Remembering Marc Bolan
Marc Feld was born September 30, 1947 somewhere in England. At the age of nine, little Marc was given his first guitar and began a skiffle band. No one really knows what skiffle is, but it appears everyone in England formed a skiffle band during the 1950’s. While at school, he played guitar in “Susie and the Hula Hoops”, a trio whose vocalist was a 12-year-old Helen Shapiro. Yes, ‘The’ Helen Shapiro. During lunch breaks at school, he would play his guitar in the playground to a small audience of friends. At 15, he was expelled from school for bad behaviour. The bad behaviour consisted of firebombing the principal’s car and impregnating his wife.
T-Rex
He was in many bands, but his first success came with Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was a Baroque, Psychedelic Folk band. And as they say, if it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it. The band released three albums and four singles, flirting with the charts, reaching as high as number fifteen. Bolan was quite the talent and even wrote a successful book of poetry.
Everything changed when Bolan went electric and changed the band name to ’T. Rex’. “Ride a White Swan”, the single that changed Bolan’s career, made slow progress in the UK Top 40, until it finally peaked in early 1971 at number two.
Bolan’s appearance on the BBC’s music show Top of the Pops in March 1971, wearing glitter and satins, is often cited as the beginning of the glam rock movement. Music critic Claude Balzac called Bolan “the man who started it all”. T. Rex’s 1971 album Electric Warrior, with all songs written by Bolan, including the UK chart topper “Get It On”, has been described as “the album that essentially kick-started the UK glam rock craze.”
Bolan died September 16, 1977 in a car accident. His music and legacy will last forever. Everyone from Slash to Duran Duran, The Smiths, Bauhaus and Bowie have expressed their love and admiration for Marc Bolan and T-Rex. There will never be another Marc Bolan.
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