Walker puts it. "The music of the last few years denied so many colors." By contrast, neo-glitter runs through every shade in the sonic rainbow. ___________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 09:32:48 -0500 (CDT) From: Heather Marie Propes Subject: Re: [AVALON] Glam Coming Back? Thanks for the great information. Now I have lots of new entries for my "CD store want list." I was into the glam scene when it came back in the late 80's. So glad to have it back again. I think this time it will be a lot better because it's not heavy-metal/goth based. Heather Marie Propes hmpropes@uchicago.edu On Thu, 16 Apr 1998, Decophile wrote: > I found this artical and wanted to pass it on. > > > >From the New York News: > All that glitters isn't: > Old glam rock is back > > Flouncy music. Campy clothes. Flighty gestures. Such flourishes > flagged early '70s glam-rock, a trend marked by colorful music and and > amusingly demented accent on style. Now those dramatic elements seem poised > for a comeback. A new wave of bands has been affixing glitter to their > clothes, erecting elaborate sets for touring and taking influence from a > whole > range of glam mainstays like Queen, T-Rex, Roxy Music and the patron saint > of > the entire movement, David Bowie. > The band Vaganza (short for extravaganza) appears in sci-fi zoot suits that > seem swiped from the first Roxy Music record. Their music features the > fruity > falsettos of glitter acts from Sparks to The Sweet. They've even got a > berserk > 9 1/2-minute mock opera on their self-titled debut (which arrives next week) > called "Rock 'n' Roll Apocalpyse," whose 10-layer-cake arrangment could make > it a sister to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Sample lines: "Listen to me all > you boys and girls/ better pucker up your lips/ get ready for a rock 'n' > roll > apocalypse" — sung by a full choir, no less. > Though the duo that makes up Vaganza hails from Maplewood, N.J., they boast > wryly snooty English names — Quigley and David Longworth-Wallingford. > On the West Coast, the band 10 Speed features a singer, Hutch Walker, who's > a > dead ringer for glam's first tousle-haired star, Marc Bolan. There's also > plenty of Bowie in Walker's voice, and Queen's orchestral guitars in the > music, on their self-titled debut, arriving in May. In case you miss the > point, the first single is called "Space Queen." > Overseas, there's the band Plastico, three Swedes who sport faux furs and > leather and whose music swipes the drumbeat of Gary Glitter and the > infantile > choruses of Slade. Even the music of some more-established performers shows > a > glitter sheen of late. The new Pulp album "This is Hardcore" takes > inspiration > from the grand ballads of Mott the Hoople, while Scott Weiland casts himself > in Bowie's role from the movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth" in his current > video for "Barbarella." > Meanwhile, a fictional movie set at the height of the glitter era ('72-74), > titled "The Velvet Goldmine," opens at Cannes in May. Starring Jonathan Rhys > Meyers as a Bowie-style rouge-rock star, the movie was directed by respected > cineaste Todd Haynes ("Poison," "Safe"), with an expected U.S. release in > November. At the same time, the play "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," about a > glam-style rock star with a sex change, has been playing to packed houses at > the Jane Street Theater. And a play about Queen's late singer Freddie > Mercury > is being developed for Broadway by the director of the latest production of > "The King & I," Christopher Renshaw. > So why has glam come slamming back to rock just now? "Earlier in the '90s, > color and theatrics weren't valued," says 10 Speed's Walker. "We're all > reacting against that." > According to Vaganza's Longworth-Wallingford, "there's been such a lack of > showmanship in rock. We wanted to do a bigger-scale production. We want to > bring back bombast." > Such a desire mirrors the advent of the original glam wave. In 1970, Alice > Cooper became the first rocker to present a fully theatrical show, flaunting > an irony that stood in defiant reaction to the drab naturalism of hippie > rock. > In the '90s, the Cooperesque Marilyn Manson became the first modern rocker > to > challenge the earnestness and unpretentiousness of grunge rock. The new glam > wave repeats the scene just after Cooper, mining the > intergalactic/androgynous > cabaret forged by Bowie. Not that the new bands simply recycle sounds and > visions from the past. "We're not interested in preserving rock traditions," > Longworth-Wallingford says. "We want to experiment to the same degree that > our > heroes did." > Still, the old glitter gang clearly influenced the new bands' stage shows. > 10 > Speed employs an old-fashioned drum riser, smoke machines and early-'70s > swollen amplifiers. Vaganza plans to play with more than 10 musicians > onstage > and will feature eye-catching costumes at the Mercury Lounge each Wednesday > beginning in late May. Both acts say that should they break big, they'll > only > add to their props. For now, they're just glad to have the chance to bring > rock "more options," as Walker puts it. "The music of the last few years > denied so many colors." > By contrast, neo-glitter runs through every shade in the sonic rainbow. > ___________ > > > > > ------------------------------ End of avalon-digest V3 #89 *************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to avalon-digest-owner@smoe.org