Glam

Characterized by slick, melodic hard rock combined with a sexually ambiguous fashion sense, glam rose in the 1960s amidst a culture of newfound sexual freedom. For rockers like David Bowie and T. Rex, rock wasn't a mode of consciousness-raising like it was for some of their contemporaries; it was rather an avenue to pure and decadent hedonism. Glam had a huge influence on movements like new romantic, synth pop and goth rock. But the primary stars of the glam movement -- from the New York Dolls (which featured David Johansen, aka Buster Poindexter) to Gary Glitter to Roxy Music -- didn't find much popular success in the US until after the makeup came off. Through the '70s and '80s, however, glam-inspired pop metal, beginning with androgynous rockers Kiss, topped the charts. In the '90s, glam was mirrored in Britpop's decadence and, occasionally, its fashion sense.