"The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium."
My life as a Glam Rock music fan in the 70s Long before Lady Gaga there was David Bowie & T. Rex. I grew up in Dundee, a city on the east coast of Scotland, some 60 miles north of Edinburgh. There are many places in the world where ‘looking different’ an glam rock fashions can attract negative attention and at that time, Dundee was such a place. Street gangs were common and well-organized, each having its own ‘uniform’ consisting of a colored jersey, Sta-Prest trousers and Doc Marten boots (a continuation of the skin-head fashion of the 60s). The Lochee Fleet wore blue and red, the Shams wore black and red, the Kirkton Huns blue and white, and so on. Consequently, street violence was rife, combined with high unemployment and an abundance of hard drugs. I was relatively sheltered from all of this, growing up in a stereotypically middle-class family, living in what would have been considered a ‘posh’ part of town, attending a ‘posh’ school, the Dundee High, a semi-private, Presbyterian establishment who preached unhealthy, elitist attitudes towards the outside world and glam rock fashions.
At a very early age I was influenced by glam rock and at age 16 decided I wanted to look as cool as David Bowie on top of the pops. Glam rock bands like T rex were the rage and all the girls loved guys who where brave enough to wear the glam rock fashions. There were many different styles of music going on in the 70s but glam rock bands like Roxy music, The sweet, Jobriath, New York Dolls and many others were just what the kids needed in gloomy Scotland. I used to listen to T.Rex all day long and think about the lifestyle glam rack stars like David Bowie and Mark Bolan used to lead. Almost like the glamorous film stars of the 1940s they rode in limousines and stayed at the best hotels. The management firms of budding glam rock stars added to mystique by making their life seem like a dream and their habits more like a space alien than a real person. This was only marketing but it all added up to a very fun illusion of the life of a glam rock star.
My glam rock life began as I started to badger my mother for certain clothes: I wanted platform shoes, I wanted flares, shirts with wild, aeroplane collars and, above all, long hair. It took quite some time to get my “glam rock look’ together but finally, at about the age of 14, I was able to look in the mirror with some degree of satisfaction.I rapidly realized that, in a place like Dundee, dressing in this glam rock fashion manner would be asking for abuse and it soon came along. It was mostly verbal combined with being jostled or shoulder-barged in the street. i was soon to learn the danger’s of dressing like a glam rock star in the 70s.
My first encounter with violence came with me walking home after a local glam rock band played in our city. I was attacked by a local gang of kids who called me names and proceeded to rip at my sleeve. I told several of them who I actually knew from school that I was not gay I just liked the clothes and so did the girls, this enraged them even more. I was lucky just to get a black eye, spat on and my shoes taken (presumable so one of them could wear them) and get a date. Anyways it was my introduction to intolerance for no reason but the way you look and the ignorance and stupidity of the act would remain with me all my life. If people could not accept the glam rock clothes you wear how would it feel to have a skin color that they did not like? Times have changes a bit and glam rock stars like Lady Gaga can get away with more now.
Since it was raining, walking in my socks wasn’t really an option- so I hopped and hobbled to the bus-stop. On the bus I was mocked and jeered at by a group of teenagers for looking glam rock but finally made it home, war-torn and bloody. Thanks to the alcohol, I didn’t feel any physical pain until the following day when I woke up with a black eye and what turned out to be a cracked rib. But it was the irreparable damage to my clothing which upset me more than anything else. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t the only glam rock person in Dundee and I soon met and befriended other like-minded glam rock individuals. This enabled me to avoid developing a persecution-complex, realizing with some pride and satisfaction that I was pursuing self-expression without compromise in a hostile environment opposed to glam rock.
Rock star New Glam rock music fashion styleDavid Bowie clothes Glam Music fashions styles people makeup bands stars london vintage clothing 1970s 2012 glam rock music
In China historians have found out a lot about the early Chinese dynasties from the written documents left behind. From the Shang Dynasty most of this writing has survived on bones or bronze implements. Markings on turtle shells (used as oracle bones) have been carbon-dated to around 1500 BC. Historians have found that the type of media used had an effect on what the writing was documenting and how it was used.