Fifty-six years ago today, on 24 October 1970, a two-minute song with no drums, a bathroom-recorded handclap and a lot of mythological swans crept into the UK singles chart. T. Rex's Ride A White Swan took its time (it didn't peak at No. 2 until January 1971), but by then Marc Bolan had lit the touchpaper, and glam rock on vinyl was off and stomping. This is our buyer's guide to glam rock vinyl: what to look for, what to check, and the used glam records sitting in our Mansfield record shop crates right now.
What is glam rock? (Asking for a friend in platform boots)
Glam rock was a British invention of the early 1970s: big guitars, bigger choruses, and even bigger hair, all wrapped in glitter, satin and boots that should have come with a safety leaflet. It borrowed from 1950s rock and roll, bubblegum pop, cabaret and science fiction, then turned the volume up and the eyeliner on.
At one end you had the terrace stompers (Slade, Mud, Sweet, Suzi Quatro), built for Top Of The Pops and youth club discos. At the other end sat the art-school crowd (Bowie, Roxy Music, Cockney Rebel), who wore the same sequins but read more books. In between was Roy Wood's Wizzard, who looked like a jumble sale had exploded and sounded like Phil Spector moving to Birmingham.
The joy of glam on vinyl is that it was made to be played loud on a family radiogram while your nan asked whether that was a boy or a girl. Most of it was pressed in huge numbers in the UK, so good used copies are still out there. The trick is finding clean ones.
Who started it? Marc Bolan and the swan
According to most accounts, Ride A White Swan is where it began. Released on the Fly label (BUG 1) in October 1970, it entered the UK singles chart on 24 October and climbed slowly to No. 2. Bolan had shortened Tyrannosaurus Rex to T. Rex, plugged in an electric guitar, and the rest of the decade followed him in a feather boa.
Within two years Slade were spelling everything wrong on purpose, Bowie had released Hunky Dory, and Britain's dads had a new thing to tut at.
Glam rock vinyl: what to check before you buy
Glam records were played hard. They went to parties, they lived in teenage bedrooms next to the Bay City Rollers posters, and plenty were stacked without inner sleeves. Here's what we look for when grading glam rock vinyl:
- Catalogue numbers that match. Check the spine, back cover and both labels carry the same number (Slayed? on Polydor is 2383 163; Hunky Dory on RCA Victor is SF 8244). A mismatch can mean a later reissue in an earlier sleeve.
- The sleeve finish. Many early 1970s UK sleeves are laminated, and lamination likes to lift at the edges. Lifting isn't the end of the world, but it should be in the grade.
- Inners and extras. Gatefolds, printed inners and lyric sheets were part of the show. Check they're there before you pay for "complete".
- Quiet passages. Glam is loud, which hides surface noise on the big choruses. Listen to the quiet intros and fades, where wear shows first.
- Honest grades. VG is a playable grade when it's graded honestly. Our vinyl grading guide explains what VG, VG+ and EX actually mean.
We won't make up values for you. Condition and completeness matter far more than any "rare" claim in a listing title, and the only prices we'll quote are our own.
Is glam rock vinyl still easy to find second-hand?
Mostly, yes. The big glam acts sold by the lorryload in the UK, so the hits albums and budget reissues turn up all the time. Clean, complete copies of the original albums are harder, especially laminated sleeves without ring wear. That's why buying from a record shop that grades and photographs the actual copy beats rolling the dice on a stock photo. If you're new to it, our guide on how to spot a good second-hand record is a good place to start.
Glam rock in the WholelottaVinyl crates
In stock as we write: all used vinyl, hand-graded and photographed as the actual copy, at our independent record shop in Mansfield.
The one that started it: T. Rex – Ride A White Swan LP (MFP 5274), graded VG/G+, £10. A Music For Pleasure budget LP with a textured cover, named after the single that kicked the whole thing off. The sort of record that lived in a Woolies rack next to the pick 'n' mix.
