he is still great today,2023,,you can't stop your feet from tappin,,once his songs hit the Radio.....Bolan's been gone a long time,,,,his Music is here for a long time...
Loved Marc's music since 1970 and a fan. I went to lots of his gigs, never a bad gig. Keep a little marc in your heart and keep Marc's music alive forever.
No. For me he is overrated. If you compare Elton John's output & high standard of songs, also Bowie, Lennon McCartney, Harrison, Roxy Music, they set the bar. Bolan was a singles guy & then dried up come 1975.
When Prince came out It reminded me of Zinc Aloy and the hidden riders of tomorrow, instantly it seems like Marc was a huge influence on Prince. Mark will always be the star in the crown of Rock N Roll.
electric warrior and the slider are as potent a one-two punch as any other well known artist's pair of great records. visconti made these albums timeless with his production.
Bolan and Took's work together is truly sublime and their music takes me on a visceral and temporal journey every time. Wind Cheetah, Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia and Lofty Skies to name just a few from that period...Also the last duo album T.Rex is again a simply brilliant collection of songs...Rock On.
What the Brits in the film don't realize is "Electric Warrior" and "The Slider" were huge albums in the U.S. and Bowie didn't catch on at all until the singles "Space Oddity" and "Sorrow" took off but he was getting no album play on FM radio at all. Bowie was never as popular as T. Rex until the "Young Americans" album.
What??? No…youre saying Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City werenʻt well known in the U.S. I love T.Rex, but theyʻve always basically been a cult band in the U.S Most people I know, including rock afficiandos only know T Rex for “Bang a Gong” , and maybe “20th Century Boy”, since itʻs been featured in a number of commercials and movies. And Bowie got a TON of press in the US, unlike TRex
I loved T.Rex when I was a young teenager. My music styles changed as I grew older. Marc Bolin will always be apart of my life. 🎼🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻 Edit: Great documentary 💙
Remember being in a record shop in Carnaby street London on a weekend trip from the North. I bought my first Tyrannoursaurus rex album. My people were fair andhad stars in their eyes. May have been 1968. Also bought Uriah Heep Very Eavy Very Umble, And Ten Years After Cricklewood Green. My journey into Prog rock had begun.
Bolan and T.rex were absolutely fabulous all the time, no two T.rex songs were alike, ever. And when the lyrics may have appeared a little egocentric, [The Groover, Truck On ], well the rhythm and lead guitar playing were extraordinarily original for the time, in their promotion of individuality, and, we should all be grooving to our own song, our own rhythm, our own timing. Bolan was a true poet of the twentieth century....Bolan's song writing for the last two years of his life was phenomenal, New York City, I Love To Boogie, Sing Me A song, Laser Love, Celebrate Summer, The Soul Of My Suit, the love song that transcended all popular love songs before it, in its poetry and majesty, and a true life experience.....I could go on and on...I can scarcely believe how so many Bolan fans have become so, well boring, later in life.....
But what driving beat? The beats were very different, Children Of The Revolution was slow, Solid Gold Easy Action was fast and they were in different keys, and Deborah in 1972 was acoustic with no driving beat, all pop music is supposed to have a catchy chorus, are we talking about the same band? Ride A white Swan was in the key of A, Hot love in the key of G, Get It On in the key of E etc. The production was different, Ride A white Swan and Jeepster did not have backing vocals for instance. Very different approach. Compared to todays artists T.Rex songs were very different accept for the fact they had Marc Bolan singing on them of course, that was the same, this was my point. God Bless.@@seltaeb3302
How can they be the same chords when they are in different keys. Ride A white Swan was in A, hot Love in G, Get It On in E....Some songs had backing vocals, some didn't, Jeepster and Ride A White Swan for examples...'Muddled lyrics? only if you are not poetically inclined. God bless.@@cyclingfreak56
The first song I heard by T-Rex was Bang a Gong. I was maybe 13 years old. The flip side of the 45 was Raw Ramp here in the States. We never heard anything else by T-Rex at that time . my family moved to Wyoming a couple of years later. New school, new friends. Popular music in Wyo. Was dismal there for the most part. After school, one day, I was invited to go cruise around and smoke pot with a couple of guys. The dude put a 8-track into the player, it was The Slider, it played over and over. I don't know if it was being really high or it being a great album, but it impermiated into my brain. Within a few days it was in my album collection.
Really sad that he'd regained his mojo if you like, only to be killed in that crash. 29 years old. I think he still had more great music in him. His death was really tragic. He would have done albums with Rolan etc. His death is also an example that none of us should take life for granted. It can be taken away in a second.
I totally agree with you, at the time of his death he had been producing some of the best stuff he'd done for three or four years, I loved the Dandy in the Underworld album, personally I believe he would have been even bigger the second time than he was in the first. I loved this guy.
Although i only heard Soul of My Suit played once on bbc radio 1 or 2 in 1977 when I was 13 & into punk I absolutely loved it & on getting Spotify in 2010 made it one of my first choices . The tribute band T Rectasy at Wimborne Tivoli in Bournemouth in 2017 had everyone in the place dancing . Fantastic ❤️😁
The Slider was one of the great albums of the 70s. I have the Slider box set , 1,000 copies world wide . A magnificent album . Balance Boogie , Electric Warrior ( great little box set there too ) and the Slider . What a brilliant time for music
I totally reject the ludicrous idea that Bolan's music all sounded the same and as for that crazy woman saying "I Love to Boogie" is the kind of music Punks rebelled against,she is way off base. The punks loved T.Rex.
