Marc Bolan - The T.Rex Years

Inside Cover of Electric Warrior

First, after the success of "Ride a White Swan" and "Hot Love," Marc was in a position to do what other successful artists such as the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, and the Who had already done - start his own music label and publishing company. These would be named in typical Bolan fashion; Wizard Productions and Warrior Music Projects.

Secondly, Fly records realized that they were about to loose what was quickly becoming their most lucrative act. In order to reap what they could from Marc before he departed they chose to exercise a clause of their contract that allowed them to release a "Best Hits" album. They titled the album "The Best of T.Rex" and filled it with the best songs from the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums as well as the first T.Rex album. Because Marc's fans had multiplied in number since the release of his two successful singles, this album allowed those who had not followed his endeavors in the early days to get a single album which summarized the best of those years. As a result, the album was a huge success. Incidentally, Fly eventually found legal ways in which to release several more T.Rex compilations in the coming years despite Marc's departure, disapproval, and legal defenses. This enabled them to continue to add to their profits and his by milking Marc's success long after he was gone.

And finally, but perhaps far the more important, Marc was contractually obligated to record one last new album and single for Fly before he could jump ship. Marc took his new band into a studio in America during yet another U.S. tour and got to work. The resulting single was released in July of 1971. It was to become the biggest hit Marc would ever have, easily eclipsing the popular "Hot Love," and becoming the second number One T.Rex hit in England. Sadly, in some sense, it was the only T.Rex song to ever make the American top 40, reaching only the number 10 position - and some people speculated that it would not have done that well had the song not included the backing vocals of Howard Kaylan and Marc Volman, thus pulling into the American T.Rex fold a number of former Turtles fans. In England the song was entitled "Get It On." But in America, to avoid confusion with a song with the same name by another artist, it was retitled "Bang a Gong, Get it On". Today, over twenty years later it is still played on Rock radio stations, and is the only T.Rex song most Americans have ever heard.

After completing most of the recording for the next album and the American tour, T.Rex prepared to return to England. The American tour had once again been a failure to a large extent. The newest T.Rex recordings had not yet been released in America so, like the previous tour, the concert attendees had come expecting to hear the older Tyrannosaurus Rex songs and were unprepared to hear the newer, rockier, electric T.Rex songs that were unleashed upon them. But when the band returned to England, they in turn were unprepared to find what awaited them there. In their absence, T.Rextasy, as the press called it, had erupted into full swing.

T.Rex's first concert at Bournemouth appeared more like a football game than a concert. Scores of teenagers showed up wearing colored scarves around their necks and wrists upon which were imprinted the names T.Rex and Marc Bolan. When the band took the stage, hundreds of young girls swarmed to the front, clawing at each other to get as close as possible to the new messiah of Rock and Roll. Outside, just getting to the waiting limousines was a risk. Scores of young fans would toss themselves at the cars, clawing at the doors, banging at the windows, trying to get a look at their idols. In Newcastle the crowd broke down the front of the hall and in Glascow the city police had to be called in to help get the band out of the hall safely. Each concert seemed to require more security than the last - a condition that, as time went on, would make it more difficult for the band to tour England.

The only low point of the tour came during a gig in Lewisham in July when confirmation of the death of Jim Morrison was received. "Everyone laughed when I said there is not time," Marc said, "but now I know that its right - I've got to give everything now, while I can. Hendrix wasted the last two years of his life; just think what he could have done in that time. There is no time, I may not be here in two years, I don't know."

The final Fly album was released in September of 1971. Titled, "Electric Warrior", it too was a monumental success and is, with no doubt, the essential T.Rex album. In Marc's words, it was the first record he had ever made; the others were just ideas. It was recorded in record studios in three cities; LA, New York, and London. It became a multi-million copy seller and was the number 1 album in Britain for that year. Praised by the critics as well and the public, the album established T.Rex as a major force on the British music scene.

Electric Warrior

The Sounds music magazine printed:

"Bolan has so cunningly utilized a panorama of influences - as wide ranging as his record collection, stretching through early Presley to his score of official and unofficial Hendrix albums - that anyone who has traveled a similar path will find his head spinning from one nostalgia to the next. On 'Monolith' you might be listening to a '71 remake of 'Duke of Earl'. 'Cosmic Dancer' has strings which could have been scored by Bert Berns. 'Jeepster' might have been cut in Sam Phillip's midget Sun Studios, and nearer home the hamming? 'Lean Woman Blues' could be an unused Bob Dylan tape from 'Bringing It All Back Home'. On top of that Bolan has added a spicy icing and a cultured producer's ear to produce a finished product very much '71 and very much his own. Electric Warrior is certainly a major achievement in Bolan's career, both as a performer and producer."

