Rat Queens

In the teenage wastelands of grey early Seventies Britain, where the musical landscape was dominated by introspective singer-songwriters and dour rock bands, the emergence of the outrageous, androgynous, peacock-plumaged Glam Rock scene provided a vital spark in the dark. Sadly the genre was quickly hijacked by the backroom hustlers of the British music industry and their mutton-dressed-as-glam pop idol marionettes. However, Oh! You Pretty Things ignores such lightweight fripperies to concentrate on the real deal. We focus on the twin central strands of Glam Rock: the cerebral and the visceral, with the artier, experimental element of the scene joined by the Ladbroke Grove street rockers and the Steve Marriott-channelling chirpy Cockney geezer street urchins, many of whom had been to drama school and knew how to strike a pose. We examine the trash-aesthetic fault line that joined the seedy, no-longer-swinging London of the early Seventies with New York’s sleazy demi-monde and the incorrigible hucksters of Hollywood. The latter were led by Kim Fowley, ably assisted by LA scenester Rodney Bingenheimer, who opened Rodney’s English Disco (allegedly at Bowie’s suggestion), where the underage groupies, teenage runaways and glitter queens of Sunset Strip hung out with visiting British rock royalty and the likes of Alice Cooper and a wasted Iggy Pop.

Mia Zapata of the Gits was the greatest rock singer of her time. This is not hyperbole; if you ever saw her, you know it’s true.

There is so much to savour in this 2CD compilation: Ruth Brown who certainly sparked the whole Atlantic Records topping the R&B Charts with "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean", Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog" a Lieber and Stoller song that spent seven weeks at No.1 on the R&B charts and ultimately inspired a cover version by Elvis Presley that sold many millions, and Maybelle who rocks it, shakes it up and more on Ring Dang Dilly. This collection also includes classic tracks by Irma Thomas, Wynona Carr, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Helen Humes and others.