What is Glam Rock?

In the end of the Swinging Sixties, rock music began to develop into more genres thanks to The Beatles being an influence to the genres heavy metal, psychedelic rock and baroque pop.

Suddenly, a new British music scene influenced by hard rock, psychedelic rock, art rock and pop rock was born in the early Seventies: Glam rock.

The genre was known for putting T. Rex, Slade and most famously David Bowie into the mainstream audience. The bands were known for its look, androgyny, fashion and launching the glam subculture.

Originally a psychedelic folk singer, Bowie released the rock opera Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars in 1972, which became an instant success and became one of the greatest albums of all time.

He would retain the glam rock sound in the following three albums: Aladdin Sane (1973), Pin-Ups (1974) and Diamond Dogs (1975). Also he used his glam alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, sporting a bright red proto-mullet, wearing make up and light fashion. He used his alter ego for the music video of space rock ballad "Space Oddity", when its reissue topped the British charts in 1973.

After retiring the Stardust personage, Bowie have since experimented with several genres such as soul, rhythm and blues, new wave, post-punk, industrial rock and electronica. 

Due to the death of T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan in 1977, glam rock went into obscurity. However, it spanned several genres such as punk rock, post-punk, gothic rock, emo, new wave, modern shock rock and visual kei.

Glam rock became more popular in the Eighties when hard rock bands experimented the genre with heavy metal, launching glam metal. Notable artists are Bon Jovi, Motley Crüe, Twisted Sister and Kiss. 

In the Nineties, glam-influenced industrial metal/shock singer Marilyn Manson and his eponymous band released their follow up to the 1996 controversial breakthrough Antichrist Superstar named Mechanical Animals, which was largely influenced by radio-friendly glam rock itself in September 1998 when it topped the American charts. One notable example of the album is the megahit "The Dope Show", which showed Manson playing an androgynous alien rockstar named Omega. Despite the controversial album cover, the album is considered to be one of Manson's best work.

In the Noughties, new wave revivalists Scissor Sisters released their eponymous debut album in 2004, which included the glam-tinged hit "Take Your Mama".

The genre has also influenced the German pop rock group Tokio Hotel, which is evidenced by lead singer Bill Kaulitz's androgynous makeup and punkish hairstyle.

Glam rock, though not very popular anymore, still influences several rock bands.

And that answers the question.

Here's the glam rock-influenced subgenres:

Pictured: Punk rock pioneers Sex Pistols performing at the Paradiso nightclub in 1977. Despite their single "God Save the Queen" infamously became a number-two hit, they have influenced several punk rock bands, including Green Day.

• Punk rock: A prototypical version of punk rock existed in the late Sixties and the early Seventies as evidenced in MC5' Kick Out the Jams, which was one of the first albums to include the f-word. 

• Punk rock didn't officially exist until 1976 when British band The Damned released their debut album Damned Damned Damned. Unlike glam rock, punk rock focused on the angst-filled protesting lyrics with an hard rock-influenced sound. 

• It became a popular genre when British anti-royalists The Sex Pistols released their most famous song from Never Mind (The Bollocks), Here's the Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen", which became a number two hit in 1977. The Clash was also a major punk band with their best known album London Calling.  

• America was also common with the punk genre, thanks to proto-pop punk band The Ramones. Not only that, the band influenced the Japanese all-female pop punk trio Shonen Knife. Punk also spanned a subculture and a harder version called hardcore punk and after a decline in the late Eighties, it was revived in 1994, thanks to Green Day's breakthrough Dookie. 

• Popularity: Late 1970s to early 1980s, revival: Late 1990s to present.

Pictured: Post-punk pioneers U2 during a photo shoot in 1980. This picture would become the cover for their 2006 greatest hits album U218 Singles. Not only that, they have experimented with several genres after their post-punk phase such as dance, electronica, alternative rock, industrial and pop.

• Post-punk: Unlike punk rock, it was more experimental as it contained a dark sound, yet less protesting. The genre also had an art rock influence. U2 started out as post-punk, but has since become an alternative rock band. One notable band was Sonic Youth. The genre was revived in the Noughties, thanks to the sound of The White Stripes, The Killers and The Vines.

Pictured: Legendary gothic rock band The Cure performing in Singapore in 2007. Though they are a popular gothic rock band, frontman Robert Smith disapproves the terms "gothic rock" and "alternative rock".

• Gothic rock: A prototypical version of gothic rock existed in the mid Sixties as evidenced in The Doors' work. Gothic rock didn't become popular until the late Seventies when post-punk band Joy Division released "Love Will Never Tear Us Apart". The genre had a hard rock influence. 

• It became popular in the Eighties, with The Cure's breakthrough Pornography, Siouxie and the Banshees' Juju. 

• Some bands disapprove the label to describe their music, such as The Cure  

• Popularity: Late 1970s to mid 1990s, cult since then.

Pictured: Gerard Way, frontman of the emo band My Chemical Romance, performing in the Big Day Out on 2012. He has told the media that he disapproves the term "emo", confirming that he is one of the few musicians who disapprove the "emo" term to their music.

• Emo: A type of hardcore punk which is less harder and has elements of melodic indie rock, post-hardcore, darkly gothic rock and pop punk.

• The genre started in the Eighties, however it hit the mainstream in the late Nineties after the release of Weezer's magnus opus, the Madama Butterfly influenced concept album Pinkerton. Originally a critical and commercial failure, however in recent years, it has become critically acclaimed and is adored by Weezer fans.

• Some bands disapprove the label to describe their music, such as My Chemical Romance, whilst some approve it, such as Fall Out Boy.  

• Popularity: Mid 1990s to late 2000s.

Pictured: Glam metal band X Japan (pictured in 1990) popularised the visual kei genre in the late Eighties. Despite the death of lead guitarist hide in 1998, the band still consider him as a member and uses archive recordings and footage of him while performing songs since their 2007 reunion. The band has influenced several visual kei bands, especially the gothic rock band Malice Mizer.

• Visual kei: Japan's version of glam rock, which has elements of heavy metal, punk rock and pop rock.

• The genre is mostly common in Japan, thanks to gothic rock band Malice Mizer and heavy metal band X Japan.

• However, its fashion has copied by non-Japanese artists, such as Swedish pop singer Yohio.  

• Popularity: Mid 1990s to present, Japan only. 

• Example: "Beast of Blood" by Malice Mizer - video: 

Pictured: New wave band Blondie started out as a punk rock band in 1974, but in the late Seventies, their style eventually changed with a pop sound in their 1978 album Parallel Lines. They influenced several bands such as ska punk band No Doubt and electronica band Garbage.

• New wave: Invented in the late 1970s.

• The genre started out as a punk rock subgenre, but however the genre became more pop than punk, with influences of glam rock and bubblegum music. 
• The genre declined in the late 1980s except the ongoing popularity of Depeche Mode.  

• However the genre has been revived in the early 2000s.
• Popularity: Late Seventies to mid Eighties, early Noughties to onwards.