Talk:Marc Bolan/Archive 1

Archive 1

Marc suffered a heart attack?

Is that information really correct in the Decline section? I've never heard that he had a heart attack in late 1974. Can anyone point to a source for this piece of information? --Medullaoblongata 00:28, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Name spelling

You spelt Marc's real name wrong, it's Mark Feld.

And I bet nobody has pointed that out before.

Alan--81.138.76.233 10:37, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mark Feld (July 30, 1947 – September 16, 1977)

He was born September 30, 1947!!!!

Bolan died on September 16th 1977, two weeks before his 30th birthday.

That doesn't make any sense.

It means that if he'd lived for another fortnight he'd have been 30. Do wake up at the back.Britmax 14:11, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Bolan married Gloria Jones?

according to http://members.cox.net/dregenold/marc/trex.html , Jones and Bolan married, although no mention is made of that in this article. -- Jon Dowland 14:35, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Marc Bolan did not marry Gloria Jones - they were planning a wedding for early 1978 but at the time of his death, Bolan was still two weeks shy of finalising his divorce from June Child, from whom he had been separated since 1973. Rexbox, 28 March 2006

Car / death

Two things of vague interest... first, in "Children of the Revolution" Bolan sings "I've got a Rolls Royce 'cause it's good for my voice" when if he'd been in his Roller and not the Mini he might still be with us. Secondly, just after Elvis died in August 1977 Marc apparently said "I hope I don't die in the next month or so because if I do no-one will remember me..." Britmax 19:12, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I think we ought to have a list of erm... I honestly do not know how to put this... "Allusions to Marc Bolan's um... tragic death... in his erm... recordings and interviews". I bet there's been some interesting books written on the subject. Now if you'll scuse me, I'm gonna buy Electric Warrior and play it backwards. Yours sincerly, A. Curiousfan

Gloria Jones and Marc Bolan (Mark Feld) were NOT married. At the time of his death his wife June (nee Child) became his widow. Sincerely. Fee Warner —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fee mercury moon (talk • contribs) 20:23, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

This is an interesting remark. Fee Warner was the person who put up the money for the initial Marc Bolan statue, but the statement is correct, Marc never officially divorced June Child. The embankment (although Americans would probably refer to it as siding) where the sycamore tree stands, that stopped Bolan´s car, is now called Bolan´s Rock Shrine and is the property of TAG. The picture in the article suggests that it was inaugurated on the 30th anniversary of Marc´s death. If you look carefully however you will see that it was actually the 25th anniversary of Marc´s death. There is a memorial plaque in Golders Green Crematorium, next to his original plaque (rather overshadowing Keith Moon´s), remembering Marc´s passing after 25 years.

Marc wished for a Jewish burial. However his father Simeon was Jewish, his mother Phyllis was not. Unfortunately for Marc this means that he did not have the right for a Jewish burial. As is rightly pointed out, Marc was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, which ironically is across the street (Hoop Lane) from the Jewish Cemetery, where amongst many others, Jacqueline du Pré is buried. There is a memorial rose for Mark in Golders Green (as for his parents, who died in 1991). It is clearly marked (#48569). In the Jewish remembrance chapel in Golders Green Crematorium there is a memorial to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Marc´s death.

Should anyone be interested I can supply pictures. JHvW (talk) 23:43, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

The caption you refer to does not imply anything it does not say, which is that the picture was taken on what would have been Marc's 30th birthday, a fortnight after the anniversary of his death. I should know, as I bloody took it. Britmax (talk) 20:38, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

What is a "discretionary trust"?

...and why should it prove such an intractable problem? (I am sure that there are other people besides me who simply do not know anything about it.) Hi There 12:47, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Was Marc the first Anglo-Jewish musician to become internationally popular?

I know quite a few Jewish managers from Britain (eg. Arden and Epstein) were very successful, but was Marc the first British Jew to make it big in pop music itself? I'm not Jewish or nothing, I'm just A. Curiousfan. 17:25, 10 June 2006.

Answer to above. Marc was half Jewish. His dad was Jewish (Feld) and his mum Christian.. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.224.204.60 (talk) 22:18, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

No, & please stop saying this - about anyone. There is no such thing as "half Jewish". You either are, or you are not. It is not a race, it is a religion (or, of you like, a state of being). Even the most liberal Jews (such as, for example, those who will take patrilineal descent), do not recognize "half Jewish" as a status or state of being. WOuld you say someone was "half Buddhist"? No. And if you want to stress that Judaism, by way of having rules for every aspect of behavior, is a "culture," fine. Would you then say "half American"? No, you would not.FlaviaR (talk) 22:58, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Come one! Get educated here: http://www.jewsrock.org/ Did you ever hear of Neil Diamond or Bob Dylan? -Brian marcbolan.net

Neither of which was British, as the question asked...

