A product of the British art-rock explosion of the late 1960s, glam rock took the idea of rock music as entertainment to new heights. Musically, glam married the catchy melodicism of pop and the energetic guitar crunch of rock, while indulging in a campy, grandiose sense of theatricality and far-out lyrical sensibilities often shaded by the influences of fantasy and science fiction. Extravagant, flamboyant, androgynous costuming and makeup were also essential elements of the glam formula, and by the early '70s, working-class English teens were bedecking themselves in the feather boas and glittery platform boots popularized by the likes of David Bowie, Roxy Music, and T-Rex--glam's holy trinity. While those artists were sophisticated and challenging, a subset of glam emerged called glitter rock that was simply about good times and cheeky nods to the past; Slade and Gary Glitter gained widespread success in the U.K. by slapping a little sci-fi lipstick on the pioneering rock 'n' roll sounds of Little Richard and Chuck Berry. Glam was almost exclusively an English phenomenon; Lou Reed and Iggy Pop flirted with it, but the New York Dolls were the only true stateside glam group. Glam would fall by the mid-'70s, but its sound and aesthetic resurfaced in arena rock and some punk later that decade, as well as in '80s hair metal and early '90s Brit-pop.

Notable Artists: David Bowie, Roxy Music, T-Rex, Mott the Hoople, New York Dolls