Marc Bolan

"A one and a two and a bobbley bobbley boo-boo YEAH!"

... opens 'Baby Strange' from 1972, one of my favourite song intros by the glorious Marc Bolan, a song that's playing in the background at the moment. I've finished reading the biography by Mark Peytress and very good it is too. I didn't necessarily want to know some of the contents - I prefer the idol to the reality - but it's a good read and hasn't spoiled by opinion of Marc. Now I need to hear some of his music and type out a few thoughts.

His early solo work, his creation of Tyrannosaurus Rex with Steve Peregrine Took and then the classic version with Mickey Finn that became T.Rex and changed things forever. All of it was Marc, of course, it was always about him.


He could have so easily slipped away with the other hippy, flower children bands and never been heard from again but something happened. He could sell albums of his songs about wizards and mystical lands and sell enough concert tickets to keep going, but nothing big. That much is history and before my time (although I like some of the older Tyrannosaurus Rex songs) but then he wrote 'Ride A White Swan', caught a star and placed it on his forehead...

I'm old enough to remember Marc from that time. I saved up my pocket money and bought 'Hot Love', 'Jeepster', 'Telegram Sam' and 'Children of the Revolution' and taped his other slices of perfect pop off the radio. I watched him on 'Top of the Pops' in his glory. I didn't see him play live but the concert footage on the extras to the 'Born to Boogie' DVD looks great.

SLADE were my gods but Marc has a special place in the pantheon. He re-invigorate pop music in the early '70s just as some of his fans did later in the decade when punk exploded. He opened the door to so many others to have their own moments of greatness. Who else could get away with a line like, "I drive a rolls royce cos it's good for my voice" and, of course, I believed him. Except he couldn't drive, but why spoil the image with mere detail?

He was an icon of incredible potency, the image and the sound all wrapped up in one small bundle. If you grew up in the '70s all you need is to see a photo of his head with that wondrous corkscrew hair and that sums up the era. He was beautiful and he played up to his own image, generating his own cult of worshipful fans. As with others from that time, the legacy hasn't been managed very well with rights to his songs being owned all over the place resulting in dozens of different compilations of dubious quality being released and that dilutes his work.

It's difficult to remember just how big Marc was in his heyday. Is there actually anybody that big these days? Probably not, in part because the world is now different. Ringo Starr and Elton John played with him on 'Born to Boogie' and having a Beatle on your side meant something back then. He had a sparring relationship with David Bowie from the mid-'60s onwards when they were both mods and he played the original guitar solo on 'The Prettiest Star'. David played guitar on Marc's last televison show shortly before he died.

He was just getting his life and career back together when he died, just a couple of weeks before his 30th birthday. Booze and drugs were his downfall in the preceeding years it seems. He toured in 1977 with The Damned in support, presenting himself as the 'godfather of punk' with his newly slimmed down, healthy figure. It's so sad that he died so young but it means his life with all his ups and downs is frozen forever. What would he be doing today? Who knows.

Another great Marc intro has just played, the wonderful war-cry of "T R E X" at the start of 'The Groover'. He throws down the gauntlet at his rivals in those four letters. Pick it up if you dare.