Sunday 21 February 2016

'Have you tried the shoe shop on the corner?'

These boots are made for stomping
Guitar, bass and drums: the three most influential musical instruments in rock and roll? Yes, to a point. Though there are notable exceptions. Not least when it comes to Tamla Motown. That's right, find me a Temptations track or a Smokey Robinson tune that isn't tambourine led and you'll be searching in vain.

The same goes for glam. Whilst the yobbish guitars that adorned any number of Sweet, Slade and T Rex singles were the first noise you'd hear coming out of your Dansette speaker, the main instrument upon which the three or so minutes of glam rock riffery was based could not be found in any music shop: if you wanted to capture the very essence of glam you'd have been making a bee line for the nearest branch of Freeman Hardy & Willis. Wherein you'd have been looking for the most outrageous platform boots you could lay your hands on. We're talking foot stomping.

When Gary Glitter and Mike Leander wrote the tribal Rock and Roll Parts 1 & 2, they couldn't possibly have have envisaged the sheer volume the finished product would make. And, in large part, that's down to several pairs of Size 10s practically destroying any stage or sprung dance floor where it was played. These days Glitter may well be toxic, but this timeless chunk of glam forms the bedrock upon which practically every hit single during the next three years was built. In the words of Noddy Holder: 'Everybody clap yer hands and stamp yer feet.'

Gary Glitter: Rock and Roll Part 2 

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