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In the late sixties and throughout the seventies, when things like eye makeup, glitter, spandex, and platform heels weren't an oddity but staples among rock stars, glam rock was a popular music scene; a musical genre in its own right. But as time passed, ushering in the studio produced beats of eighties rock, and the angst fueled rock of the nineties, glam rock became a distant memory, virtually nonexistent. Until recently. You probably thought you'd never see glam rock thriving again, and in a sense glam rock, at least the type you're thinking of, isn't going through any sort of resurrection and most likely won't be any time soon, but traces of its style of flamboyance and grandeur can be found in the rock bands of today. So what is glam rock in the modern world of music?

The scissor sisters, with their onstage costumes, dance style melodies, and falsettos, is a band that quite obviously take direct influence from the glam rockers of the seventies. But younger bands, like Panic at the Disco, are turning out their own brand of glam rock, with a sound more rock/punk than disco, (I am aware of the contradiction given the band's name), and with an even more ostentatious image than those of 70s rock bands. Citing musicals such as Moulin Rouge! as influence, Panic at the Disco lend a more sophisticated feel to stereotypical glam rock glitz. With Victorian-style onstage outfits, mimes, circus performers, and burlesque dancers, Panic's live show create the grandeur and atmosphere of a Broadway musical. With a cabaret-like sound infused with 20s style keyboards, old-world glamour is a continuing theme for the band, which, needless to say, is not typical of 70s glam rock.

Glam rock has a very different meaning today than it did thirty years ago. The terms "glam rock" no longer conjure images of Elvis Presley in white jumpsuit, Rick James in spandex, or Kiss in full-on onstage getups. Today, glam rock is not disco music performed by an artist complete with a disco look, but rock music slightly injected with light-hearted, fun, dance style melodies.

Learn more about this author, August Aurora James.
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