Rock & Roll History

[vardathemessage]

script:
‘Do You Want To Touch Me (Oh Yeah)’/Gary Glitter begins.
 

Gary Glitter was a British rock and roll performer who topped the British charts several times in the 70s. His Rock 'n' Roll (Part 2) went to #2 in the U.K and charted in the States but has recently had much more success as a stadium anthem. Most male fans now grunting along to that tune during half time have no idea it's written by a man who now looks like this.

In the Art Imitates Life Dept. Gary Glitter (real name Paul Francis Gadd) was arrested in 1997 after over 4,000 images of child pornography were found on a computer he took in to be repaired. He was convicted on 54 counts and served two months in prison.

Comments

[splix.livejournal.com]

a man who now looks like this.

Heavens. How the mighty have fallen.

[q-spade.livejournal.com]

An interesting – if disturbing – sidenote is that back in the 70's & 80's it was considered quite acceptable for rock stars to screw around with 13-14 year old kids...as long as they were girls. Lori Lightning (http://www.stryder.de/rest/Groupie_Central_Lori_%20Maddox.html) and Sable Starr (http://www.geocities.com/sablethestarr/quotes.html) are two of the most well-known examples. While there was definitely a male groupie involved in Rodney Bingenheimer's (http://www.coreylevitan.com/features/bingenheimer.html) English Disco scene (whose name escapes me, and it's not coming up in online searches), most of the underage action at Rodney's was het, which may explain why folks like Jimmy Page or Bill Wyman don't get the Gary Glitter (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2635489.stm)* treatment. (A wee article (http://www.cafe80s.freeserve.co.uk/artists/mand01.htm) on Bill's now ex-wife Mandy, who he started dating when she was 13.)

Back in the UK, Johnathan King (http://www.nypress.com/15/30/news&columns/culture.cfm) often gets mentioned alongside Glitter, although King (http://www.angryharry.com/reKingandI.htm) was more of an all-round industry man than a musician per se. Again the double standard – King got in trouble because he was caught screwing boys, not girls.

*It should be noted that Glitter's UK pedophilia case dealt with kids younger than 13, both male and female. The Cambodia article linked above specifes boys, however.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

A very thought provoking post!

Well, Sable and Lori really engineered their way back stage and planned the notches on their belts. Not that that excuses the guys. Sable says, "The one thing my parents were always strict on was school. They let me stay out until six o'clock in the morning, just as long as I went to school. Oh, I hated school when i was fifteen. I had to have a probation officer, that's when I started living with Iggy Pop in the Hollywood Hills and I didn't go to school for about a month." That's some definition of strict parents!

The long term relationships that Page and Wyman have had seem more bizarre than a one night stand with a beautiful young thing that they 'forgot' to ask the age of. If I recall correctly, Bill and Mandy lived together and then right after they got married, she developed some kind of stress disorder and stopped sleeping with him and that is why they got divorced. Something was wrong with that picture.

I wasn't aware of the King story and it's very interesting. It seems that the tabloids had a lot to do with the charges being brought.

[queerxcore.livejournal.com]

This is a great place!!

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, you're so sweet. I do love a warm hand on my entrance. Please stay and enjoy the show.

[freakycheri.livejournal.com]

I used to think that Geoff from Byker Grove in the days of PJ & Duncan actually was Garry Glitter. I think he dressed up as him once for a fancy dress party... not a good role model for the kids down at the Grove...

I'm afraid Byker Grove hasn't made it across the pond.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how long the show has been running but Perhaps the Gary Glitter reference was from before he was charged.