T.Rextasy continued to explode in Britain. The British press hailed T.Rex as the new Beatles. The New Musical Express voted T.Rex as the world's number 1 band. Paul McCartney, in an interview with Aberdeen Press, was quoted as saying, "I don't want Wings to get hoisted into the Superstar bracket like the Beatles were. T.Rex and Slade can have that . . . " In America, "Electric Warrior" had reasonable success and Rolling Stone magazine featured Marc in an issue.

Fans

Fly records released another single from songs on the "Electric Warrior" album against Marc's wishes. The song was called "Jeepster" and Marc reluctantly promoted the song with a TV appearance. It only reached number 2 on the charts. While some artists would consider this an achievement, Marc had decided that only the number 1 position was worth attaining and he refused to acknowledge the Jeepster single, and thus its chart placement, as official. The Jeepster song was recorded in the same New York studio in which Simon and Garfunkle had recorded "The Boxer". The studio had a wooden floor that Marc used to create an interesting sound effect by pounding on the floor with his hands as if the floor was a drum.

Meanwhile, Marc was already working on the follow up album to "Electric Warrior". He had negotiated a deal with EMI through whom he would distribute songs which he recorded on his label. As such he could offer EMI only the songs he wished so that a lot of material which Marc recorded but didn't offer EMI has never been released. In January of 1992, the first single was released under the new label. The song was called "Telegram Sam", and it became the third British number 1 T.Rex song in only 11 months.

It was time for another American tour. While probably the most successful of the tours Marc would ever do in America, it was still not a triumph. But this time around the difficulty was of a very different nature than what Marc was used to. Whereas on the previous tours, he had been a nobody playing second bill to American bands, this time around T.Rex was heading the bill and the American press was skeptically awaiting the arrival of this so called "new Beatle". Unfortunately, anything less than this would be considered failure - as the case turned out to be.

While Marc had found a niche which made him an overnight superstar in other parts of the world, America was moving in a different direction. The Beatles had begun as a teenage-heart-throb pop band and matured into the leading politically-minded head music band of the decade (and quite possibly the century). The majority of the American Rock fans had matured right along with them and tended to scoff at bands such as the Monkeys who still valued the pop market more than the serious stuff. Bolan, on the other hand, seemed to be doing the Beatles in reverse. His early music had been more tuned to the acid-head hippie types, but was now clearly moving more into the pop arena which, from an American viewpoint, was the wrong direction. To make matters worse, his publicity men couldn't decide whether to market him as a serious Rock and Roll star or as a teenage heart-throb. They therefore tried to market him as something in between and, as a result, he succeeded at neither. The American tour, although ending with a memorable concert at the Carnegie Hall in NYC, ended with T.Rex again having failed to conquer the American masses. Alas, the band would never again come even this close.

Meanwhile back in Britain, Fly records, still trying to find ways to capitalize on Bolan even though they had lost him to another record company, released another greatest hits compilation called "Bolan Boogie". Remarkably, this album also became a number 1 seller; the second T.Rex "best-of" album to sell as well as the regular releases. T.Rextasy was still at its peak and the British press stalked Marc as if no other star were worth interviewing. Marc enjoyed the attention immensely, but slowly, success was going to his head. The self confidence and assertiveness that had got Marc to where he was, was now turning to smugness. The end result was that many in the press who had helped promote Marc to stardom, were now beginning to think less highly of him. His interviews were becoming bragging sessions. He couldn't resist trying to compare himself to other great musicians like John Lennon and Bob Dylan. He claimed to be a better guitarist than Pete Townsend to which the Who guitarist professionally replied "I've always dug Marc Bolan and he knows it, and he also knows that I'd let him get away with murder because of what he's doing for rock & roll". Marc even accused John Lennon and Ray Davies of trying to imitate his vocals on 'Cold Turkey' and 'Victoria' respectively.

Not even God was beyond Marc's self-infatuated statements.

"If God were to appear in my room," he once said, "obviously I would be in awe, but I don't think I would be humble. I might cry, but I think he would dig me like crazy."

