Retromania, Artifice and the Transgression of Glam in Spanish Popular Music of the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

The early twenty-first century has been marked by the generalization of Internet and the fragmentation of audiences, which has led to what Simon Reynolds (2011) calls retromania, that is to say, the succession and hybridisation of different revivals defined by a sense of nostalgia. The discourse of glam, characterised by an emphasis on the artifice and transgression of gender, has been included in these revivals with ease due to its eclecticism and musical heterogeneity. The objective of this article is to analyse how the transgression associated with glam was adapted to the Spanish context in the decade 2000-2010 in a similar manner to how this occurred in the international context: initially as part of the revival of rock (Babylon Chat, Circodelia) and later reviving eighties trends such as new wave (Glamour to Kill, Nancys Rubias)