The terrace anthem: Slade – Slayed? LP (2383 163, 1972), graded EX/VG, £10. A UK Polydor pressing with a laminated cover. Slayed? came out on 1 December 1972 and went to No. 1 in the UK albums chart, with Mama Weer All Crazee Now and Gudbuy T'Jane on board. Spelling optional, volume compulsory.
The art-school one: David Bowie – Hunky Dory LP (SF 8244), graded VG+/VG, £30. Bowie's first album for RCA, released in the UK on 17 December 1971, with Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey, and Rick Wakeman on piano shortly before he joined Yes. Changes, Oh! You Pretty Things and Life On Mars? all live here. Not a bad week's work.
The live one: Roxy Music – Viva! LP (ILPS 9400, 1976), graded EX/VG, £10. A UK Island gatefold of Roxy's first live album, released in July 1976 and recorded at the Glasgow Apollo, Newcastle City Hall and the Wembley Empire Pool between 1973 and 1975. Bryan Ferry in a white tuxedo, presumably.
The queen of the leather jumpsuit: Suzi Quatro – If You Knew Suzi... LP (SRAK 532, 1978), graded VG+/VG, £12. A UK RAK pressing with a textured cover. This is the album with Stumblin' In, her duet with Smokie's Chris Norman, which became her biggest US hit. Wedding-disco uncles, take note.
The Top Of The Pops regulars: Mud – Mud Rock Vol. 2 LP (SRAK 513, 1975), graded VG/VG, £5. A UK RAK pressing from the band who made the Teddy-boy quiff and the drape jacket glam. Five pounds, quiff not supplied.
The wall of sound from Brum: Wizzard – Wizzard Brew LP (SHSP 4025, 1973), graded VG/G+, £5. Roy Wood's debut with Wizzard on EMI's Harvest label, a UK pressing. Less Christmas jingle, more glorious racket. Graded honestly, priced kindly.
The arch one: Cockney Rebel – The Psychomodo LP (EMC 3033, 1974), graded VG/VG, £5. Steve Harley's second album with Cockney Rebel, released by EMI in 1974 and co-produced with Alan Parsons. Glam in a velvet jacket with a slightly raised eyebrow.
The glam metal crossover: Kiss – Dressed To Kill LP (6399 059), graded EX/VG, £30. A German Casablanca pressing of Kiss's third album, first released in March 1975, home of Rock And Roll All Nite. Proof that America saw British glam and asked for more face paint and pyrotechnics. Our earlier hair metal post picks up where the platform boots left off.
Multi-buys, Autumn10 and a proper clean
Buy any three records and 10% comes off the whole crate at checkout, so three £5 LPs come to £13.50. New customers can use Autumn10 for 10% off instead (one code per order). Every record gets a Pro-Ject VC-S3 clean before it's posted (see why choose us), and you can add a Degritter ultrasonic clean for £2; details are on the cleaning service page.
Three glam LPs from the £5 shelf and a brew: that's a Saturday sorted.
Where did glam go? (It never really left)
By the late 1970s the glitter had mostly been swept up. Punk arrived with a safety pin and a sneer, Bowie had moved on several times over, and Roxy Music had gone smooth. But glam's fingerprints are everywhere: on punk, on 1980s hair metal, on Britpop, and on every band who has ever thought, "What if we wore more sequins?"
Every Christmas, Slade and Wizzard come back to remind us who really owns December.
Clearing the loft? We'll take it off your hands
If there's a box of old glam rock records in the loft, under the stairs or at your mum's, we'd love to hear about it. We buy single records and whole collections, from T. Rex and Sweet to Bowie and Roxy. Have a look at how we buy vinyl records, or just get in touch with a few photos.
Ladder not included.
Dig the crates
There's plenty more glam in the shop than we can fit here, including more Slade, Sweet, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Steve Harley, Alvin Stardust and Mott The Hoople. Browse our Slade records, the full shop, or tell us what you're hunting for on our wanted list. You can reserve online and collect from our Mansfield record shop.
Platform boots optional. Glitter will be found in your carpet until 2031.
