However, after Glitter was released for the second time early in 2008 on good behaviour, the Broncos brought the song back and local news like The Rocky Mountain News were calling it a return to “the good old days.” Roughly half a decade before woke culture took effect, the city’s attachment to the song could be seen as anything from ignorant to selfish by today’s standards which raises a greater argument: Can we separate the artist from art? If anybody involved in the production of a song or film at any level is responsible for horrific crimes, does the work become unusable? unlistenable? What Denver seemed to imply was that the minute of Glitter’s release he had paid for his crimes and the song could re-enter the cultural consciousness. The Broncos had moved on changing their end zone anthem to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s “Go Daddy O” while the Chiefs went with P.O.D.’s “BOOM”.
The NFL banned it (though they had already initially done this in 2006) including covers which the Patriots tried to play as a touchdown song during the 2012 Super Bowl in an effort to avoid scandal. Then in February 2016, Glitter was sentenced to 16 years for abusing three underaged girls, one of whom was under the age of 13 between 19. In 2006 he was convicted for abusing two underaged girls in Vietnam and was sent back to prison for three years. He went to jail for just four months, apologized without taking questions from the media and then moved to Cambodia until he was deported in 2002. Then in 1999 after taking his laptop to computer world for repairs, a technician notified the police after discovering over 1000 articles of child pornography on his drive that included acts of sexual acts and torture. He went through a tough divorce, became bankrupt and even the massive amount of royalties did little to take him out of financial ruin from an extravagant lifestyle that included several DUIs. While “Part 2” was being immortalized in stadiums as “The Hey Song” across America, Glitter struggled. The Devils were playing it at that point too and the song spread across American major league sports like wildfire.
They ended up being sold to New Jersey where they would become the Devils, but “Part 2” already caught the attention of the rest of Denver’s franchises and pretty soon was getting played at Broncos and Nuggets games. The reaction was uproarious and two years later he climbed the ranks to become the marketing director for the Colorado Rockies and took “Rock ’n' Roll (Part 2)” with him. Then in 1974, the PR director for a minor league hockey team in Kalamazoo Michigan came across a 45 of the recording and started playing it on the loud speakers. Through pure miracle it charted no 7 on the billboard and Glitter became a one hit wonder in the states before achieving a few pop hits in the UK. Glitter’s producer Leander turned his guitar down five steps and aside a dirty saxophone came up with the riff, while Glitter shouted “Hey!” and clapped his hands. But nestled in the dud was a closer that would become a classic, a mostly instrumental song aptly titled “Rock ’n’ Roll (Part 2)”.
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