Introduction to the Glam Rock movement
Glam Rock is a musical category as well as a cultural movement that developed in 1970 in Britain performers are most distinguished from other musicians by their theatricality and public personas wore tight fitting and bright costumes, extravagant shoes and usually makeup androgynous on stage performances, stereotypically masculine and feminine music often touched on taboo subjects like sexuality and gender identity fearless to to step over any social conventions
David Bowie in particular characterizes the Glam Rock movement he performed under several different personas and pseudonyms and wore fancy and bizarre costumes and, most importantly, he openly discussed sexuality in his songs
Analyzing …show more content…
Analyzing the lyrics of “Rebel Rebel” 1974 lyrical and musical imagery of “Rebel Rebel” can be summarized in three words: rebellion, self identity and sexuality beginning of the song: “you’ve got your mother in a whirl/ she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl” depicts a young man or woman who is in that process of experimenting with their identity and who meets with the disapproval of her/his mother's desire for some sense of “normality”
He’s basically making it a group activity when starting off the song ("you like me / And I like it all / We like dancing / And we look divine")
The sexuality here is rather implicit than explicit so the subject of the song becomes more one of just plain freedom and the choice to be who you want to be free from constraint than some kind of prelude to sexual activity
“They put you down, they say I'm wrong/ You tacky thing, you put them on” is a reference to society’s views on the transgender community during that time contrast to the very feminine image of “you’ve torn your dress” with “hot tramp”: this could evoke an either male or female perception first verses of the song are the same, with identical lyrics and instrumentals but the end of the song really shows off David Bowie’s variations and thoughts as he gets more in depth with the …show more content…
Is he talking about a boy? Is he talking about both? Is he perhaps talking about himself?
This whole idea is interesting because it can be applied to almost any situation and that is exactly Bowie’s goal here
although he started the song in mere indifference “your hair’s alright”, words keep flowing, as though he is falling deeper and deeper in love with whoever he is singing about (“You can’t get enough, but enough ain’t the test! You’ve got your cue lines and a handful of ‘ludes/you wanna be there when they count up the dudes”) at the end he basically watches the girl or boy walk off into their endless youth saying “I love your dress/ You’re a juvenile success”, meaning that he is proud of them standing up for themselves and is both encouraged and encouraging the listener to just be who you are
Analyzing the lyrics of “Rebel Rebel” 1974 -
Glam Rock is a musical category as well as a cultural movement that developed in 1970 in Britain performers are most distinguished from other musicians by their theatricality and public personas wore tight fitting and bright costumes, extravagant shoes and usually makeup androgynous on stage performances, stereotypically masculine and feminine music often touched on taboo subjects like sexuality and gender identity fearless to to step over any social conventions
David Bowie in particular characterizes the Glam Rock movement he performed under several different personas and pseudonyms and wore fancy and bizarre costumes and, most importantly, he openly discussed sexuality in his songs
Analyzing …show more content…
Analyzing the lyrics of “Rebel Rebel” 1974 lyrical and musical imagery of “Rebel Rebel” can be summarized in three words: rebellion, self identity and sexuality beginning of the song: “you’ve got your mother in a whirl/ she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl” depicts a young man or woman who is in that process of experimenting with their identity and who meets with the disapproval of her/his mother's desire for some sense of “normality”
He’s basically making it a group activity when starting off the song ("you like me / And I like it all / We like dancing / And we look divine")
The sexuality here is rather implicit than explicit so the subject of the song becomes more one of just plain freedom and the choice to be who you want to be free from constraint than some kind of prelude to sexual activity
“They put you down, they say I'm wrong/ You tacky thing, you put them on” is a reference to society’s views on the transgender community during that time contrast to the very feminine image of “you’ve torn your dress” with “hot tramp”: this could evoke an either male or female perception first verses of the song are the same, with identical lyrics and instrumentals but the end of the song really shows off David Bowie’s variations and thoughts as he gets more in depth with the …show more content…
Is he talking about a boy? Is he talking about both? Is he perhaps talking about himself?
This whole idea is interesting because it can be applied to almost any situation and that is exactly Bowie’s goal here
although he started the song in mere indifference “your hair’s alright”, words keep flowing, as though he is falling deeper and deeper in love with whoever he is singing about (“You can’t get enough, but enough ain’t the test! You’ve got your cue lines and a handful of ‘ludes/you wanna be there when they count up the dudes”) at the end he basically watches the girl or boy walk off into their endless youth saying “I love your dress/ You’re a juvenile success”, meaning that he is proud of them standing up for themselves and is both encouraged and encouraging the listener to just be who you are
Analyzing the lyrics of “Rebel Rebel” 1974 -