Marc was also beginning to feel the pressure of his stardom, and there was growing evidence that it was getting to him. To one reporter he said

"I have a feeling all the time of being pinned against the wall by hundreds of invisible people. All the time. Consequently, I totally retreat. I don't go out anymore, ever. Sometimes I get a funny feeling inside me that I shan't be here very long, and I'm not talking in terms of things like success. It frightens me sometimes."

He had now dropped the "Children of Rarn" animated cartoon idea and was now discussing the possibility of doing a science fiction film. The film was to be about a messenger from God, or "Cosmic Messiah", who comes to earth to see how the human race is doing after all these years. Instead of finding the expected race of Gods on earth, he sees the human race as it is and is thoroughly disgusted by its condition. Marc didn't intend to play one of the roles in the film but did want the band to do a few numbers for it. But this film, like "The Children of Rarn", never got beyond the idea stage. Instead, with the help of a fan, Marc did a film about himself.

Ringo and Marc

The studio footage was recorded at the abbey road studios in London and introduced a song that would eventually be re-recorded and would become another T.Rex hit. The song was called "Children of the Revolution", and the film version included two guest musicians. The first being, of course, Ringo on drums since it was, after all, his production. The second being Elton John on piano.

Elton on Children of the Revolution

The majority of the "Born To Boogie" film was footage taken at two live concerts played back-to-back at the Empire Pool in Wembley on March 18, 1972. Many T.Rex historians consider these two concerts to the be the pinnacle of Marc's career. Both performances were sold out to crowds of 100,000 people each.

Tony Tyler from NME had this to say about the concert.

"He was a poem in silks, satins, and embroidered velvets. A soft cap, sewn with astrological stars, clung to his curly locks. Silken breeches encased his legs, where gleaming hose fell away to reveal silver-buckled shoes. Spangled dust, artistically arranged beneath his lustrous eyes, glittered, reflecting the powerful lighting in visionary flashes. And he, incredibly, was only a photographer at Saturday's staggering T.Rex concerts at the Wembley Pool."

"Engraved in my memory forever will be the feelings, sights and sounds I experienced at the concerts that day. The approach to the Empire Pool sent shivers down my spine and once inside the complex I was faced with thousands of other young fans gasping with excitement and eyes wide; soaking up the atmosphere. In the main hall the stage was laid bare before me, seeming huge and menacing in a strange way. My friends and I grabbed great seats naively thinking we would sit and watch the concert! EMPEROR ROSKO came out to whip up the excitement, but he need not have bothered himself. The atmosphere was electric, the anticipation painful... then suddenly there HE was. Seats were forgotten, the music was far too loud but I loved every minute of it." Soon after the making of the "Born to Boogie" film, Marc's good friend and publicist, B.P. Fallon, quit. Beep, as his friends called him, had played a big part in making Marc one of the most recognized stars in Britain. He felt as if his job was complete now that Marc had reached such heights and it was time to find a new client who needed his capabilities. Marc chose not to replace him, thus possibly further straining his relations with the press. Despite the end of their professional relationship, Mark and Beep would remain good friends until the end.

The next T.Rex album was recorded largely in France at a favorite studio of Elton John's who recorded there frequently, the Chateau D'Herouville (thus 'Honky Chateau'). Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman weren't available when the tracks were recorded, but Marc valued their backing vocals so heavily that he brought the tapes all the way to LA later so that they could add their backing vocals to the songs. Also appearing on a T.Rex album for the first time was Marc's long time friend and rival, David Bowie, adding more background vocals and playing his saxophone on several of the songs.

David Bowie had still to match the success of Bolan, but his fortune was changing. Up till now, David's showmanship had been no match for Bolan's and neither had been his persistence and aggressiveness. In the early days Bowie was an opening act for the two piece Tyrannosaurus Rex band. He looked up to Bolan and often tried to imitate him, a condition that several years down the road would find itself paradoxically reversed. Bowie was making headway. His albums were becoming popular in America more so that in Britain, a situation Bolan was still struggling with. On David's 1972 album Ziggy Stardust, he included a song called "Lady Stardust" which he had written about Marc. During his live performances he would sing this song in front of a screen on which was projected an image of Marc's face. He also insisted that the music played in the concert halls prior to his own concerts be T.Rex music.

