(Credits: Far Out / Casablanca Records / AVRO / Elektra Records / Public Domain)
Thu 19 March 2026 21:00, UK
There’s no question that the UK reigns supreme as glam-rock’s glittering capital.
Arriving at the perfect time, just as the kids were alienated by the earnest singer-songwriters, still clung to the hippy idyll, a new wave of colourful and exotic stars graced the popsphere and Top of the Pops land full of sugar rush escapism. David Bowie’s commanding extraterrestrial anthems, Roxy Music’s retro-futurist shimmer, or T Rex’s amorous flame all plugged rock back into its stirring roots after the counterculture had stumbled into pomposity.
Yet, it can be forgotten just how good some of glam’s American counterparts similarly spun their glitter magic. Across the Atlantic, a whole flamboyant cohort of rock visionaries eager to reignite pop’s fun and likewise raided the dressing-up box, on one end of the nation kicking the West Coast’s hippy dregs into touch while the New Yorkers were coating glam in their unique film of gutter decadence.
We all know the UK glam greats, but what about those from the States? To collate such a list, we need to set some rules. Firstly, despite some of our entries wading into its 1980s successor, we’re not counting hairsprayed glam metal. Secondly, while the likes of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed indeed flirted with a little of glam’s make-up in the early 1970s, any fan would rightly raise an eyebrow at their being paraded as glam’s exemplary giants, even if Raw Power or Transformer stand as that musical moment’s key LP relics.
With a unique take on glam that could only have come from America, while including a couple that made their fortune heading the country that started it all, we take a look at the 1970s Stateside names that helped glitterfy the decade’s rock charts.
The 10 greatest American glam-rock bands:
