“ Gone Brian Jones , Jim Morrison , Eddie Cochran , Buddy Holly … ” We know the lament of the ex-fan of the sixties, little baby doll , sadly sung by a Jane Birkin mourning her rock'n'roll idols . However, past the astonishment of a public to whom the illusion of immortal and deified beings had been sold to prematurely disappeared, the rock scene experienced an unexpected wave that would mark society in a dazzling and irreversible way: that of glam rock.
In an excellent documentary written and directed by Christophe Conte , ex-journalist at Inrocks and inhabited rock critic , Arte offers with Glam rock, grandeur and decadence an exciting journey in the odyssey of an emancipatory glitter movement.
What is glam rock?
The Beatles are separated. Lennon has definitely left for bed-ins with Yoko, Elvis is heading to Vegas, Hendrix , Joplin and Morrison have just bowed out at 27, leaving a generation worn out by two booming and liberating decades. In short, after years of recklessness and supremacy, rock'n'roll has a hangover. Television has taken place in all the lounges, color as a bonus, and the British show Top of the pops , launched in the midst of the explosion of English rock , is looking for new figures. One of the first images from Arte's documentary shows an over-haired, scintillating, make-up Marc Bolan appearing on the small screens of an audience that, without knowing it, was welcoming the early hours of glam rock. Hear the five years that followed Bowie , Elton John , Mick Ronson , Lou Reed , Alice Cooper , Roxy Music , Freddie Mercury and so many pieces that have become cult that made the bed of the punk movement that followed him.
Identity emancipation on platform shoes
Besides the purely musical domain, glam rock is the witness of another mutation. When Bowie assumes his androgyny and portrays Ziggy Stardust , his transgender and transhumanist double , a whole society finds itself faced with the evidence of another identity possibility. The Kinks ingenuously sing that “ girls will be boys and boys will be girls ”, Alice Cooper claims that an alternative identity to the norm is possible. The genres are blurring, men waving in lamé jumpsuits, we are witnessing a real revolution which today inspires more than ever the artistic scene and the gaga fashion of this “ cross between the hippie secondhand clothes and the bourgeois fashion from the dandies of the 19th century century, all mounted on oversized heels and sprinkled with glitter ”.
The voice of Rebecca Manzoni
We could not advise you too much to dive into these skilfully compiled archive images , which oscillate for 54 minutes between jiggling and nostalgia , all rocked by the bewitching voice of Rebecca Manzoni , whom France Inter listeners know well. Every morning, at 7:24 am, she tells them about pop and hits and co with the acoustic softness required in these unwanted hours. Friday at 10:30 p.m. , let her put some glitter in your night.
Documentary Glam rock, grandeur and decadence . Broadcast on Friday September 27 at 10:30 p.m. on Arte
Online 20.09 to 25.11 on arte.tv .
Also discover the new film by Cédric Klapisch and Portrait of the young girl on fire .