Despite their friendship and David's appreciation for Marc, they were still musical rivals, and Marc, much more so than David, was often jealous of David's success. Following the success of Space Oddity, David invited Marc to come play a lead on "The Prettiest Star" for an upcoming album. Marc showed up at the studio in a jealous mood with his wife June, and proceeded to play the lead without really taking any advice from David concerning what he wanted. After recording a single take, Marc and June left with hardly a good-bye. The event saddened Bowie who was a relatively sensitive person. In the end, Bolan's guitar track was replaced with one by Mick Ronson. But such incidents were the exception rather than the rule, and the two would remain good friends.

The Slider

The slider album also climbed to the top of the album charts and sold 100,000 copies in the first 4 days. It came very close to dying on the shipping dock, however, due to some other events that occurred prior to its release. Track records, who owned the songs Marc had recorded for Simon Napier-Bell prior to the John's Children period, attempted to release an album of the acoustical recordings Marc had recorded for Simon under the title "Hard On Love". The title was derived from the fact that at the beginning of the first song, Marc could be heard in the background fighting with the girl he was dating at the time. Marc went to court and managed to successfully block the release of the album. Despite the favorable outcome, the experience drained Marc emotionally and he "pulled a Brian Wilson", as he put it, and nearly had the slider album canceled.

In September of 1972, the "Children of the revolution" single was released. It was not the same version which had appeared in the "Born to Boogie" film and many people didn't consider the newer version to be as good. It was much heavier and plodding than the film version. As a result, it only reached the number 2 position on the charts. This broke what Mark considered 4 straight number 1 releases over a 15 month period (although actually the "Jeepster" single only reached number 2 and a reisuue of Debora only made it to 7 but Marc never considered these to be official releases).

While the A-side of the single failed to do as well as its predecessors, the B-side was evidence that Bolan was accelerating his pace toward metal rock. Of the two songs typical of a T.Rex B side, one was "Jitterbug Love" which was perhaps the most metal Bolan yet. The progression from Marc's acoustical days to his electric days continued, with each song containing less and less of the old acoustical feel and more of a metal edge.

September of 1972 saw a return of T.Rex to the USA and in November the band made a successful tour of the Far East and Australia. The year ended with two December concerts, denoted as T.Rexmas shows, which were held in Edmonton and Brixton. While in Japan, the band took time to record their next single. The song was called "Solid Gold Easy Action". It too fell a tad short of the top slot, matching Children Of The Revolution at number 2.

Cilla Black and Marc

For the appearance Mark mimed to a remake of a song he had written years earlier for John's Children called "Mad Donna". It was typical in those days - in fact it still often is - for a band or individual to mime to a recording rather than do the song live. But following "Mad Donna," Mark and Cilla went a step further and sang a live duet of a song off the "Electric Warrior album." Unfortunately, Marc had spent so much of his energy jumping about the stage miming to the first number that he was nearly breathless when it came time to sing the second one.

On March 2nd of 1973, T.Rex released their 10th single (counting the "unofficial" ones). The song was called "Twentieth Century Boy" and showed Marc still to be trodding down the metal path. The words to the song were made up of quotes from various people including Mohammed Ali. This single slipped a bit further on the charts, instead stopping at number 3.

Just two weeks later the next album was released. It was called Tanx and both the front cover and an inner sleeve poster was a photograph of Marc sitting atop a toy Tank with the Tank's cannon squarely between his legs which probably brought forth gasps from mothers all over England. The album had been recorded in both France and Denmark. The album had a fuller and mellower sound than the "Slider" album, but it did not fare as well either in Britain or the US.

TANX

Marc purposely did not release any singles containing songs from the album as he was attempting to distance himself from the pop scene. What little foothold he had gained in America was already slipping despite efforts by Warner Bothers to push his music there. The American people had never understood the glam-rock movement which Marc had essentially started, and it would be a full two years later until David Bowie and, later, Kiss would finally usher in this era to the US.

In June of 1973, T.Rex released "The Grover". It charted at number 4, but fell back down quickly signaling that the two year stranglehold Marc had had on the British charts was over. But the results of the last two years had been astounding. T.Rex had sold 39 million records and had 4 number 1's, 3 number 2's, 2 number 3's and a number 4 hit single in just over two years. Even "The Grover", which only reached number 4, would sell 100,000 copies in the first day. And there would never be a period in the next four years when there was not a T.Rex song somewhere on the charts, even if not at the top.