I remember a review of a live show - it was the first time I saw the description "The Porky Pixie". It kind of suited him at the time. Then he lost the weight and went on to do his TV show. Zink Alloy was the last album of his I bought. I only liked two tracks and had started listening to other things. But the Electric Warrior, Slider and Tanx were - in my opinion, the best things he did. The T.Rex album was (thankfully) a bowing out of the Tyrannosaurus Rex period. But he did have a lot of great singles from White Swan onward. Then there was that hideous song about seeing a woman with a frog in her hand. I was probably 15 or 16 at the time and it was the beginning of the demise in my buying his records. Before I'm shot, I'd to mention that I bought the four Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and all the vinyl up until Zinc Alloy. Including the singles. All of which are still around and unplayed for the best part of fifty years. But I still play the CD's and listen on Spotify.
you bought all of those albums & records up to the final 2 albums :( I know you never knew the last two were in fact the last two , but they were tremendous albums (especially as Bolan's Zip Gun & Zinc Alloy were so relatively poor....
Heh, one of my first ever record purchases as a kid was a 10-LP set of 20 artists/groups. I think this was way back in the early 80's or late seventies. T.Rex shared the opposites of one of those records with Elton John, and I was equally unimpressed with either at the time! I was hooked to the old 60's bands that made me buy it initially, after all. It took me a few years to actually explore the rest of that record set, and even if I still didn't get Elton John, T.Rex blew me away! (I've much later learned to love a love of those early EJ records, though!) This was around the time I actually got improved pocket money from my parents, so after buying a 'Rarities' album (with his lovely Celebrate Summer, and Dock of the Bay cover), I was hooked! So, I got my first Walk-Man type of cassette player, and I can't understand why my father keeps exclaiming that while I was playing that one, I was wailing loudly to some obviously silly music while we were on a camping trip in '83... Heh, all the earlier Tyrannosaurus Rex albums were by then within my buying grasp! And yet, I'm one of the few who really thinks that 'Zinc Alloy' was a wonderfully lovely album! Huh, all others are stupidly silly, after all. 😆
I love the version of 'Children of the Revolution' on Born to Boogie too. I think the single version is a masterpiece of a rocker aided by Tony's muscular production with that string arrangement that adds some oomph. Joel
I don’t like how there’s all this focus on hits. All his songs are pretty much great. Yes they’re not number one hits but they’re still good. I don’t like the negativity in this. Everything is but this but this. Have some drinks smoke some weed and listen to these amazing songs. Good driving music too!
'Metal Guru' well 'metal' could refer to heavy metal, and guru, well a guru is a kind of teacher or spiritual guide. Marc was very in to mysticism and was definatey an influence on American Glam Metal of the 1980s, so why ask what Metal Guru is about? The mystery invoked by Marc's poetic imagination was one of the reasons I became a T.Rex fan, and Marc's writing was very educational, it was suddenly cool to be a writer and a poet and most of all, to use your creative faculties and develop your imagination.
Marc said Get It On was about a car, hub cap etc...some people do tend to worship their cars and that may have been an element of the songs meaning, a 'Metal Guru,' and a 'pollution machine' support the car theory, but songs can have many meanings to different people...@@thomassciaroni6942
The Slider album was interesting because it contained Cello on several songs. So instead of appyling heavy metal distortion to the low notes of a guitar...its replaced with a Cello. Strings were used on Electric Warrior...but on The Slider the Cello was a bit more monumental and innovative
I canʻt believe this documentary never mentioned the huge contributions of Flo & Eddie ( from The Turtles and Zappa) and their unique high vocals, especially on Bang a Gong and Electric Warrior and Slider albums!
The bare minimum essential LPs people should have of Tyrann/T.Rex are Beard of Stars, T.Rex, Electric Warrior, The Slider and Tanx (all the extended versions with singles and bsides included) but BY NO MEANS was that the end of his essential songs. Thankfully we live in an age where individual songs can be purchased because there are tons of fantastic gems on the preceding tyrannosaurus albums like "seal of seasons,," Debora, salamada palaganda, the traveling tragition, demon queen, omce upon the seas of abyssinia, king of the rumbling spires, and then all the later remaining albums: explosive mouth, galaxy, venus loon, teenage dream, truck on tyke, interstellar soul, change, the avengers, chrome sitar, jupiter liar (with the futuristic dragon intro electric poem), my little baby, lifes an elevator, solid baby, think zinc, till dawn, dandy in the underworld (the majectic album version, not the single), jason b sad, the goth masterpiece "pain and love," crimson moon, i love to boogie, visions of domino, celebrate summer...etc. and this doesn't even begin to touch on his amazing unreleased material that 100% should have come out like, over the flats, plateau skull, bolan's blues, auto machine, slider blues, bolans zio gun (theme for a dragon), jet tambourine, high wire, yesterday, saturday night, down home lady, 21st century stance, would i be the one, auto destruct, lock into your love...
if one segment they bash him for rehashing the classic Trex sound and in the next they bash him for not having the classic Trex sound...critics suck. To me all Trex albums have a similar sound with different filters applied.
