Glam To Goth

While glam and goth are superficially different they are very similar in a number of fundamentals. They are both difficult to characterise as distinct forms musically. Rather they are defined by particular themes and moods that can be attached to a variety of musical genres. And while those moods and themes are different they have in common the characteristics of costuming, playacting and gender-bending. They also tend to attract the same sort of fan-base.

The glam identity was adopted by artists across many genres including psychedelia (Hawkwind), metal (Alice Cooper and Kiss), funk (Parliament and Funkadelic), punk (The Stooges and The New York Dolls) and disco (The Village People and La Belle). The popular singer-songwriter David Bowie assumed the persona of ‘Ziggy Stardust’ for his glam phase. And some progressive supergroups (Queen and Roxy Music) took on glam characteristics. These characteristics included dressing in extravagant costumes with speculative fiction themes and taking on tragi-comic personas with an androgenous bent. The music itself tended to be nostalgic in its emulation of older blues-derived popular music. Key exponents of the glam movement included T-Rex, The Sweet and Sky Hooks. There was even a glam musical in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. For a while it all seemed very new and novel. However glam was an attention-seeking ploy for most artists and as such went the way of all fads (there have however been recent glam tributes by acts such as the Scissor Sisters).

Goth was different. It came to represent a whole way of life. There was always something a bit silly and self-mocking in glam. In contrast goth is very earnest in its melancholic pose. Its feel is taken from gothic horror and an entire sub-culture has formed which seeks to embrace the bittersweet in life. As such goth music is whatever members of the sub-culture happen to listen to. Goth drew on New Wave and other musicians. Its acts included Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, Concrete Blonde and Nick Cave. David Bowie got into the act with his ‘Nathan Adler’ persona.

Members of the sub-culture will listen to much more than these bands and have more than a passing fancy for atmospheric trance (Massive Attack), introspective singer-songwriters (Tori Amos) and angry bands blending hardcore with hip-hop (Korn). Thus the mood of gothic music creeps into other genres from time-to-time.