Peter Green was playing with John Mayall a bit earlier than Bolan's period of greatest success, however. --David Edgar 16:40, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

And Green was in Fleetwood Mac (albeit in the late 60s, before their international success)

Paul Kossoff of Free was Jewish. Or at least his Dad, David Kossoff, was Jewish. I don't know if Paul professed any faith.

Max Bygraves? Totnesmartin 12:45, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Frankie Vaughan was definitely Jewish and he grew up in Leeds. Babykins229 22:02, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Re. Bolan's Jewishness or otherwise. There is a legitimate interest in Bolan's Jewishness but the only mention in this article is in the context of his funeral. A previous version was incorrect - his funeral was at Golders Green Crematorium not Golders Green Synagogue - that would have been impossible - so I have slightly amended that section - it's not very elegant but does i think now give the correct information - i.e. he did have a Jewish connection but wasn't Jewish as defined by Jews, and his funeral was in a secular setting. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.234.9.3 (talk) 12:16, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Re. Bolan's Jewishness:- "Although only his father was Jewish and the Feld family “weren’t practising”, Bolan’s funeral was held at Golders Green Synagogue — “out of respect for our dad’s side of the family”" from an article in the Jewish Cronicle entitled "Bolan, the star who made pop music fun" dated 06/09/2007 written by Paul Lester. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fee mercury moon (talk • contribs) 20:31, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Wow, when I heard Ride a White Swan for the first time as a kid in 1970 the first question I asked myself: is this an Anglo-Jewish guy singing? The second was: is this the first vegetarian bi-sexual mod to have formed a musical duo? You get the drift. Jewish matters why, exactly? Did it make him a better musician; person? Do we slice and dice by Zoroastrian, Shiite, or Raelian persuasion? Do Catholic and Baptist personalities get their own categories too? While religious orientation may be worthy of mention as a statement of fact, sorting of people into lists by their religion is bullshit. It's even bigger bullshit when historical persons thus pigeonholed were never on record as having even mentioned their religious orientation while alive. Perhaps this is what Groucho Marx meant when he said "I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member". It's only revisionist zealots that twist and sort history to suit their biases.Pzzp (talk) 03:39, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Edits?

I'm deleting the part about Bowie influencing Marc's glam looks, because it's widely been documented to have been the other way around. I'm also tempted to delete the part about "Bolan" being a contraction of "Bob Dylan," since I have an interview somewhere with Marc explaining how "Bolan" came about (a combination of typos and marketing). However, I'd need to dig up that interview first.

I also deleted this part:

"*Contrary to popular belief, Bolan did not play guitar on David Bowie's followup to "Space Oddity", "The Prettiest Star". The guitarist was Tony Visconti, who produced both Bolan and Bowie."

Where is the proof for that? Teenagewildlife.com lists Bolan as the guitarist. There are multiple interviews by both Visconti and Bowie saying that Bolan played guitar on that single (documented in Nicholas Pegg's The Complete David Bowie) AND this site has a quote from Visconti saying marc played lead guitar:

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~rthomas/rexdal/sessions.html --MBanon

I noticed there was no mention of Bolans friendship with Jeff Lynne, he played guitar on a few tracks with E.L.O. check out On the Third Day and I heard once performed live with them in 1973.

"Bolan"

I am the same age as Marc - his influences are my influences. If it is true his name was contracted from "Bowland" (which also tells you how it was pronounced) then that rings an immediate bell. A great book from my childhood was 'The Forest of Boland Light Railway' 1955 by Watkins-Pitchford. If Tyranosaurus Rex were into naming themselves from successful children's fantasy books it's possible. 217.39.5.49 (talk) 19:54, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

Lesley-Ann Jones's biography suggests a number of rumoured possibilities for the origin of "Bolan", though it states none of these have been confirmed. Considering the substantial number of possible explanations (at least four in this biography, that's just one source), might it be worth researching this further and possibly creating a new section dedicated to the origins of the name?GingerTheMinx (talk) 23:57, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Height

How tall was Marc, anyway? I've heard various sources report he was anywhere from 5'2" to 5'5". Could somebody please help me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.107.191.174 (talk • contribs)

Marc Bolan was 5'7" in height. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.78.41.242 (talk) 17:22, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Marc was 5'2". It is a well-known fact that he was diminutive in stature. I certainly would never consider 5'7" "elfin"! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.18.134.132 (talk) 02:22, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

I've seen lots of these estimates from 5'2" to 5'7" which I think are both a bit too extreme either way. I've only seen him in the flesh once but along with everything else I've seen and read, I'd guess about 5'5" tops. Sometimes he wore ballet pumps and other times shoes with a bit of a heel so photos can be a little misleading if you don't get the full picture. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.13.122.181 (talk) 23:05, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