This. It must be hard when an artist establishes a sound, their own sound, and especially the early high energy material that has that cobra strike tension quality about it; it establishes an addictive template, yet if subsequent material doesn't recapture that lightning in a bottle it seems like tasting flat pop in comparison, and the artist becomes trapped and starts resting on their laurels and it starts to become cliche. A very hard thing, to be constantly surfing the crest of a wave. Like you said, just different filters being applied. But, oh, those early hits are still jaw droppingly stunning. I guess it also doesn't help when other juggernaut musical genres like punk and disco and reggae show up to compete. Musical choice just exploded in the seventies. Even Bowie had to pull put all the stops just to maintain a presence.
Creative, talented, and unique! He had his demons yes, but he was none-the-less a genius, many may imitate Marc, but there will always only ever be one Marc Bolan, his music still played fifty years later, testament in itself. Let us not forget the other band members either; Steve, Will, and Micky . . . a rare and magical combination, they were . . . T-Rex!
As Tyrannosaurus Rex their best albums are, forr me, Unicorn and A Beard of Stars. Unicorn is the apex of the original duo with Steve Peregrine Took. It is their most musically realized album with Tony Visconti's production really have improved by a few notches. It really fleshes out the sound wonderfully. A Beard of Stars is fascinating transitional album which sees Mickey Finn replacing Took, admittedly inferior in comparison. Luckily Marc's compositions are really good and quite interesting with the addition of electric guitar, some bass, and even organ on a couple of tracks. The remaster has many demos and some tracks by Took which makes it the version to own. As T. Rex their finest, for me, are T. Rex, The Slider, Tanx, and Dandy in rhe the Underworld. T. Rex is a further refining of the original sound with the addition of the great Steve Currie, an incredibly underrated bassist with a very melodic style of playing. Tony Visconti's production adds strings to the mix, which further strengthens both the sound and music. The Slider and Tanx are classic glam albums replete with the classic T. Rex sound and alot of melodic classics. Tanx loses the strings in favour of the mellotron, an early tape-replay keyboard. I think that the mellotron really brings a freshness to the tracks with some cool new textures. There is also a fair amount of slide guitar from Marc and the influence of funk can start to be heard on some tracks. Dandy in the Underworld (1977) is a real return to form for Marc. T. Rex sound like a tight band again and the loud female backing vox are gone. The songs sound really modern, but with Marc's personality shining through. Visions of Domino is my personal favorite. Joel
Backing singers on Solid Gold Easy Action clip were Lesley Duncan, Margo Quantrell and Vicki Brown, although it was Sue & Sunny on the recording. Sue & Sunny were also on 20th Century Boy along with Barry St John and Vicky Brown.
I also believe Marc was really the creator of "The Music Video", and he'd been recording them long before other bands did or MTV came along (or even Jim Henson's "Muppet Show). He also created new looks and fashion trends; things like bellbottoms and platform shoes, as well as an evolution in make-up and punk hairstyles. He was caught in an interesting time of modern music changing (European and American), from hard rock or metal, to punk and new wave, to R&B and rap, then back to rock again and now __?. I see in other bands (whether in style or musical styles) how they took most of Marcs ideas and ran with them, never giving him credit for their influence. In my view, as much as I love all types of music, from Brahams, Mozart or Beethoven to music starting in the 1900's, for me rock music and the writers involved in creating the songs really begins and proceeds as follows, on down to the present day: THE BEATLES (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) T REX (Marc Bolan) NIRVANA (Kurt Cobain) These 4 writers were the geniuses of music occurring in our time. I think Marc would have gone on to more success, possibly in film or television, but not sure he would have ever reached the pinnacle of fame he ever sought. So maybe that time was the best time for him to go, when he was on his way up again. I just discovered Marc's music 2 years ago and glad for it today with especially nothing new being created "big" like it was in the past. L. Isgrig in Northern, CA - 10/18/23
Odd documentary because most of the interviewed people are super dour and negative. Wish they had covered my favorite two albums from him Beard of Stars and Unicorn. But I like most of his stuff. Not sure if the star ratings for the albums should be there either, star ratings are for a fans individual experience, not for you all to dictate to us. Why should we think that Zinc is a two star record just because the blockhead that made the doc thinks it is?
I liked T Rex's music back in the 1970s, especially Jeepster but they were all good and unlike Gary Glitter Marc Bolan was straight. A pity about his sad ending tho'.
He had a few great rifs , and some wonderful lyrics . Tough to compare him to Bowie , because Bowie had way more complicated arrangements , but there was a hard rock edge to him that may have come from T - Rex .
Although he became a cliché parody act around '75 we should be so lucky to have somebody like that around today. "He was so definitely into Bob Dylan"..........didn't "Bo-Lan" not made this public ? B.P. Fallon comes over so melancholic. He understandably misses those starry days. The morphing of Tyrannosaurus Rex into T-Rex didn't bother me one bit, liked 'm both. Who invented the story that "June locked Marc in the bedroom to write something more dramatic" , did read too much Stones biographies. Andrew Oldham forcing Jagger & Richards in the kitchen to write songs.
I think he lost his mojo when he tied up with Gloria Jones nothing like complete opposites in the music industry, I couldn't listen to her squeaky voice it was reminiscent of Yoko and we know how that turned out.
