BIOGRAPHY
T Rex started out as Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1968, back in the
days when you could get away with album titles like My People
Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair . . . But Now They're Content
to Wear Stars on Their Brows. Guitarist and vocalist Marc Bolan
(born Mark Feld, London 1947) had recorded a couple of singles
earlier in the decade but it wasn't until he hooked up with the
improbably named Steve Peregrine Took (bongos/vocals) that he
created any sort of ripples in the UK hippie ooze. "Deborah",
the first Tyrannosaurus Rex single, backed with the beautiful
"Child Star", attracted the attention of DJ John Peel,
who boosted the single and the band's subsequent four albums on
his radio shows - as well as making a guest appearance on the
debut album, reading a poem.
Bolan's cute looks (he'd previously worked as a model) and
the unadulterated nonsense of his early lyrics were sufficient
to make him an underground hero, and there were many concerts
played to audiences of denim and afghan before Bolan cut the name
down to pop size, ditched Steve Took (who slunk off to play with
the Pink Fairies), strapped on an electric guitar and made his
bid for stardom. His new bongo-playing sidekick, the equally unlikely
monickered Micky Finn, helped out on A Beard Of Stars (1970),
the album with which Bolan moved from acoustic LSD-tinged ramblings
about prophets and magic to roaring rock'n'roll ramblings about
prophets and magic. The stardom kicked in soon after with "Ride
a White Swan", a bouncy, basic little rocker that encouraged
Britain's pop kids to wear a tall hat and a tattooed gown. It
went to #2 in the UK and with a puff of magic powder Bolan was
the most gorgeous, pouting, corkscrew-haired pop star in town.
Drafting in Steve Curry as full-time bass player and Bill Legend
as drummer, Bolan followed the hit single with a fairly uninspiring
album, T Rex (1970), that looked back to Summer of Love folderol.
Never mind, the new band knocked out two smash singles "Hot
Love" and "Get it on" (released as "Bang a
Gong" in the US where it charted at #10), both selling ridiculous
quantities and hitting the top of the UK charts. Electric Warrior
(1971), the first real T Rex album in most eyes, had loads of
strutting guitar boogie, breathtaking vocals and meaningless lyrics,
and sold everywhere by the truckload.
During a period when bands were either serious 'album musicians'
or were written off as singles-based chart fodder, Bolan managed
to sell both. The early 70s albums - Electric Warrior, Slider,
Tanx and the thrill-has-gone-tinged Zinc Alloy and the New Riders
of Tomorrow, were all proper albums, with themes and extended
compositions, quite different from traditional pop industry cash-ins.
That said, it was the singles that kids waited and saved their
pocket money for. "Jeepster", "Telegram Sam",
"Metal Guru", the sub-metal raunch of "Children
of the Revolution", the driving, guitar-exuberance of "Solid
Gold Easy Action", the magnificent "20th Century Boy"
and "The Groover" all went to the top end of the UK
charts.
Pop groups, if they're very lucky, canny and well managed,
can extend the mania that surrounds them to a around three years.
Bolan had three years as a pop idol. He had the whole range of
rock-hero postures, he sang, he danced, he played guitar, and
he slapped on the makeup and sparkle, thus virtually inventing
'glitter pop' and thereby being ultimately responsible for innumerable
sins against taste. He starred in a film about the band, Born
to Boogie (once again, a better-quality product than normally
produced by pop bands), did interviews and photo-shoots, told
countless teenagers his deepest secrets (like 'favourite colour',
'what do you look for in a girlfriend', 'what makes you sad')
and generally played the Star.
It ended in mid-1973, as "The Groover" slid down
the charts. It was around this time that he split with his wife,
June Child, taking up instead with the powerfully voiced Gloria
Jones, who had recorded the original version of "Tainted
Love" (later to be covered by Marc Almond's Soft Cell) and
been working with the band as a backing vocalist for some months.
T Rex's next single, "Truck on Tyke", did respectably
but not well enough to prevent Marc and Gloria opting for exile
in the US.
T Rex - or Marc Bolan & T Rex as they were often marketed
- produced a few good songs in the mid-70s: "New York City"
was fine, old-style raunch; "Dreamy Lady" had enough
reverb to carry it along; and "I Love to Boogie" was
no sillier than many other of his lyrics. But what really relaunched
Bolan's career , alas, was his death in 1977. Gloria wrapped a
yellow mini round an old oak tree on September 16 and Marc attained
instant pop immortality.
The cult of Marc shows no sign of dying out. Since 1977 there
have been TV documentaries, innumerable compilations of 'greatest
hits', and a couple of peculiar 'tribute bands' featuring lookalike
singers and ex-band members.
