S5: Bonus: Gary Glitter and the Dark Side of Glam Rock
Crimes of the Centuries
Amber Hunt and Audioboom
4.7 • 4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For this holiday week, we're releasing an episode that initially was available only to subscribers through GrabBagCollab.com and Apple Podcasts. In the 1970s, Gary Glitter was a glam rock sensation: sequins, stadium anthems, and screaming teenage fans. But like Jimmy Savile, he used fame as a weapon. This bonus episode unpacks his rise, fall, and the disturbing legacy he left behind.
"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at www.grabbagcollab.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone. It's the week after Christmas, and I hope everyone is having a good holiday. I'm taking the week off, but I didn't want to leave your feed empty, so I decided I'd share a bonus episode that I had released through grabbag collab.com and through Apple podcast subscriptions. |
| 0:17.1 | This one is a little longer and closer to a full episode than most of the bonuses I release, |
| 0:22.1 | but I didn't do it as a standalone episode in the main feed because it overlapped in content |
| 0:26.8 | with the episode it went alongside, the one about British TV personality Jimmy Saville. |
| 0:32.2 | Basically, Gary Glitter had been on my to-do list, and then Amy Wilson wrote an episode |
| 0:36.4 | about Saville, and it inspired me to |
| 0:38.6 | finally tackle glitter as a bonus. It all felt too dark to dwell on. Anyway, here's that episode. I'll do |
| 0:45.5 | these longer bonuses a few times a year for subscribers, but every week I also release additional |
| 0:51.6 | historical tidbits, behind-the-scenes info, and or other stuff I hope people find interesting. |
| 0:57.8 | To get that content, you have two choices. |
| 1:00.1 | Go to grabbaggcollab.com and subscribe there, which also will give you access to other exclusive shows, |
| 1:05.9 | or subscribe to Just Crimes of the Century's Premium on Apple Podcasts. |
| 1:12.4 | I apologize I'm not giving a more chipper holiday gift than this one. Occupational Hazard. I'll be back next week with a regular show. |
| 1:25.0 | The stage lights flashed and the amps kicked on. The year was 1973 and Britain was in the grip |
| 1:32.5 | of glam rock. Sequins, glitter, and platform boots weren't just fashion. They were spectacle, |
| 1:39.5 | part of the performance. And no one embraced that spectacle more fully than Gary Glitter. |
| 1:46.3 | Wearing a metallic silver jumpsuit with shoulders so wide they seemed to take up half the |
| 1:51.7 | arena, Glitter strutted across the stage. His hair was a perfect black quiff, lacquered into place. |
| 1:59.9 | As he launched into a raucous rendition of, |
| 2:02.7 | I'm the leader of the gang, I am, thousands of teenagers screamed, hands in the air, determined |
| 2:09.7 | to make their voices hoarse the next morning from singing along. Glitters' concerts were part |
| 2:16.4 | carnival, part chaos, sweaty crowds, stomping rhythms, and a frontman who seemed to feed on the sheer adoration of young fans. |
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