Rock& Folk, # 263, may 1989

uncredited article, 4 pages center poster, the article is printed at the back.

MARC BOLAN

Marc Bolan, the late Emperor of Glam Rock, stamped rock and roll with his indelible mark. From Rita Mitsouko to Transvision Vamp, we never stop paying him his due tribute.     

© Claude GASSIAN     

Here is the beautiful and sad story of Marc Bolan, the prince of glam-rock, who reached the stars and woke up so naked that he died. But there is justice, and the echoes of his music are everywhere today. Glamour once, glamour always.

BEAU BRUMMEL

Marc Feld was born on 09/30/1947 in Hackney, a popular suburb northeast of London. His father, Simeon, was a delivery driver, his mother, Phyllis, was selling fruits and vegetables at a market in Soho. Little Marc, who was not interested in school, was offered a drum kit at the age of eight, and a guitar the next year. At thirteen, he already frequently hung about the famous 2 I’s  Coffee Bar, meeting place of London aspiring rockers. He could boast of having carried Eddie Cochran’s guitar on the set of the TV show "Oh Boy", and he had been part of a skiffle trio, Susie & The Hoola Hoops. Susie, aka Helen Shapiro knew her heyday a few months later with "You Do Not Know."

Marc also dreamt of fame and, influenced by reading a biography of Beau Brummel, he was known for his elegance. Spending all his pocket money on clothes, he anticipated the emerging of the mod movement and made his living as a model when he left school at 14.

A great lover of William Blake’s  poetry and Tolkien, he noticed the emergence of Bob Dylan. Later he would be Bob Dylan’s English alter ego. Thus, he adopted the nickname of Toby Tyler and appeared in folk clubs in '65. Thanks to a demo, he got signed by Decca, who renamed him as Marc Bolan. He recorded two singles, "The Wizard" (November '65) and "The Third Degree" (June '66); both went unnoticed. The first was inspired by the meeting of a "magician" in Paris - a meeting he liked to embellish, claiming having been his disciple for eighteen months.

MYSTICAL

Napier-Bell also had in his charge a Mod combo, converted to psychedelia: John's Children. They had  just fired their guitarist. Naturally SNB thought of Bolan for joining Andy Ellison (vocals), John Hewlett (bass) and Chris Townsen (drums) for six months, until June '67. The group had a contract with Track, the label of The WHO, and both bands toured Germany together. Bolan is featured on the singles "Desdemona" (banned by the BBC for obscenity) and "Come And Play With Me ln The Garden" (only on the B-side "Sara Crazy ChiId").

Frustrated of not being the singer, Marc left John's Children and set up his own band, Tyrannosaurus Rex, an electric quintet at first. Due to lack of resources, the group was reduced very quickly to an acoustic duo with Steve Peregrine Took (a name borrowed from Tolkien) on percussion. Playing  the underground stages, the duo was noticed by Tony Visconti, signed with Regal Zonophone, and received the support of the influential DJ, John Peel.

Bolan’s mystical and fantastic poetry, as well as his quavering “Donovan's” voice pleased the hippies. "Prophets, Seers & Sages" (November) confirmed  the cult surrounding the duo. A tour, with David Bowie as the first act, at the beginning of 1969 sealed a friendship, tainted with rivalry, between the future Ziggy Stardust and Bolan. The LP, "Unicorn," (July '69), took distance with folk music, Visconti giving almost Spectorish arrangements. Took wanted  to play more radical political music. Following a disastrous American tour with The Turtles, Took parted and  formed the Pink Fairies.

 GLAMOUR STAR

Took was replaced by Mickey Finn, a painter Bolan met in a macrobiotic restaurant, and a former percussionist with Hapshash & The Coloured Coat. His debut album with Tyrannosaurus Rex, "A Beard Of Stars," (March '70) coincided with the return of the electric guitar in Marc Bolan’s music.  Bolan also played electric guitar on the Bowie single, "The Prettiest Star".

The transformation continued with the shortening of the name of the group to T. Rex for the release of the single, "Ride A White Swan," on the new label Fly (October '70). An electric song, resolutely seen as a betrayal by the first fans but that reached #2 on the charts, it was stimulated by a tour of which the price of tickets was capped at 50 pence. Bolan reached a new audience, very young and predominantly female. After the release of the LP,  "T. Rex ", in December, he recruited a true rhythm section, including Steve Currie on bass and Bill Legend (from the name of his previous band, with Mickey Jupp) on drums.

 T. Rexmania was underway. "Hot Love" and "Get It On" both reached #1 in '71, as did the Electric Warrior album, from which the single "Jeepster" (#2) was extracted, against Marc’s advice. The androgynous and made up look of Bolan was extensively copied, creating what the British call "glam-rock" (glamour),  and his  energy reintroduced the fun in rocknroll that had tended to turn too serious. At the height of his fame, Marc Bolan managed to get his own label on EMI. T.Rex's inaugural single, "Telegram Sam", hit #1 at the beginning of 1972, just as "Metal Guru" did in May. Two concerts at Wembley in March, in front of delirious crowds, were filmed by Ringo Starr for the movie "Born To Boogie", which also includes an appearance by Elton John. And Fly, their former label, did not hesitate to re-release the first two Tyrannosaurus Rex LP's as a double album, as well as the Bolan Boogie compilation (all went to #1), milking the cow.

