The sound of old T. Rex

Marc Bolan died just a few days after Stephen Biko died. This Sunday is the 30th anniversary of Marc's Deathday, which was two weeks before his 30th birthday. Here is his last performance, a duet with David Bowie on the Marc TV show, which aired on September 9th 1977.


Mark Bolan died in a car accident one week after this show. He went through a "fat Elvis" phase late in his career, but he looks pretty good in this clip. If I were transported back in time to September 1977, and told that one of these guys wouldn't make it to the end of the year, I would have picked Bowie instead of Bolan as the one who died. Bowie appeared on Bing Crosby's Christmas Special a few days later (right before Bing died) so he was like the Grim Reaper of 1977.

When people talk about great songwriters and bands from the 1970s, I don't think Marc Bolan T. Rex get mentioned as much as they should. Most of their songs sounds just as good now as it did then, and Bolan's sound and image has been hugely influential. His songs have been covered a bunch of times by everyone from Big Star to the Shins, and here are five of them.

1. Baby Strange - Big Star
(from Nobody Can Dance, 1974)
2. Mambo Sun - The Bongos
(from Drums Along The Hudson, 1981)
3. 20th Century Boy - The Replacements
(from "I Will Dare" 12-inch, 1984)
4. The Slider - The Smithereens
(from Resurrection of the Warlock, 1992)
5. Baby Boomerang - The Shins
(from "Fighting In A Sack" single, 2001)

Note: I uploaded these mp3s to divshare last night, but their site is acting up, so I'm having trouble linking to them today. They're all really good covers, so have patience and enjoy!