The right sound for the right time an emerging fashion briefly blending hippie with glitzy ..it was always going to be a passing trend. I wish he could have taken pleasures that were more rooted rooted in stable relationships and the less arty ambitions may have been more fulfilling.....quite sad ... He had a restless quality to him ..the early songs still live on as truly original and enduring in their appeal
I don't agree with these opinions. If you take Zinc Alloy and Zip Gun out of their reference zone and just listen to them for the works that they are, they both stand strong. I prefer both these to Tanx. There are some great songs on both, such as Venus Loon, Superbad, Spanish Midnight, Solid Baby, Think Zinc, Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit, etc. For me, the weakest album of this later period is Futuristic Dragon, I don't like the prologue, but even that has some great numbers such as Chrome Sitar, Dawn Storm, etc. In fact, I listen to Zinc Alloy and Zip Gun more than Slider and Electric Warrior and thats saying something!
They are all totally wrong about who 'Dandy' was from that song and album and true T.Rex fans will know I'm right when I say ' Dandy was the Beano seller '.
In many ways, it's better not to be an innovator. Marc Bolan and T Rex pioneered the Glam Rock sound and style but Bowie used it to launch himself to superstardom, mainly because he saw how Marc Bolan crashed and burned. Bowie was always smart enough to reinvent himself before his latest thing went stale.
I heard that glam rock was a reaction against the music of the early 70's, what were the trends of the day and why the glam rock thing was an alternative to that?
fenton had nothing to do with zinc alloy bill still played on it , and left after doing till dawn for zip gun fenton only played on zip gun davey lutton was with marc till his death
A surprisingly long video focusing on Bolan's decline both musically and personally. Really glad that Gloria Jones barely gets a mention even though she was central to Bolan's demise and bares the ultimate responsibility for his death. I really wish somebody would remix the Zinc Alloy/Zip Gun/Dragon trio of albums and wipe off Gloria Jones appalling backing vocals. For anybody new to T.Rex please check out these three albums - T.Rex (1970 brown album), Electric Warrior and The Slider, the albums contained in this video really aren't that good (and I've been a T.Rex fan since 1971). Keep A Little Marc In Your Heart.
he is still great today,2023,,you can't stop your feet from tappin,,once his songs hit the Radio.....Bolan's been gone a long time,,,,his Music is here for a long time...
I love every T.Rex album. I just don't think he did any bad albums.
Loved Marc's music since 1970 and a fan. I went to lots of his gigs, never a bad gig. Keep a little marc in your heart and keep Marc's music alive forever.
Bought the singles at the time, still have 'em. What a time to be a teenager!
Great times!
Truly a beautiful gifted singer songwriter and fashion icon ❤
No. For me he is overrated. If you compare Elton John's output & high standard of songs, also Bowie, Lennon McCartney, Harrison, Roxy Music, they set the bar. Bolan was a singles guy & then dried up come 1975.
@@seltaeb3302 you forget his influence on rocker genre and no one is comparing him to the like of Elton or Lennon-McCartney??
When Prince came out It reminded me of Zinc Aloy and the hidden riders of tomorrow, instantly it seems like Marc was a huge influence on Prince. Mark will always be the star in the crown of Rock N Roll.
Remember T Rex as a kid growing up in Dublin going to the youth club disco we always played T Rex .we loved T Rex ☘️
same here
Same here.
electric warrior and the slider are as potent a one-two punch as any other well known artist's pair of great records. visconti made these albums timeless with his production.
Love marc Bolan hugely still Blow's my mind when I play his records
A blinding bright star that was extinguished way too soon.
Like a White Star, Tangled and Far, Tulip that's What You Are...
Bolan and Took's work together is truly sublime and their music takes me on a visceral and temporal journey every time. Wind Cheetah, Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia and Lofty Skies to name just a few from that period...Also the last duo album T.Rex is again a simply brilliant collection of songs...Rock On.
Those music critics haven’t a clue T Rex and Marc were sooo good ❤
it's interesting how influential Bolan has become in the USA They are now very cool and credible so I'm sure he will be smiling down thinking at last.
Always keep a little Marc in your heart. ❤️
A Wizard, A True Star compliation is great. It is all Bolan, whether magical acoustic folk or rock.
What the Brits in the film don't realize is "Electric Warrior" and "The Slider" were huge albums in the U.S. and Bowie didn't catch on at all until the singles "Space Oddity" and "Sorrow" took off but he was getting no album play on FM radio at all. Bowie was never as popular as T. Rex until the "Young Americans" album.
What??? No…youre saying Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City werenʻt well known in the U.S. I love T.Rex, but theyʻve always basically been a cult band in the U.S Most people I know, including rock afficiandos only know T Rex for “Bang a Gong” , and maybe “20th Century Boy”, since itʻs been featured in a number of commercials and movies. And Bowie got a TON of press in the US, unlike TRex
Bolan's death had a profound affect on me, even more so than that of Princess Diana
Sad.
I loved T.Rex when I was a young teenager.
My music styles changed as I grew older.
Marc Bolin will always be apart of my life.
