I picked up these 45’s at Territory Records the other day. Slade and Sweet are two glam/glitter bands from late 60’s / early 70’s England. The music is not as influential as Bowie, Queen or T. Rex, but these guys did have some good ideas and may even be partially responsible for a paradigm shift in rock ‘n’ roll music.
The Glam movement is a precursor to punk and stemmed essentially from a rejection of the hippie counterculture. The bands incorporated futurism, fantasy and androgynous costumes with the intention of shocking the hippies and inspiring youth. The music was a simplified rock n’ roll inspired by The Who.
Slade are probably best known for pioneering the practice of misspelling words. Their song titles and even their own name are purposely off. Because they never saw success in the states, 80’s era hair metal bands lifted their entire genre from this one band. Kiss borrowed the title of their live album Alive! and the costumes. Quiet Riot covered their song “Cum On Feel The Noize” (click for an amazing Top of the Pops performance) to the note. Did you ever write “OZZY” across your fingers? They did that too!
The Sweet started out more with a more pop-oriented sound but quickly shed the bubblegum and controlling record producers to create their own glammed up sound. The first song they wrote themselves was Fox On The Run (click to watch the music video). This song, along with Ballroom Blitz were the band’s biggest hits. I think these two songs alone might put them above Slade in my book. They also pioneered a high-pitched vocal harmony style that has become synonymous with the glam rock sound.
Well, who’s gonna win this gay space alien band smackdown? Find out in Part 2!
