Glam Rock Rules
By: Jin-Qua
Date: November 04, 2002

I remember how my mother used to get really mad at me every time I would listen to my cassette player as it blared out the intro of Welcome to the Jungle. I was in high school then and it became a daily ritual of mine to listen devotedly to my favorite album: Appetite for Destruction. Guns and Roses was the coolest and most honored band (they still are to some) at the time. To me Guns ranked first while Metallica and Bon Jovi ranked second and third respectively. But then most of our teachers regarded glamour rock as the devil's music. Take GnR; the heavy guitars of Slash, the relentless thumping of the drums, the flirty voice of Axl Rose and the suggestive lyric's of their songs, they all contributed in the myth that Satan came up from hell to spread his evil message through glam rock. One pious classmate of mine even said that Axl was the devil's disciple because the letters of his name can be rearranged to spell "oral sex". I told her that it's all a coincidence although I did check and Axl Rose could indeed be used to spell oral sex. Oooh, scary.

Ever since high school, I never thought about glam rock, although I would sometimes find myself singing Metallica's "Battery" when I commute to work. It was at a bar, two weeks ago, that I learned to fully retrace my musical roots.

I was with my friends when we found ourselves heading into a nice cheap tavern that was sparsely filled. We ordered some drinks and a few dishes of pulutan. At the time, it seemed that it was going to be a dull dull night. Then, we all unexpectedly heard the beginnings of a song that was long since forgotten. We heard the haunting whistle intro of Patience, an old GnR cover from way way back. That was enough to pick up the night. Patience was followed by Enter Sandman, Master of Puppets, Welcome to the Jungle, Rocket Queen, Blaze of Glory and to all our amusement, Doctor Feel good and Warrant's one and only oldie but goodie Cherry Pie. Alcohol consumption doubled its pace with each intro of a classic glam rock song. It was a fun night. Its good that even after almost a decade that we all still remembered how good music was back then.

After the glam rock medley, the music was changed into a more modern format of the alternative genre. Linkin Park, Korn and Limp Bizkit became the regular fare. I don't know under what classification these songs fall under, but I'm sure, a decade down the line, a group of friends will find themselves in a cheap bar drinking booze and reliving their high school days while singing with their very own Axl Rose.