Marc continued touring at a frantic pace and headed once again to America. He hired a second guitar player, Jack Green, to help give the concerts a fuller sound. He also brought along 3 female vocalists to handle the background vocals, a job that had previously be handled with tape machines. Among these background vocalists was Pat Hall and a black American singer-songwriter soul star named Gloria Jones. Gloria was the daughter of an American preacher and had established herself as an extremely talented singer. She was first featured on the next T.Rex single called "Truck On (Tyke)." Gloria and Mark would begin a friendship that would eventually become an affair and, in the end, destroy his marriage to June.

At the end of the year, T.Rex did another large and successful tour of Australia and Japan. But after the tour ended, drummer Bill Legend announced his departure from the band, citing family strain as the primary reason. The first of the original core T.Rex band had departed and T.Rex would never quite be the same.

1974 found nearly a brand new T.Rex beginning their first British tour in over a year. In addition to Marc, the band still included Steve Currie on bass and Mickey Finn on bongos (although the new style of music was nearly rendering Mickey obsolete). On background vocals were Gloria and Pat Hall. Two sax players were added to the lineup for concerts and Bill Legend had been replaced with two new drummers, Davey Lutton, who would be around a while, and Paul Fenton, who would not.

Zinc Alloy

The press slammed the "Zinc Alloy" title as Marc's attempt to copy an idea from David Bowie's highly successful "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." On the contrary, as far back as the early Tyrannosaurus Rex days, Marc had been recorded as saying that he would some day change his name to Zinc Alloy should he every achieve stardom. But, regardless, from the outside it now appeared that the roles of Bowie and Bolan were changing. Long being the undisputed heavyweight of the two, Marc's popularity was now declining and David's was surpassing it. Marc's own assessment of the situation was typical of his self-infatuated attitude. In his mind he had reached such a level of popularity that he had become nearly an immortal figure. "People aren't sure if I really exist," he insisted. As a result, he concluded, the public demand to see and hear him had diminished since his presence in their lives had become so integral.

The Zinc Alloy album was released in February of 1994 along with a single entitled "Whatever Happened to the Teenage Dream." The single, a song about innocence lost in the teen years, had moderate sales success, but the album received mostly bad reviews. Interestingly, despite the negative public reaction to the album, many fellow musicians went on record to acknowledge their growing respect for Marc as a musician, and several guitar critics praised the album for containing some of the best guitar work released that year; highly unusual considering that Bolan was never previously accused of being an exceptionally good guitarist.

Marc was clearly showing the strains created both by his tremendous success in the prior years and now his fall from dominance. As the profits rolled in from his previous years successes, he had to start spending more and more time outside of his beloved England in order to avoid the horrendous British celebrity taxes. He began to drink heavily and turned to Cocaine when things got really down. In striking similarity to Elvis Presley his weight began to increase uncontrollably. British tabloids began to call him England's Porky Pixie.

Then came more T.Rex personnel changes. David Bowie asked Marc to audition the band for this 'Diamond Dogs' tour. One of the auditionees was Dino Dines who had played keyboards for the Beach Boys. Rather than select him for Bowie, Marc gave him a job with T.Rex bringing a full time keyboardest to the band for the first time. Two drummers was deemed to be too many so Marc trimmed it to one, keeping on Davey Lutton. And, their relationship taking on a much more personnel role, Gloria Jones was given the job of playing Clavinet in addition to continuing on backing vocals.

But another defection several months earlier potentially devastated T.Rex worse than any other personnel change. Marc and producer Tony Visconti went their separate ways in March of 1974. Citing "Musical Differences" as the reason, this split ended a 6 year, nine album partnership that had taken Marc Bolan from nowhere to the top of the British Rock scene. T.Rex was headed for the lowest point in its existence.

Bolan's Zip Gun

Light Of Love

Then more defections and splits. At the end of 1974, Marc and wife June called it quits and divorced. Not only had they grown apart during the strainful last year, but Marc had developed a full-blown relationship with Gloria Jones and she would eventually become his common-law wife. Also, Mickey Finn, who's bongo playing had become pretty much obsolete given the now highly electric sound of T.Rex, quit the band and bought a antique business in the King's Road.

As the winter of 1975 came to an end, Marc and T.Rex had fallen from the top of the totem pole to bottom. Many, perhaps, thought that they had heard the last of him, and indeed, America would never again see another T.Rex release on its soil. But Marc had been underestimated before and was no stranger to an up hill battle. More was to come.