Glitter
I hate saying this but one of my favourite records of all time is "Rock and Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter.
The fact that he had squidildy-pop to do with the recording is doesn't make me feel any better. It was basically a solo recording by Mike Leadner (he who wrote the string arrangement for the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home") to cash in on the Glam Rock fad and Paul "Gary Glitter" Gadd needed a job and became a brand.
The rest is a sort of history.
I love the record, though, I've just put it back on my I-Tunes, but I still have misgivings.
I have no time for Gadd/Glitter as a person. He is a vile, twisted and sick individual who's still deluded enough to think he's done nowt wrong. Or is his naivety just an act? Probably never find out.
There was a docu-drama a year or so back on Channel 4 called "The Execution Of Gary Glitter" in which it envisaged a Britain that had re-introduced the death penalty. And Mr Gadd got it. It was one of the most disturbing pieces of television I've ever seen - mainly because I disagree with capital punishment. I also thought it was beyond decency to use Gadd as an example, I felt it sensationalised the serious nature of the programme.
I wish I could listen to these records without knowing what I know - Rock doesn't need dilemmas like this.
2 comments:
I still have a copy of the man's Greatest Hits; don't think I could play it now. For those of us who are old enough to remember 'Jackie' - kids comic of the 60s, 70s aimed at young girls - GG used to be a regular pin up and he looked rather ancient even then (I remember Jackie only because my sister read it by the way - me, being a boy, read the Victor). And I actually saw GG live, in a performance more striking for its theatricality than the music (GG launched down from the ceiling in full glitter gear). Who would have thought... ?
He was "family entertainment" before his arrest - good, clean, camp fun that, as you said, had little to do with music and more to do with a spectacle.
But I slightly remember him first time round, and those records left an imprint. I had his first album, "Glitter", for years.
It's so, so hurtful for your heroes to come to this. I'm particularly relieved Pete Townshend was found NOT GUILTY of any offence. That would've done me.
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