 OBESE ELF

 The hits kept coming with "Children Of The Revolution" (September ‘72), "Solid Gold Easy Action" (December ‘72), "20th Century Boy" (March ‘73) and "The Groover" (June ‘73). And let us not forget to mention the albums The Slider (August ‘72) and Tanx (March ‘73). However, the magic formula was beginning to run out. Bowie, Roxy Music, Slade, Gary Glitter, and Sweet were dangerously competing on T.Rex's own grounds - while Bolan was getting exhausted trying in vain to conquer America, and dispersing himself in playing guitar on Alice Cooper’s LP Billion Dollar Babies and Ike & Tina Turner’s  single "Nutbush City Limits".

Cut from his audience, Marc did not reach the Top 10 anymore with his singles, and the album Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow in February ‘74 seems an imitation of Bowie’s The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Exiled in Monte Carlo and in the USA for escaping  the British tax authorities, Bolan split from his wife, June Child, whom he had married in 1970, to live with the black soul singer Gloria Jones (she was the first to sing “Tainted Love” and his former backing singer).

Depressed, the fallen idol turned to alcohol and coke, put on weight, and was mocked by the press (who described him as a fat elf). His entourage got tired of his whims. Tony Visconti, his longtime producer, resigned; and there were incessant changes in T.Rex band members until Mickey Finn’s departure, by the end of 1974, that really mark their official split.

As its title suggests, the Bolan's Zip Gun LP, released in February ‘75 is supposed to be considered as a solo Marc Bolan release. Anyway, Marc re-used the name of T. Rex as soon as he began a new tour in the UK,  restarting from the bottom of the ladder, playing tourist seaside venues.  

DANDY

Not disheartened, Bolan remained confident he could still complete a comeback. The release of the Futuristic Dragon LP, at the beginning of 1976, was supported by a real tour - and the emergence of the punk movement stimulated Bolan. Healthier, he settled down, he produced Gloria Jones' LP  Vixen,  and had a child with her, Rolan (born September 1975).

Interviewed by actor Telly Savalas ( "Kojak") for the TV show "Today", Bolan instead asked him questions, which earned him to be booked as an interviewer for a TV program, where he hosted Angie Bowie, Keith Moon, John Mayall, and Stan Lee (the leader of Marvel Comics).

The hoped for comeback was confirmed with the release of a new LP Dandy ln The Underworld, early ‘77, for which Bolan inaugurated his new "Marco Bolantino" look, with slicked-back short hair and black pants. Self-proclaimed "Godfather of Punk", he brought The Damned on  tour with T. Rex, and "I Love To Boogie"' reached #13 in the singles charts. A weekly TV show he hosted," Marc," made by Granada studios for the BBC, was to complete the revival of his career. The Jam, Generation X, The Boomtown Rats, and his old friend David Bowie, who premiered "Heroes", all appeared on Marc's show.

But fate did not allow time for Marc Bolan to enjoy his return to the forefront. On 16th September 1977, his purple Mini, driven by Gloria Jones, crashed into a tree, killing him. He was just short of 30 years old.

DISCOGRAPHY

Bolan:  "You Scare Me To Death" (1981) and "The Beginning Of Doves" (1974) have much in common:  Both were issued from the same 1966 acoustic demos (+ 1966/1967 demos of John's Children and Tyrannosaurus Rex for "The Beginning Of Doves"); but posthumous "T. Rexian" post production was added onto "You Scare Me To Death" - ethically unfair, but quite well done.  The result is quite enjoyable and pretty amazing.

Tyrannosaurus Rex:  "My People were Fair ..." and "Prophets ..." are rather dated, Bolan’s hippie mannerisms and his way of pushing his voice can be rather irritating. "Unicorn", more polished, and "A Beard of Stars", a little more direct, are rather good.

 T. Rex:  A little weak, "T. Rex" (aka the Brown album)  is a fairly rough transition album, before the advent of "Electric Warrior" and "The Slider", pearls of pop metal. "Tanx" and "Zinc AIloy ..." tend toward self-parody, "Zip Gun Boogie" and "Futuristic Dragon" (compiled in the USA under the title "Night Of Love" (sic) are gently flirting with an only slightly convincing soul-rock. "Dandy ln The Underworld" is more purely rock and energetic. Many compilations also exist, and posthumous LP's such as "Across The Airwaves" and "In Concert" contain previously unreleased tracks.

BEST ALBUM

Eighteen years after its release, "Electric Warrior" is always an exciting album, nervous and without an ounce of fat.  Bolan’s limited, but full-of-charm voice shines on gems like "Get It On" (inspired by Chuck Berry’s  "Little Queenie") and "Jeepster", and his concise guitar playing is constantly giving shivers of pleasure. Tony Visconti’s wise arrangements help give the sound a softness that does not exclude some urgency. The "Bolan Boogie" in all its glory. Often imitated, never equaled.