Glam Rock was first mentioned in the 70’s and in this post today I am going to highlight the top 70s glam rock bands of that era. There is quite a choice so as Sweet said let’s go.

70s Glam Rock Bands

 

70s Glam Rock Bands

The UK charts were packed with glam rock bands from around 1971 up until 1975. Marc Bolan and T.Rex were the trailblazers after they appeared on top of the pops in 1971 wearing glitter and satins. Others followed like David Bowie, Sweet, Mud, Mott The Hoople, Slade, Gary Glitter, Roxy Music to name but a few.

I could also add Suzi Quatro, Wizzard, Alvin Stardust, The Glitter Band, Chicory Tip, Barry Blue, Alice Cooper, the Bay City Rollers with their tartan image who all jumped on the glam rock bandwagon after seeing the amount of records sales that other glam rock bands were producing.

Sweet

Sweet consisted of Brian Connolly as the lead vocalist, Steve Priest on bass guitar, Andy Scott on guitar and drummer Mick Tucker. They had 15 top 40 hit singles in the 70’s. Here is a list of their singles hits. I name the song, year of release and position reached in the UK chart.

1. Funny Funny (1971) (13)
2. Co-Co (1971) (2)
3. Alexander Graham Bell (1971) (33)
4. Poppa Joe (1972) (11)
5. Little Willy (1972) (4)
6. Wig-Wam-Bam (1972) (4)
7. Blockbuster (1973) (1)
8. Hellraiser (1973) (2)
9. The Ballroom Blitz (1973) (2)
10. Teenage Rampage (1974) (2)
11. The Six Teens (1974) (9)
12. Fox On The Run (1975) (2)
13. Action (1975) (15)
14. The Lies In Your Eyes (1976) (35)
15. Love Is Like Oxygen (1978) (9)

A few cracking songs in that list of Sweet singles. If you were into glam rock you must have liked some of these songs.

 

 

 

Gary Glitter And The Glitter Band

Gary Glitter was the ultimate glam rocker with his camp over the top stage antics and outfits fitting right in with the genre. The Glitter Band had a few hits on their own after they split from Gary. I will list the songs name, the year released and position reached in the UK.

Gary Glitter

1. Rock And Roll Part 2 (1972) (2)
2. I Didn’t Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock And Roll) (1972) (4)
3. Do You Wanna Touch Me (1973) (2)
4. Hello Hello I’m Back Again (1973) (2)
5. I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am) (1973) (1)
6. I Love You Love Me Love (1973) (1)
7. Remember Me This Way (1974) (3)
8. Always Yours (1974) (1)
9. Oh Yes! You’re Beautiful (1974) (2)
10. Love Like You And Me (1975) (10)
11. Doing All Right With The Boys (1975) (6)
12. Papa-Omm-Mow-Mow (1975) (38)
13. You Belong To Me (1976) (40)
14. It Takes All Night Long (Part 1) (1976) (25)
15. A Little Boogie Woogie In The Back Of My Mind (1977) (31)

 

The Glitter Band

1. Angel Face (1974) (4)
2. Just For You (1974) (10)
3. Let’s Get Together Again (1974) (8)
4. Goodbye My Love (1975) (2)
5. The Tears I Cried (1975) (8)
6. Love In The Sun (1975) (15)
7. People Like You And People Like Me (1976) (5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mud

The band Mud consisted of Les Gray on lead vocals, Rob Davis on lead guitar, bass player Ray Stiles and drummer Dave Mount. Like Sweet their most successful period was when their songs were written and produced by Chinn and Chapman. Here is a list of their singles. Song name first, year of release and position reached in the UK.

1. Crazy (1973) (12)
2. Hypnosis (1973) (16)
3. Dyna-Mite (1973) (4)
4. Tiger Feet (1974) (1)
5. The Cat Crept In (1974) (2)
6. Rocket (1974) (6)
7. Lonely This Christmas (1974) (1)
8. The Secrets That You Keep (1975) (3)
9. Oh Boy (1975) (1)
10. Moonshine Sally (1975) (10)
11. One Night (1975) (32)
12. L-L-Lucy (1975) (10)
13. Show Me You’re A Woman (1975) (8)
14. Shake It Down (1976) (12)
15. Lean On Me (1976) (7)

A prolific 3 years for Mud with 3 number 1’s.

 

Wizzard

Roy Wood formerly of The Move and The Electric Light Orchestra formed the band Wizzard. When he left ELO he took band members Bill Hunt (keyboards and french horn) and Hugh McDowell (cello) with him to form the band. Other members were bassist Rick Price from the Move, drummers Charlie Grima and Keith Smart and saxophonists Mike Burney and Nick Pentelow. They had 7 top 40 singles between 1972-1974.