🎼🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Edit: Great documentary 💙
at least spell his name right
Remember being in a record shop in Carnaby street London on a weekend trip from the North. I bought my first Tyrannoursaurus rex album. My people were fair andhad stars in their eyes. May have been 1968. Also bought Uriah Heep Very Eavy Very Umble, And Ten Years After Cricklewood Green. My journey into Prog rock had begun.
That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing
Bolan and T.rex were absolutely fabulous all the time, no two T.rex songs were alike, ever. And when the lyrics may have appeared a little egocentric, [The Groover, Truck On ], well the rhythm and lead guitar playing were extraordinarily original for the time, in their promotion of individuality, and, we should all be grooving to our own song, our own rhythm, our own timing. Bolan was a true poet of the twentieth century....Bolan's song writing for the last two years of his life was phenomenal, New York City, I Love To Boogie, Sing Me A song, Laser Love, Celebrate Summer, The Soul Of My Suit, the love song that transcended all popular love songs before it, in its poetry and majesty, and a true life experience.....I could go on and on...I can scarcely believe how so many Bolan fans have become so, well boring, later in life.....
The T-Rex songs were very alike with that driving beat & catchy chorus. Very much alike but still great singles.
But what driving beat? The beats were very different, Children Of The Revolution was slow, Solid Gold Easy Action was fast and they were in different keys, and Deborah in 1972 was acoustic with no driving beat, all pop music is supposed to have a catchy chorus, are we talking about the same band? Ride A white Swan was in the key of A, Hot love in the key of G, Get It On in the key of E etc. The production was different, Ride A white Swan and Jeepster did not have backing vocals for instance. Very different approach. Compared to todays artists T.Rex songs were very different accept for the fact they had Marc Bolan singing on them of course, that was the same, this was my point. God Bless.@@seltaeb3302
Now that’s funny because nostalgia aside, ALL his songs sound the same! Same cords, same breaks same phrasing, just different muddled lyrics!
How can they be the same chords when they are in different keys. Ride A white Swan was in A, hot Love in G, Get It On in E....Some songs had backing vocals, some didn't, Jeepster and Ride A White Swan for examples...'Muddled lyrics? only if you are not poetically inclined. God bless.@@cyclingfreak56
@@cyclingfreak56 Have to agree here but I dug T - Rex and still do , but it is true that his best songs , the big hits , had a similar feel to them .
Perfect songwriting, glitters sparkling from a Tolkien sword.
The first song I heard by T-Rex was Bang a Gong. I was maybe 13 years old. The flip side of the 45 was Raw Ramp here in the States. We never heard anything else by T-Rex at that time . my family moved to Wyoming a couple of years later. New school, new friends. Popular music in Wyo. Was dismal there for the most part. After school, one day, I was invited to go cruise around and smoke pot with a couple of guys. The dude put a 8-track into the player, it was The Slider, it played over and over.
I don't know if it was being really high or it being a great album, but it impermiated into my brain. Within a few days it was in my album collection.
My all time fav album. Still sounds great now.
Really sad that he'd regained his mojo if you like, only to be killed in that crash. 29 years old. I think he still had more great music in him. His death was really tragic. He would have done albums with Rolan etc. His death is also an example that none of us should take life for granted. It can be taken away in a second.
I totally agree with you, at the time of his death he had been producing some of the best stuff he'd done for three or four years, I loved the Dandy in the Underworld album, personally I believe he would have been even bigger the second time than he was in the first. I loved this guy.
Nah he was done. His music wasn’t maturing. In fact he seemed to be going backwards..still wanting to be a teenage dream. @@jontaylor1652
@@jontaylor1652 I agree. Dandy in the Underworld was one of the best albums Marc had made in quite a while. So tragic. He’ll always be my favorite.
Ride a White Swan....Brilliant.
Although i only heard Soul of My Suit played once on bbc radio 1 or 2 in 1977 when I was 13 & into punk I absolutely loved it & on getting Spotify in 2010 made it one of my first choices . The tribute band T Rectasy at Wimborne Tivoli in Bournemouth in 2017 had everyone in the place dancing . Fantastic ❤️😁
The Slider was one of the great albums of the 70s.
I have the Slider box set , 1,000 copies world wide .
A magnificent album .
Balance Boogie , Electric Warrior ( great little box set there too ) and the Slider .
What a brilliant time for music
Marc lives on!
Very informative.
Thank you.
I totally reject the ludicrous idea that Bolan's music all sounded the same and as for that crazy woman saying "I Love to Boogie" is the kind of music Punks rebelled against,she is way off base. The punks loved T.Rex.
They were fantastic songs of my early teens i abosolutely loves 60s 70s music
I remember a review of a live show - it was the first time I saw the description "The Porky Pixie". It kind of suited him at the time. Then he lost the weight and went on to do his TV show.
Zink Alloy was the last album of his I bought. I only liked two tracks and had started listening to other things. But the Electric Warrior, Slider and Tanx were - in my opinion, the best things he did. The T.Rex album was (thankfully) a bowing out of the Tyrannosaurus Rex period. But he did have a lot of great singles from White Swan onward. Then there was that hideous song about seeing a woman with a frog in her hand. I was probably 15 or 16 at the time and it was the beginning of the demise in my buying his records.
