ONE MORE LIZARD KING –
TYRANNOSAURYS REX: MARK BOLAN
Before finding teenybopper adulation as a 1970s pop group T. Rex began life as Tyrannosaurus Rex,
darlings of the hippy/lighter
weight end of the UK Underground scene in 1960s London. The band was founded by Marc Bolan in 1967 and
gave one performance as a five piece rock band at the Roundhouse
before immediately breaking up in disarray. Bolan retained the services of Steve Peregrin Took and the duo began producing eccentric pastoral and folk tinged ditties
steeped in Tolkienian mythology, with spiritual homages to Gene Vincent thrown into the
whimsical mix for good measure.
The combination of Bolan's guitar and cat-like wail with Steve Took's
bongos and assorted percussion (which often included children's instruments
such as the Pixiephone)
gained them a devoted following on a thriving underground scene that included
the Incredible String Band and DJ John Peel, who befriended them and ferried them to and from gigs in his mini and
eventually read stories written by Bolan on two of their albums. Another key
pairing was with the record producer Tony Visconti who went on to produce all of their albums well into their second
phase.
The reverse cover of Unicorn follows a convention begun by Dylan with Bringing
It All Back Home: the pair are pictured lurking in
a Bayswater flat surrounded by influences – LPs, books and objets d'art. These
range from the modish to the obscure – Lamb's Tales
from Shakespeare, The Bible,
works of William Blake, a Muddy Waters LP,
tabla drums and toy cymbals etc. The photo sums up Bolan's earnest playfulness
and the duo's position as both typical within their scene and a unique
proposition, and the music on Unicorn, with its melancholic grandeur,
marks the high water mark for pixie-rock.
By 1969 there
was a clear rift between the two halves of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bolan and his
girlfriend June Child (ex-girlfriend of Syd Barrett) were
living a quiet life, while Took was fully embracing the
anti-commercial/community spirited/drug taking ethics of
the UK Underground scene centred around Ladbroke Grove. Took was also attracted to the most anarchistic elements such as Mick Farren/Deviants and
members of the Pink Fairies Rock 'n' Roll and Drinking Club.
By now Took was writing his own songs and wanted the duo to perform some
of them. Bolan, seeing himself as the creative force
behind the duo refused. Probably the final straw for Bolan was when Took
'donated' two songs to Twink's Think Pink album and ignored warnings by the management to
stop seeing members of the UK Underground.
Bolan sacked Took after Unicorn, prior to their first ever US
tour, although Took was contractually obliged to go through with the tour. The
tour was poorly promoted and planned and because the acoustic duo were billed
along side loud electric acts Took commented later that the audience often
didn't even notice they'd started so in an Iggy Pop manner he stripped to the waist and whipped himself.
As soon as he returned to the UK Bolan replaced Took with bongo player Mickey Finn which genuinely was his real name. The final album under the name Tyrannosaurus
Rex was A Beard Of Stars (1970)
featured Mickey Finn who would remain with Bolan until 1975. Finn
had no song writing aspirations.
As well as progressively shorter titles, the albums show increasing
production values, more accessible song writing from Bolan and experimentation
with electric guitars and a rock sound. The breakthrough with this was in King
of the Rumbling Spires (recorded with Steve Took) which used a full rock band and which, despite the lyrical content, is
a long way removed from the first couple of albums. This purple patch also saw
the publication of The Warlock of Love, Bolan's book of poems, derided
by critics but which nevertheless became the best-selling poetry book of its
time.
The next album, entitled simply T. Rex continued the process of
simplification by shortening the name and completed the move to electric
guitars. (Legend has it the Tony Visconti got fed up with writing the name out in full on studio chitties and
tapes and began to abbreviate it. When Bolan first noticed he was furious, but
later claimed it was his idea.) The sound was altogether poppier and the first
single, Ride a White Swan, provided the first hit reaching #2 in the
Ride a White Swanwas
quickly followed with a second, Hot Love. A band was hastily formed and
began to tour to increasing audiences, with teenage girls (teeny boppers)
replacing the hippies of
old. Chelita Secunda (wife of Tony Secunda manager to The Move and
for a brief period T.Rex) added two spots of glitter under the eyes of Bolan
and Glam rock was
born! It would sweep the United Kingdom and many parts of Europe during 1971/1972 and
result in various artists of differing merits (See the section on Glam rock for
more information).
The second T.Rex album, Electric Warrior is considered by many to
be their best and brought great success. The music press at the time coined the
term 'T.Rextasy' to describe the audience reaction at their performances. A
couple of years of regular chart success followed, with hit singles such as Metal
Guru and Telegram Sam pouring off what came to resemble a production
line.
Down - Original members of the band, began to leave in 1973, alienated by Bolan's
increasingly egotistical behaviour which resulted in part from the absence of
Bolan's regulating factor (his wife June Bolan) from 1973
onwards when he began his relationship with Gloria Jones. Finn
left in the band in 1975. The second bongo player to be
sacked by Bolan. Sadly, too much money, success, Cocaine and Brandy
resulted in Bolan, always the fantasist with a Napoleon complex becoming more Narcissistic and Egotistical. His success made him isolated from the 'real world' and high UK Tax
rates drove him and many other successful musicians into exile. No
longer a vegetarian Bolan piled on the
weight on a diet of hamburgers and alcohol (His 'Fat-Elvis phase'). Many of
those who had suffered at the hands of his hard-nosed drive to become a Star
took the opportunity for revenge and he was ridiculed in the Music Press.
i smell
of cheese
Level-headedness? - By 1977 Bolan
had hit rock bottom, much of his wealth had gone and he managed to lose weight.
This is no doubt largely due to the birth of his only child - a son Rolan Bolan in
September 1975. In March 1977 he performed what would be his final tour with
the Punk Rock band The Damned as
support.
In September 1977 he recorded six programmes for Granada Television to be screened during the Children's Tea-Time slot. Bolan looked
fit although perhaps a little too thin and mimed through a number of old T.Rex songs with a group of disinterested
session musicians as T.Rex. His links were delivered in exquisite Campness
and an example was his introduction for the Punk Rock band Generation X where
he said the lead singer was supposed to be as "pretty as me" (as he
finished delivering this line he sniffed a Carnation he had been delicately holding).
Bolan was talking of getting back to his roots and performing with his
two original partners Mickey Finn and Steve Took. This was not to be because he died when the car (a Mini)
driven by his girlfriend hit a tree in Barnes, South West London, less
than a Mile from
his home in Richmond a few
minutes before 5:00 am on September 16, 1977.
Rolan Seymour Feld Bolan (born 26 September 1975) is a musician in the band Rolan
Bolan and the Brothers Bounce. He is the son of Marc Bolan of T Rex fame and Soul singer Gloria Jones. Bolan is from Los Angeles. His music is an eclectic mix of rock and hip hop.