In America , it was called "Glitter Rock" , which meant Elton John , who probably had a total of TWO Glitter or Glam songs ("Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting" , "The Bitch Is Back" , which always sat well with "Gudbuy T'Jane") was accepted as part of the genre , mainly because of his stage gear.
Kiss was accepted into the fold , early on , but , they were into something that I would'nt call Glam , just because they wore Glitter. They took elements of The Dolls , Slade and Alice Cooper , and commercialized them. Alice Cooper and David Bowie were thrown into this battle of "Shock Rock" practitioners , which really was;'nt fair to either of them. They were so different. Alice leaned more toward Horror , booze and cheap sex. As he said , it was cabaret. Maybe Bowie was cabaret , too , but , he leaned toward Sci - Fi , Straight sex disguised as Bisexuality, and , eventually , prodigous Cocaine use. THE ORIGINAL SPIDERS (Alice , of course , started out with his own Soiders , 4 of teh fiveoriginal Alice COOPER Group.) had a hard raunch sound , comparable to The ALICE cOOPER gROUP , BUT , THEY WERE VERY DIFFERENT , TOO. Alice would'nt simulate fellatio or ....UM ..."rear entry" with ome of his boys. The amusing part is , David , not Alice , was married with a young Son. Of course , Alice would eventually marry and Father some kids , and he's still with his wife of almost 40 years , today. It all read like a beef between professional Wrestlers , who were actually friends, but followed the Promotors.
Alice and David were FRIENDS ! I guess they figured , any press is good press. They were the two top (Diamond ) Dogs , but , Alice was all over the radio. I don't remember hearing David on the radio , until "Fame" hit it big , with 'Suffragette City" , "Space Oddity " , "Rebel , Rebel" , "Changes " , andothers , sunsequently going into rotation. bY THAT TIME , however, Alice was recieving more minimal airplay. David's comeback , in 1983 , seemed to take forever. Alice did'nt jump on the modern HEAVY METAL bandwagon 'til '86 . BY '90 ,HE'D REACHED THAT AUDIENCE , BUT , ON THEIR TERMS. wHEN i FINALLY SAW HIM AGAIN , IN '98 , HE WAS GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. I'm sure David's lad tour was just as good , in it's own way , but , I did'nt have $100 to go see him in a venue with crap acoustics.