The book,"Ride a white swan" claims he was 5ft 7in. Danielz (T.Rextasy) backs this up when he says that he is the same height and he has met him in person, he sometimes wears Marc's stage clothes when he's performing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Uncle eckles (talk • contribs) 13:14, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Book

Didn't he write a best-selling poem book? —Preceding unsigned comment added by XYZ CrVo (talk • contribs)

Yes he did write a book of poetry. It is called "The Warlock of Love" and was published in 1969 by Lupus Music. According to this article, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070202/ai_n17205787/, the book had 40,000 sales. I would add this information in to the article but I'm not certain where to put it and such. Medullaoblongata (talk) 05:49, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Genre

Bolan is absolutely glam rocker. But is that "proto metal" right? And when you press to that "proto metal" it goes straight to "heavy metal". T.Rex was not metal. Someone should fix that... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.223.231.53 (talk • contribs)

Yes, I don't see any explanation for the "proto metal" classification. While a link probably does exist, I think it's more misleading than helpful. I removed it. --David Edgar 12:10, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Definitely even if T Rex were "metal" which they obviously weren't how could they be "proto" metal when fully fledged metal (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer etc) had been around since 1968/69? when T(yrannosaurus) Rex were still messing around with bongos and acoustic guitars. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.140.22.122 (talk) 18:20, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Ride a White Swan had no bass?

Then just what is the low register plucked instrument that plays along with Micky Finns Bongos? I believe it is played by Steve Currie, uncredited (who was also the third member of the duo as they were still being advertised). Even Visconti, who played bass on Bowies "Man Who Sold The World" lp, could have played it - although it isn't in his style. Listen to the record, and you will hear it! LessHeard vanU 22:14, 5 April 2007 (UTC) ps. Bolan did play the lead guitar on "Prettiest Star" on the Mercury single version. Ronson faithfully copied the same lines on the rerecorded version for the "Ziggy..." lp. pps. Bowies "Lady Stardust" partly references Bolan (whose image was sometimes backprojected when it was played in concert.)

The bass on RAWS is played by Marc Bolan. Fact confirmed by Tony Visconti. 195.152.219.3 11:34, 30 July 2007 (UTC) Rexbox

Bass on "Swan"

It's Tony Visconti who plays bass on Ride A White Swan, also on the T Rex album and some of the Tyrannosaurus Rex reocrding

No it's not. See above. 195.152.219.3 11:35, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

External links

http://www.cosmic-dancer1970s.piczo.com

It could well be Mickey Finn plonking away on the bass for 'Ride a White Swan', he played the bass guitar on Elemental Child including live I believe on the Moonwind release 'Tyrannosaurus Rex in Concert'. I don't think Tony Visconti played the bass on Swan at all, Tony is a blinding bass guitarist and I can't imagine him restricting himself to so much simplicity. I don't mean to say simplicity as a derogatory statement, it sounds great and is all it needs behind Marc's excellent guitar sounds. Now that is something that Tony did do well on Marc's records, capturing great guitar sounds, and something that was never quite the same after Zinc Alloy. And I don't think that Steve Currie played bass on the single either, If I remember rightly the Blue Thumb release of 'A Beard of Stars' had a bonus single of 'Ride a White Swan' inside the gatefold sleeve and this was before the first 'T.REX' album on 'Fly Records'; Steve Currie hadn't yet joined the ranks of T.REX. But of course there is no reason why Marc couldn't have palyed bass on Swan, it was recorded on multitrack after all!Vernham (talk) 06:19, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Moved here from article

"Bolan's music was a massive influence on punk rock and the 1990s Britpop movement. In fact, many acts claim, or are known, to have (allegedly) taken portions of T. Rex songs for use in "original" compositions. Notable examples include "Panic" by the Smiths (credited to Morrissey/Marr; core of the song is lifted from "Metal Guru"), "Me I Funk" by KMFDM takes the lyrics from "Telegram Sam" and "Cigarettes & Alcohol" by Oasis (credited to Noel Gallagher; plagiarizing "Get It On", to which Gallagher later admitted). Beyond punk and Britpop, British rock band Def Leppard, despite being known as a heavy metal outfit in their earliest days, claim to have been influenced more by T. Rex than any other act.

American acts of the late 1970s punk/New Wave genres, such as the Ramones ("The KKK Took My Baby Away" has a slightly similar guitar riff to "Laser Love"), have also cited Bolan's music as an influence. Punk group Radio Stars (ironically featuring John's Children vocalist Andy Ellison) recorded a cover of "Horrible Breath" on the B-side to their 1978 top 40 song "Nervous Wreck"."

If any of this is replaced in the article it would need to be referenced. --John 17:34, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Punk was the antithesis of Glam Rock - it influenced it only in inspiring a reaction to it. The Smiths are neither Britpop nor Punk - they are The Smiths.