Before I'm shot, I'd to mention that I bought the four Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and all the vinyl up until Zinc Alloy. Including the singles. All of which are still around and unplayed for the best part of fifty years. But I still play the CD's and listen on Spotify.
you bought all of those albums & records up to the final 2 albums :( I know you never knew the last two were in fact the last two , but they were tremendous albums (especially as Bolan's Zip Gun & Zinc Alloy were so relatively poor....
Dandy was the worst album of his career.@@martinworld7214
New York city, The intro alone deserved to be number 1.
Heh, one of my first ever record purchases as a kid was a 10-LP set of 20 artists/groups. I think this was way back in the early 80's or late seventies. T.Rex shared the opposites of one of those records with Elton John, and I was equally unimpressed with either at the time! I was hooked to the old 60's bands that made me buy it initially, after all. It took me a few years to actually explore the rest of that record set, and even if I still didn't get Elton John, T.Rex blew me away! (I've much later learned to love a love of those early EJ records, though!)
This was around the time I actually got improved pocket money from my parents, so after buying a 'Rarities' album (with his lovely Celebrate Summer, and Dock of the Bay cover), I was hooked!
So, I got my first Walk-Man type of cassette player, and I can't understand why my father keeps exclaiming that while I was playing that one, I was wailing loudly to some obviously silly music while we were on a camping trip in '83... Heh, all the earlier Tyrannosaurus Rex albums were by then within my buying grasp! And yet, I'm one of the few who really thinks that 'Zinc Alloy' was a wonderfully lovely album! Huh, all others are stupidly silly, after all. 😆
I love the version of 'Children of the Revolution' on Born to Boogie too. I think the single version is a masterpiece of a rocker aided by Tony's muscular production with that string arrangement that adds some oomph.
Joel
“In this crazy world
Where jive’s the game
They got lonely me gold plated on their brains”
Sensation boulevard 😊
I don’t like how there’s all this focus on hits. All his songs are pretty much great. Yes they’re not number one hits but they’re still good. I don’t like the negativity in this. Everything is but this but this. Have some drinks smoke some weed and listen to these amazing songs. Good driving music too!
watching this smoking a joint but no drink tho lol
I always here late 50's early 60's influence in T Rex . Early rock and roll.
a lot of tears for T.REX
'Metal Guru' well 'metal' could refer to heavy metal, and guru, well a guru is a kind of teacher or spiritual guide. Marc was very in to mysticism and was definatey an influence on American Glam Metal of the 1980s, so why ask what Metal Guru is about? The mystery invoked by Marc's poetic imagination was one of the reasons I became a T.Rex fan, and Marc's writing was very educational, it was suddenly cool to be a writer and a poet and most of all, to use your creative faculties and develop your imagination.
Marc said 'it's about a car'. Some of the lines seem to confirm this :
'You're gonna bring my baby to me' and 'pollution machine'.
It's a car, man, it's a car
Marc said Get It On was about a car, hub cap etc...some people do tend to worship their cars and that may have been an element of the songs meaning, a 'Metal Guru,' and a 'pollution machine' support the car theory, but songs can have many meanings to different people...@@thomassciaroni6942
It’s a car duh
And Marc became the darling of the punks :) And OMG I remember being told about his death. :(
The Slider album was interesting because it contained Cello on several songs.
So instead of appyling heavy metal distortion to the low notes of a guitar...its replaced with a Cello.
Strings were used on Electric Warrior...but on The Slider the Cello was a bit more monumental and innovative
Get it on/Bang a Gong live with Gloria Jones and Sister Pat Hall on backing vocals is still utterly amazing.
I canʻt believe this documentary never mentioned the huge contributions of Flo & Eddie ( from The Turtles and Zappa) and their unique high vocals, especially on Bang a Gong and Electric Warrior and Slider albums!
You do amazing work SIR 🤘
R.I.P Marc
Bolan..I'm 66... Bolan is the 1....🏴🔥
The bare minimum essential LPs people should have of Tyrann/T.Rex are Beard of Stars, T.Rex, Electric Warrior, The Slider and Tanx (all the extended versions with singles and bsides included) but BY NO MEANS was that the end of his essential songs. Thankfully we live in an age where individual songs can be purchased because there are tons of fantastic gems on the preceding tyrannosaurus albums like "seal of seasons,," Debora, salamada palaganda, the traveling tragition, demon queen, omce upon the seas of abyssinia, king of the rumbling spires, and then all the later remaining albums: explosive mouth, galaxy, venus loon, teenage dream, truck on tyke, interstellar soul, change, the avengers, chrome sitar, jupiter liar (with the futuristic dragon intro electric poem), my little baby, lifes an elevator, solid baby, think zinc, till dawn, dandy in the underworld (the majectic album version, not the single), jason b sad, the goth masterpiece "pain and love," crimson moon, i love to boogie, visions of domino, celebrate summer...etc. and this doesn't even begin to touch on his amazing unreleased material that 100% should have come out like, over the flats, plateau skull, bolan's blues, auto machine, slider blues, bolans zio gun (theme for a dragon), jet tambourine, high wire, yesterday, saturday night, down home lady, 21st century stance, would i be the one, auto destruct, lock into your love...
if one segment they bash him for rehashing the classic Trex sound and in the next they bash him for not having the classic Trex sound...critics suck. To me all Trex albums have a similar sound with different filters applied.
This.