Here is a list of their singles, song name first followed by year released and chart position reached in the UK.

1. Ball Park Incident (1972) (6)
2. See My Baby Jive (1973) (1)
3. Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) (1)
4. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (1973) (4)
5. Rock ‘N’ Roll (Looney’s Tune) (1974) (6)
6. This Is The Story Of My Love (Baby) (1974) (34)
7. Are You Ready To Rock (1974) (8)

There Christmas hit in 1973 can be heard all the time over the festive period on the radio and in shops etc… Probably a good pension for the band.

 

 

 

Suzi Quatro

Susan Kay Quatro was born on the 3rd June 1950. She is an American singer-songwriter who became the first female bass player to become a major rock star. Suzi was another act who had major success with Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.

Here is a list of her hits in the UK during the 70’s. She had 10 top 40 singles during the decade. I will list the song name, year of release and position reached in the UK charts.

1. Can The Can (1973) (1)
2. 48 Crash (1973) (3)
3. Daytona Demon (1973) (14)
4. Devil Gate Drive (1974) (1)
5. Too Big (1974) (14)
6. The Wild One (1974) (7)
7. Your Mamma Won’t Like Me (1975) (31)
8. Tear Me Apart (1977) (27)
9. If You Can’t Give Me Love (1978) (4)
10. She’s In Love With You (1979) (11)

Suzi had great success in the 70’s as you can see with 2 number 1 singles.

 

 

 

Alvin Stardust

Alvin Stardust had 7 top 40 singles between 1973 and 1975. Here are the singles with song name, year released and position reached in the UK.

1. My Coo Ca Choo (1973) (2)
2. Jealous Mind (1974) (1)
3. Red Dress (1974) (7)
4. You You You (1974) (6)
5. Tell Me Why (1974) (16)
6. Good Love Can Never Die (1975) (11)
7. Sweet Cheatin’ Rita (1975) (37)

Alvin also had 4 hits in the 80’s with Pretend reaching number 4 in 1981, I Feel Like Buddy Holly made it to number 7 in 1984, also in 1984 he made number 7 with I Won’t Run Away. His final song to make the top 40 was a minor hit at Christmas 1984 which reached number 29 and was called So Near To Christmas. Alvin Stardust sadly died in 2014 aged 72.

 

 

 

Other 70s Glam Rock Bands Hits

As mentioned above T.Rex were credited as the band that started the glam rock era. I have written a separate post on the band and listed their hits for you. T.Rex post.

I have also done a separate post for Roxy Music, David Bowie and Slade which you can see by clicking their name.

Others I mentioned were Mott The Hoople who had 6 top 40 singles between 1972-1974

1. All The Young Dudes (1972) (3)
2. Honaloochie Boogie (1973) (12)
3. All The Way From Memphis (1973) (10)
4. Roll Away The Stone (1973) (8)
5. The Golden Age Of Rock ‘N’ Roll (1974) (16)
6. Foxy Foxy (1974) (33)

 

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4th 1948. He had 5 top 20 hits in the 70’s.

1. School’s Out (1972) (1)
2. Elected (1972) (4)
3. Hello Hurray (1973) (6)
4. No More Mr Nice Guy (1973) (10)
5. Teenage Lament ’74 (1973) (12)

 

 

Chicory Tip

1. Son Of My Father (1972) (1)
2. What’s Your Name (1972) (13)
3. Good Grief Christina (1973) (17)

Barry Blue

1. Dancing On A Saturday Night (1973) (2)
2. Do You Wanna Dance (1973) (7)
3. School Love (1974) (11)
4. Miss Hit And Run (1974) (26)
5. Hot Shot (1974) (23)

Bay City Rollers

The Bay City Rollers jumped on the glam rock bandwagon with their tartan outfits and pop tunes. The Band consisted of Les Mckeown on lead vocals, guitarists Eric Faulkner and Stuart John Wood (Woody), bassist Alan Longmuir and his brother Derek Longmuir on drums. They had 12 top 40 singles.

1. Keep On Dancing (1971) (9)
2. Remember (Sha-La-La-La) (1974) (6)
3. Shang-A-Lang (1974) (2)
4. Summer Love Sensation (1974) (3)
5. All Of Me Loves All Of You (1974) (4)
6. Bye, Bye, Baby (1975) (1)
7. Give A Little Love (1975) (1)
8. Love Me Like I Love You (1975) (4)
9. Money Honey (1976) (3)
10. I Only Want To Be with You (1976) (4)
11. It’s A Game (1977) (16)
12. You Made Me Believe In Magic (1977) (34)

 

 

Well that brought back good memories for me, I hope it did the same for you. If you think I left anyone out let me know with a comment below. Did you see any of the bands mentioned? Let me know.