Glam rock guitarists combined early rock and roll, blues, makeup, and science fiction to reimagine the rock star. They were androgynous, gaudy, and influenced several genres of music, including punk, goth, and glam metal. This list begins with obvious selections but is, of course, far from complete. Consider it a quick primer with two surprises at the end to show how far glam reached.<\/p>\n
Ace Frehley (KISS)<\/p>\n
KISS might not have won over music critics, but Ace Frehley inspired countless future rock legends to pick up the guitar. Everyone from Pearl Jam\u2019s Mike McCready, Weezer\u2019s Rivers Cuomo, and M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce\u2019s John 5 has acknowledged Frehley\u2019s influence. A rock star, by definition, appears unearthly. And, Frehley, or The Spaceman, as he was known, became the embodiment of the rock and roll superhero for many.<\/p>\n
Mick Ronson (David Bowie)<\/p>\n
When David Bowie introduced his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, to his guitarist, Mick Ronson, he became rock and roll\u2019s proto-celestial glam rocker. Ronson and Bowie also co-produced Lou Reed\u2019s Transformer, a landmark glam rock album that, together with Bowie\u2019s The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, forever changed the look and sound of rock music.<\/p>\n
Marc Bolan (T. Rex)<\/p>\n
Before Ziggy Stardust landed on Earth, T. Rex released Electric Warrior. Marc Bolan<\/a> had transformed his band from folk to boogie rock, pioneering a flamboyant new movement. The album shaped The Jam, The Cure, Oasis, and many others. Meanwhile, it established the Gibson Les Paul Custom as the go-to guitar for glam rock. Both Ronson and Frehley played similar models.<\/p>\n Mick Mars (M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce)<\/p>\n You can spot the obvious influence of Mick Ronson in Mick Mars\u2019 stage name. M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce\u2019s original guitarist and co-founder also played in a Gibson Les Paul Custom, which you can see in the music video for \u201cLive Wire\u201d as fake blood spills from his mouth. Like others on this list, Mars blended classic rock, blues, and punk as glam rock reached the West Coast.<\/p>\n Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne)<\/p>\n Randy Rhoads helped revive Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s career the day he recorded \u201cCrazy Train\u201d. Osbourne helped pioneer heavy metal, and especially with Black Sabbath, would have been considered the polar opposite of glam. But Rhoads\u2019 stage appearance was based on Mick Ronson, down to his Les Paul Custom guitar. He also played a polka dot Flying V with a matching vest and bow tie. His neoclassical licks would have impressed an alien rock star like Ziggy Stardust<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glam rock guitarists combined early rock and roll, blues, makeup, and science fiction to reimagine the rock star.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,148381,216,2156],"class_list":{"0":"post-285441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-glam-rock","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-rock-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}