Marc Bolan / T.Rex
“Oh Debora, always dress like a conjuror
It's fine to see your young face hiding
'Neath the stallion that I'm riding, Debora”
Of all the groups and singers that offended the sense of decency surrounding my dad and his mates there was one that was head and shoulders above the rest. It wasn’t Alice Cooper and his over-the-top approach, it wasn’t the camp glam rock style of the Sweet, it wasn’t the yobbo glam rock of Slade (who were secretly liked), it wasn’t even Gary Glitter and his eyebrow contortions. Number one in the pantheon of dislike was the corkscrewed haired Marc Bolan. I assume that it was his lack of aggression, the appearance of vulnerability and his good looks coupled with make-up and ‘interesting’ lyrics (“it’s all about wizards and fairies” – my dad circa 1972) that made him a target for their distrust.
And as for me? Well I loved his style, songs and most of all the effect he had on girls. If my dad had known this I don’t think he would have worried quite so much about the influence he thought Bolan was having on me!
Marc Bolan (born Mark Field) found his interest in music at an early age when a fortuitous mistake resulted in his father buying him a Bill Haley record rather than one by Bill Hayes. Eager to recreate some of the excitement he felt in hearing the record he soon decided he was going to be a star and started to practice playing guitar. A few years later, in 1959, he gave his first public performances at a local school and a local cafe as one of “Suzi and the Hula-Hoops” (Marc, Helen Shapiro and Stephen Gould).
Marc then started to concentrate on his image and appearance, earning him the nickname “The Face” and resulting in him being featured in “Town” magazine as it reviewed the Mod scene in 1962. This was followed by a brief period model for menswear catalogues while he recorded demos, as Toby Tyler, and tried to break onto the music scene. As Toby Tyler he had no luck but in August 1965 he signed to Decca as Marc Bolan.
Released in November Marc’s first release, “The Wizard”, saw him receiving good reviews and appearing on TV but failing to hit the charts. The same happened with his second single and by late 1966 Marc was without a recording contract once more.
It was at this point that Marc’s legendary self-confidence asserted itself, he contacted record producer Simon Napier-Bell, turned up at his house and played live for him in his living room. On the back of this Marc got to release “Hippy Gumbo” on Parlophone, another commercial flop but one that the god of aspiring rock stars, John Peel, picked up on. Marc was then persuaded by Napier-Bell to join “Johns Children” as guitarist and backing vocalist, the premise being that this would allow the record buying public to get used to his vocal style. The move was not a success, despite writing their outstanding track “Desdemona” Marc resigned after a few months unhappy with production values and being only a supporting member of the band.
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