Marc Bolan went out like a Roman candle or a speed bump or in some such way an incandescent rock star dies at twenty-nine, and left in his wake a glitterbomb of glam stardust and swagger a mile wide and a few albums deep.
It's hard to overstate his impact: T Rex enjoyed a run from 1970-73 where they charted like the Fab Four. Eleven singles in the UK top ten, among them 'Get It On,' cornerstone of Electric Warrior, touchstone of myriad covers since.
Weird stories abound: Bolan and Bowie once painted their shared manager's walls and scavenged outfits from dustbins together, and years later Bolan grabbed camp and androgyny and sexy sheen by the scruff of the neck. It's very easy to get this kind of thing wrong, but there is something no doubt fundamental at play here. It is, as Ryan suggests, both 'dirty and sweet.' The flashpoint of an attitude.
Bolan was a guy that couldn't drive but owned several cars and died in one. Life and death are funny sometimes. But in the time we're here, there's still time to start something. Something that echoes and reverbs through the ages.
(Recorded May 30, 2022)
In This Episode:
A Few Minutes With:
Roger Miller - Dang Me
A Current Affair:
NKTOB (Feat. Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley, En Vogue) - Bring Back The Time
Listen to the album on Spotify
Information
- Show
- PublishedMay 30, 2023 at 1:36 AM UTC
- Length46 min
- Episode174
- RatingExplicit