It must be hard when an artist establishes a sound, their own sound, and especially the early high energy material that has that cobra strike tension quality about it; it establishes an addictive template, yet if subsequent material doesn't recapture that lightning in a bottle it seems like tasting flat pop in comparison, and the artist becomes trapped and starts resting on their laurels and it starts to become cliche. A very hard thing, to be constantly surfing the crest of a wave.
Like you said, just different filters being applied. But, oh, those early hits are still jaw droppingly stunning.
I guess it also doesn't help when other juggernaut musical genres like punk and disco and reggae show up to compete. Musical choice just exploded in the seventies. Even Bowie had to pull put all the stops just to maintain a presence.
Jewel is the song that starts the TRex sound.
I had forgotten that I had all of these earlier albums! Marc was cool but Micky Finn was hot!
How is this retrospective from 1973-1980 when he died in ‘77?
Creative, talented, and unique! He had his demons yes, but he was none-the-less a genius, many may imitate Marc, but there will always only ever be one Marc Bolan, his music still played fifty years later, testament in itself. Let us not forget the other band members either; Steve, Will, and Micky . . . a rare and magical combination, they were . . . T-Rex!
As Tyrannosaurus Rex their best albums are, forr me, Unicorn and A Beard of Stars. Unicorn is the apex of the original duo with Steve Peregrine Took. It is their most musically realized album with Tony Visconti's production really have improved by a few notches. It really fleshes out the sound wonderfully. A Beard of Stars is fascinating transitional album which sees Mickey Finn replacing Took, admittedly inferior in comparison. Luckily Marc's compositions are really good and quite interesting with the addition of electric guitar, some bass, and even organ on a couple of tracks. The remaster has many demos and some tracks by Took which makes it the version to own.
As T. Rex their finest, for me, are T. Rex, The Slider, Tanx, and Dandy in rhe the Underworld. T. Rex is a further refining of the original sound with the addition of the great Steve Currie, an incredibly underrated bassist with a very melodic style of playing. Tony Visconti's production adds strings to the mix, which further strengthens both the sound and music.
The Slider and Tanx are classic glam albums replete with the classic T. Rex sound and alot of melodic classics.
Tanx loses the strings in favour of the mellotron, an early tape-replay keyboard. I think that the mellotron really brings a freshness to the tracks with some cool new textures. There is also a fair amount of slide guitar from Marc and the influence of funk can start to be heard on some tracks.
Dandy in the Underworld (1977) is a real return to form for Marc. T. Rex sound like a tight band again and the loud female backing vox are gone. The songs sound really modern, but with Marc's personality shining through. Visions of Domino is my personal favorite.
Joel
Backing singers on Solid Gold Easy Action clip were Lesley Duncan, Margo Quantrell and Vicki Brown, although it was Sue & Sunny on the recording. Sue & Sunny were also on 20th Century Boy along with Barry St John and Vicky Brown.
I also believe Marc was really the creator of "The Music Video", and he'd been recording them long before other bands did or MTV came along (or even Jim Henson's "Muppet Show). He also created new looks and fashion trends; things like bellbottoms and platform shoes, as well as an evolution in make-up and punk hairstyles. He was caught in an interesting time of modern music changing (European and American), from hard rock or metal, to punk and new wave, to R&B and rap, then back to rock again and now __?. I see in other bands (whether in style or musical styles) how they took most of Marcs ideas and ran with them, never giving him credit for their influence.
In my view, as much as I love all types of music, from Brahams, Mozart or Beethoven to music starting in the 1900's, for me rock music and the writers involved in creating the songs really begins and proceeds as follows, on down to the present day:
THE BEATLES (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
T REX (Marc Bolan)
NIRVANA (Kurt Cobain)
These 4 writers were the geniuses of music occurring in our time.
I think Marc would have gone on to more success, possibly in film or television, but not sure he would have ever reached the pinnacle of fame he ever sought. So maybe that time was the best time for him to go, when he was on his way up again. I just discovered Marc's music 2 years ago and glad for it today with especially nothing new being created "big" like it was in the past.
L. Isgrig in Northern, CA - 10/18/23
I like your top four, but I would add a number five. David Bowie. 💕
Marc was a great singer and wrote some great songs and a great poet 💔 that marc passed away so young KALMIYH ❤
Odd documentary because most of the interviewed people are super dour and negative. Wish they had covered my favorite two albums from him Beard of Stars and Unicorn. But I like most of his stuff. Not sure if the star ratings for the albums should be there either, star ratings are for a fans individual experience, not for you all to dictate to us. Why should we think that Zinc is a two star record just because the blockhead that made the doc thinks it is?
I liked T Rex's music back in the 1970s, especially Jeepster but they were all good and unlike Gary Glitter Marc Bolan was straight. A pity about his sad ending tho'.
Thanks for thr HC.
when you say 'straight' you mean as in not a peado ? in as much as Marc was bisexual of course
I MEAN HETEROSEXUAL OF COURSE; I'D HATE TO THINK WHAT YOUR GENDER IS BUT I BET IT'S NOT STRAIGHT'?@@martinworld7214
Nice. Not enough out about this guy.
Ain't no square with my corkscrew hair *
I loved them all and still do ❤ What I didnt like was some of the criticisms within this documentary
F the music "critics". 20 years on nobody will remember then.
