3 Ideas

“Whereas psychedelic rock musicians tried to look like their audiences, many glam rock fans tried to duplicate the looks of their favorite performers.” (Auslander, pg 60)

Whatever the newest pop sensation is within our society there will always be imitations and representations from both sides (audience and performers) that reflect what the current status of conscious is. By reflecting the audience’s look, the performers within the counterculture movement were representing this idea of self-reflection and introspection. Although gender relations may not have prospered during this time period I still feel that the counterculture movement as a whole was necessary in stepping towards reaching our greater potential as humans. The process of introspection lead to understanding more about the power and freedom every individual within society has and how to tap into that energy. By dressing out of the norm Glam rockers and their audience reflected another important aspect of humanity that had yet to come into the public sphere. That is the idea that every individual being is as equal as the next, and therefore no matter how crazy or unnatural you look you are still a part of the whole.

“Gender identity was another front on which glam challenged psychedelic rock…because it disputed the ideology of authenticity by posting gendered identities as constructed rather than natural.” (Auslander, pg 40)

The psychedelic rock and hippie counterculture movement provided a new space for conversations to take place. Unfortunately these new spaces still did not involve gender identity and understanding. Yes, there was a side to it that spoke of open-mindedness and sexual liberty but in the end the hippie movement still embodied straight male dominated views. Glam rock focused on the campy aspects of performance and in turn caused a whole new space for conversation about gender identity. By bringing ideas such as transvestism into the public sphere, Glam rock made our culture question what roles are assumed within society.

“(Glam) reacted against the obligation to be socially conscious by returning to Rock and Roll’s favorite themes: girls, cars, dancing and sex.” (Auslander, 51)

Themes brought up in Glam such as girls, cars, dancing and sex are entirely fabricated and synthesized to fit into our hegemonic culture. Unfortunately for society popular culture tends to create patterns of oversimplification and generalizations. This has a negative effect on people and our society because it limits our ability to evolve, diverge and progress as a species. I feel that even though Glam rock was the counterculture for all but fifteen minutes, the actual idea of it being counter to anything is almost laughable. Glam embraced these ideas of hegemony and at the same time challenged them in ways not seen before in pop culture; such as the cross-dressing and female personas. Unfortunately this challenge and embrace of ideals within our culture ultimately failed to act a s a catalyst for real change because the music was mostly awful and it supported the idea that humans were simply here to have a good time. Although I would like to believe the latter part, I am not going to sit around in a state of ignorant bliss such as the Glam rockers because I know the world and humanity can evolve to a much higher state of understanding and conscious.