Hubcap Diamond Star Halo/Dandy In The Underworld

September 16, 2007 5:18 PM

Today marks 30 years since Marc Bolan died. In the five years since this post, YouTube has come along to offer us videos of a whole slew of T. Rex songs: 20th Century Boy, Telegram Sam, Jeepster, Hot Love, Children of the Revolution, Ride A White Swan, Solid Gold Easy Action, Metal Guru, and of course Bang A Gong (Get It On). Also, Born To Boogie, Ringo Starr's documentary about T. Rex, has gone from "hard to find" to available on DVD.
posted by kimota (16 comments total)

Also: Marc and David

I remember seeing them appear together a couple of years before this, when Bowie the warm up act for Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bolan's previous incarnation.

Bolan sucked with that fey, cross-legged elf shit, but Bowie was out promoting The Man Who Sold The World and he was great.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:36 PM on September 16, 2007

And of course the Bolan reference in Life on Mars.
posted by juiceCake at 5:40 PM on September 16, 2007

.
posted by about_time at 5:42 PM on September 16, 2007

Never actually seen clips of Bolan live, cool. I always loved T. Rex, they just didn't sound like ANYONE else.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 5:57 PM on September 16, 2007

I always preferred his wife's stuff myself.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:33 PM on September 16, 2007

I always preferred his wife's stuff myself.

Awesome. Had no idea the 80's version was a remake. Should have known better.
posted by itchylick at 6:49 PM on September 16, 2007

Is it just me, or is the beginning of Bang a Gong the exact same thing as the beginning of "It's Only Rock And Roll (But I Like It)? Who nicked who?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:51 PM on September 16, 2007

Little known fact about Bolan: he was crap.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:25 PM on September 16, 2007

No, sorry.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 8:46 PM on September 16, 2007

Who nicked who?

The Stones. "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" [1971; wiki] vs. "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll But I Like It" [1974; wiki].

According to Wikipedia, the riff from "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" also inspired AC/DC's "High Voltage," Oasis' "Cigarettes & Alcohol" and "Some Might Say," and Prince's "Cream" (fan video; possibly NSFW).
posted by kirkaracha at 8:58 PM on September 16, 2007

Decades-old rock debates make me HAWT!
posted by telstar at 10:05 PM on September 16, 2007

Little known fact about Bolan: he was crap.

Obvious troll is obvious.

The great thing about the Edsel CD reissues of T Rex stuff is that they are all two-disc sets, with the second discs comprising alternate versions & demos.

I highly recommend Rabbit Fighter (Alternate Slider) and Left Hand Luke (Alternate Tanx). With the production stripped back, you can focus on Bolan's characteristically delightful wordplay.
posted by Dr-Baa at 6:52 AM on September 17, 2007

"Who nicked who?"

Common ancestry: Little Queenie by Chuck Berry. More at the wikipedia page for Get It On.
posted by kimota at 7:17 AM on September 17, 2007

Yutubez giveth and Prince taketh away.
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:55 AM on September 17, 2007

I have loved T.Rex for years. The guitar intro to "20th Century Boy" is wonderfully wicked.

Marc Bolan and co. got it very right with a combination of strange lyrics left over from psydelica (sp?), not so subtle sex in the beat and guitars, and wove it together in a way that no other band of their era did. Many of the 80s hair metal bands attempted to copy Bolan but lacked his deft touch.

Over the years, a wide variety of my friends have come out as Bolan fans, folks one would not expect from their other musical tastes.

Over the last year, I have been playing songs from Metal Guru and 20th Century Boy frequently. 35 years later the songs are a audio delight.
posted by msjen at 10:15 AM on September 17, 2007

Wow, I came in here wanting to say that Marc Bolan is probably the coolest Jew since Jesus; that Animal Collective's Sung Tongs was about 50% Unicorn and 50% Brazilian artist Gilberto Gil and that Devendra Banhart has been humping Marc's folkie corpse for all it's worth; that T Rex did more for actual rock in the seventies than most other turds of the decade by essentially rewriting the same two songs over and over; that he made women and men wet their pants with a simple pout; and that he could write the greatest silly--or stupid, whatever--lyrics ever, giving so much emotion to lines like "I danced myself right out the womb" that the story of self-reliance and loneliness becomes perfectly clear (close second in this category: Ozzy). But maybe it's not worth it.

Bolan sucked with that fey, cross-legged elf shit, but Bowie was out promoting The Man Who Sold The World and he was great.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:36 PM on September 16 [ +] [ !]

yeah, cuz Bowie ripping him off at every turn with less glamor and granny dresses was much cooler.

/fan boyism
posted by sleepy pete at 10:23 AM on September 17, 2007 [2 favorites]