I never tried to get into T Rex when I was a teenager. Just that one song Bang A Gong. The Bowie came along and that was it.
He had a few great rifs , and some wonderful lyrics . Tough to compare him to Bowie , because Bowie had way more complicated arrangements , but there was a hard rock edge to him that may have come from T - Rex .
I think we "Ganged a Bong".....😂😂
John you should try and have a listen especially slider and electric warrior
@@twisttrax I will, thanks
Although he became a cliché parody act around '75 we should be so lucky to have somebody like that around today.
"He was so definitely into Bob Dylan"..........didn't "Bo-Lan" not made this public ?
B.P. Fallon comes over so melancholic. He understandably misses those starry days.
The morphing of Tyrannosaurus Rex into T-Rex didn't bother me one bit, liked 'm both.
Who invented the story that "June locked Marc in the bedroom to write something more dramatic" , did read too much Stones biographies. Andrew Oldham forcing Jagger & Richards in the kitchen to write songs.
It seems like all the good one's died.
Very good. Makes me wonder….
1973-1980?....1967-1977
This documentary is just people complaining about all these awesome songs and records.
Ride a white swan was his best song.
Gee, an abrupt ending to the doc, don't ya think? Amateur Night.
Reward available for his guitar see
Olive Press .
Trying to his guitar as well as a little Marc in my heart ❤
I think he lost his mojo when he tied up with Gloria Jones nothing like complete opposites in the music industry, I couldn't listen to her squeaky voice it was reminiscent of Yoko and we know how that turned out.
Yeh, she was his downfall, and a bad driver too. That killed him.
A true legend gone too soon rest in peace Mark Bolan 😢
Marc I was young at his height and discovered Marc Bolan💜💜 and T Rex thru the Power Station and MTV 💮💮- LOL Marc so Tuff Stuff
The right sound for the right time an emerging fashion briefly blending hippie with glitzy ..it was always going to be a passing trend. I wish he could have taken pleasures that were more rooted rooted in stable relationships and the less arty ambitions may have been more fulfilling.....quite sad ...
He had a restless quality to him ..the early songs still live on as truly original and enduring in their appeal
I don't agree with these opinions. If you take Zinc Alloy and Zip Gun out of their reference zone and just listen to them for the works that they are, they both stand strong. I prefer both these to Tanx. There are some great songs on both, such as Venus Loon, Superbad, Spanish Midnight, Solid Baby, Think Zinc, Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit, etc. For me, the weakest album of this later period is Futuristic Dragon, I don't like the prologue, but even that has some great numbers such as Chrome Sitar, Dawn Storm, etc. In fact, I listen to Zinc Alloy and Zip Gun more than Slider and Electric Warrior and thats saying something!
how dare you bemoan Futuristic Dragon , it's blasphemy !! everyone to their own :)
TREX original album - best ever
They are all totally wrong about who 'Dandy' was from that song and album and true T.Rex fans will know I'm right when I say ' Dandy was the Beano seller '.
Oh, I was wrong about that 😮
マークボランは私が知っている作曲家の中で、一番のヒットメイカーだ。
bald guy had some fire commentary
I hated his put on airy fairy voice especially later in life..But we was genuinely good guitarist and song writer.
Hippie glam rock
Girlschool did a very good cover of 20th Century boy
In many ways, it's better not to be an innovator. Marc Bolan and T Rex pioneered the Glam Rock sound and style but Bowie used it to launch himself to superstardom, mainly because he saw how Marc Bolan crashed and burned. Bowie was always smart enough to reinvent himself before his latest thing went stale.
Dont Foget Gary glitter and the choppers on stage
💔💔💔
Proof if anything that Adam Ant was the heir to Bolan's crown. Imagine if Bolan could have made that transformation himself?!!
🙏🏿 🕯️ ✨ ❤ 🎸 🎵 🎤 ⚡🧥 😎 👏🏿
Thank you!
😇
1980?
I've still got a tambourine he gave me.
No, I was right,they were both doing similar acts simultaneously
knew him when before when they had the long name
I heard that glam rock was a reaction against the music of the early 70's, what were the trends of the day and why the glam rock thing was an alternative to that?
So mark died in 1977 who continued with T-Rex as lead singer?
?????
There was no T-Rex after that.
fenton had nothing to do with zinc alloy bill still played on it , and left after doing till dawn for zip gun fenton only played on zip gun davey lutton was with marc till his death
At the end nobody mentioned the child he left behind. Had his child been born when he died??
Yes I think he was about two.
A surprisingly long video focusing on Bolan's decline both musically and personally. Really glad that Gloria Jones barely gets a mention even though she was central to Bolan's demise and bares the ultimate responsibility for his death. I really wish somebody would remix the Zinc Alloy/Zip Gun/Dragon trio of albums and wipe off Gloria Jones appalling backing vocals. For anybody new to T.Rex please check out these three albums - T.Rex (1970 brown album), Electric Warrior and The Slider, the albums contained in this video really aren't that good (and I've been a T.Rex fan since 1971). Keep A Little Marc In Your Heart.
So you’re suggesting Bolan got those three albums wrong and that we should now start altering them to suit your taste. Idiot.
“Krusher” that’s him from Noisy Mothers it’s it?
He was really good at wha wha
Metal Guru 26:10
Tony Visconti changed music not Bolan