Of all the stars of the ’70s, few shone brighter than Marc Bolan. Sharing the same, mysterious androgyny of contemporary David Bowie, there was something otherworldly and seductive about Bolan, his flame burning so brightly but sadly so briefly. With the news that two unheard T. Rex songs had been unearthed, MetalTalk descended on Bolan’s former Maida Vale home to see English Heritage unveil blue plaque number 1025.
Born Mark Feld in 1947, his love of music was always with him and a gift of a guitar when he was nine started him on a path of global recognition. Signing to Decca Records in August 1965 after drifting through various styles and reinventing himself, including changing to the name that the general public got to know him by, it wasn’t until 1967 and the creation of his own project, Tyrannosaurus Rex, that things really took off.
For the next decade, few artists thrilled in the same way as Marc Bolan, the transition to the much more succinct T Rex and the first huge hit with Ride A White Swan in 1970, opening the floodgates for what was to follow.
Chart busting singles, smash albums, famous friends, a virtual residency on Top Of The Pops, his own television show and a huge legion of devoted fans whose passion came close to the hysteria of Beatlemania all followed before his life was cruelly cut short just two weeks before his thirtieth birthday when he lost his life in a car accident on the sixteenth of September 1977.
Such was his impact, equal to that of all his peers, that his legacy still remains a bright beacon to this day, some thirty-eight years later, influencing many of the biggest artists in the world and thrilling consecutive generations as young people discover his work.
After a sustained campaign, English Heritage bowed to the clamour and awarded the Maida Vale flat that Marc Bolan inhabited at the height of his fame a coveted blue plaque, acknowledging the building with the honour in recognition of its part in his story.
With the sun shining down on Clarendon Gardens, the great and the good gathered for the unveiling, friends and fans lining up both sides of the road to pay tribute.
With a brief introduction from broadcaster Petroc Trelawny, mentioning that this plaque will be number 1025, the stand was passed to Bolan expert Martin Barden, the proposer and consultant to Demon Music, giving a passionate overview of the artist and his legacy.
Next up, renowned journalist Chris Welch reminisced about his times in Bolan’s company, from meeting him first when he was with the band John’s Children, through his rise to fame and onto his time at the Clarendon Gardens flat where the singer had to crawl around the floor rather than be seen by the massed fans filling the pavements outside of the property.
Other anecdotes included Bolan’s love of seeing Guy the Gorilla at London Zoo and the time when Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn played their new album acoustically in his office, the latter using his desk for percussion.
Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies from The Damned revealed just how warm and thoughtful Bolan was to them, the nascent punk band being taken on the road by him following their swift ejection from a Sex Pistols tour.
Tales of generosity, the dangers to equipment by spitting fans when going out with such a combo, just as glam was fading whilst punk was rising and just how star-struck The Ramones were when meeting him, all brought smiles.
It was acknowledged too that Bolan featured many punk bands on his television show Marc, many hardly seen through the medium, following the infamous Bill Grundy interview with the Sex Pistols, causing broadcasters to be very skittish. Sensible too stating that it was Marc Bolan who inspired him to pick up a guitar, creating their own slice of music history.
Barden returned, reading a heartfelt and wickedly funny letter penned by Bolan’s musician friend BP Fallon before a playthrough of the previously unheard I’m Dazed track, written, recorded and produced in 1975, its primal swing filling the air with a gloriously raucous sound.
Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie followed, his eloquent and moving description of Bolan a beautiful tribute to the man. Finally, the man with a thousand stories, Mr Rick Wakeman, spoke of his time with the artist, how the birth rate in Lincolnshire was affected by a Bolan gig, and the time he got asked to play on the seminal Get It On just to help pay his rent.
With Wakeman unveiling the plaque and along with a message from Rolan Bolan, the singer’s son, the ceremony closed, old acquaintances catching up and heading to a local hostelry to remember and raise a glass to their late, but never forgotten, friend.
As long as great music exists, Marc Bolan will always be with us all.
All photography by Manuela Langotsch for MetalTalk.