78.32.193.115 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:38, 10 September 2011 (UTC).

Bronze bust image

Ref the picture of Marc Bolan's Bronze bust in the article. The picture was taken by me yesterday (30th September 2007) and I will work to ensure that this licence is properly labelled. Britmax 20:09, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I, Britmax, the copyright holder of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

Right, so now, understanding that it has to be on the image's description page, I have put it there. Britmax 20:28, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

That tree

Is it really necessary to give the precise Latin name to the tree he hit? It made me laugh, which I'm sure was not the intention. I think it should go as it's absurd. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MegdalePlace (talk • contribs) 08:07, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the name could go somewhere but it does disturb the flow where it is. Britmax (talk) 20:30, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Name pronuncation?

How is his last name pronounced? That would be helpful in the first sentence of the article. --24.31.187.238 (talk) 03:20, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

It rhymes with Rolan. Obviously. Greglocock (talk) 09:55, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

External link suggestion: reprinted 1971 interview with Marc Bolan

As an editor at Crawdaddy!, and to comply with COI guidelines, I am not posting the link to this interview we reprinted from 1971 with Marc Bolan. However, I would like to recommend it on its merits, and hope that an editor will find the time to examine the story and—if he or she sees fit—post it to the external links section. I appreciate your time. Crawdaddy! [1]
Mike harkin (talk) 23:49, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Discography

I've read through both Marc Bolan's and T.Rex's discography, and it seems a few things have been left out (also, the discography on Marc Bolan's page should include albums, not just singles). For example, "You Scare Me To Death!", Bolan's solo LP, is not included on his discography (though it does exist--I have bought it and am holding it in my hand now) and another album "Work In Progress" has been left off of T.Rex's discography, among others. I would make these changes myself but cannot find much information on exactly when/where these albums were conceived and released. Even so, they must be included, as they are most certainly parts of the band's history. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.78.41.242 (talk) 17:25, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

House looted?

Is it really true that his house was looted just after his death, and if so was it thieves or fans collecting memorabillia? (if different)

Jewish or "half Jewish?"

Is there a reliable primary source that says his mother wasn't Jewish? I've seen it both ways, but neither biographies of rock stars nor lists of famous Jews are known for being meticulously researched and it seems like he's only been described as Jewish on his father's side relatively recently.

One could make a circumstantial case that his mother was probably Jewish, too: Mixed couples generally don't bring their children up with a strong identification as Jewish, Gloria Jones describes him as Jewish, his funeral service was conducted by a rabbi who, I think, referred to him as Jewish, and his mother's name, Phyllis Atkins, sounds fairly Jewish. Of course, none of that is close to definitive. 71.190.94.240 (talk) 01:35, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Phyllis Atkins sounds 'fairly Jewish'?? I can't think of a more English-sounding nameVauxhall1964 (talk) 20:35, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, both "Phyllis" and "Atkins" are fairly common Jewish names. 96.232.50.119 (talk) 05:03, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

glam rock

T Rex is not glam rock. They are closer to classic rock, but it's not quite that either. Yes, there is definitely some Bowie-esque glam influence going on there, but it's an image, not a sound. We need to remove the description glam rock from this page in my opinion. For real. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.252.164.60 (talk) 12:45, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Britmax, re your edit summary, note I didn't add the claim that glam rock began at this point; rather I removed some clutter. Previously it read: <Bolan and Visconti largely (and, in many ways, unwittingly) invented the style that would become glam rock and helped restore a brash and exciting feel, when rock bands had grown increasingly self-important.> The claim that the Bolan glitter make-up incident started glam rock off is confidently made here: <After Chelita Secunda added two spots of glitter under Bolan's eyes before an appearance on Top of the Pops, the ensuing performance would often be viewed as the official birth of glam rock>, but again is unreferenced. There is a citation given here for this, but I can't vouch for it: <The origins of glam rock are associated with Marc Bolan, who had renamed his folk duo T. Rex and taken up electric instruments by the end of the 1960s. Often cited as the moment of inception is his appearance on the UK TV programme Top of the Pops in March 1971 wearing glitter and satins, to perform what would be his second Top 10 hit and first #1 single "Hot Love".[6]> The problem is that the Bolan article is full of information, but very lightly referenced, and if we just remove unreferenced statements we'll be left with hardly anything. I think it's better to trust the assertions and have the references added over time. Spicemix (talk) 07:54, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Bisexuality

Marc Bolan was bisexual and this is a well known fact. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.175.29.245 (talk) 23:52, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

... And your point is what exactly ?

78.32.193.115 (talk) 14:40, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

Choronological order

The chronological order of the first part of "Early life and career" seems confused. For example, presumably the "At the age of nine" bit should come before the part about hanging around coffee bars, and probably before the move to Wimbledon. Unfortunately I do not know enough about this to be confident of tinkering with it. 86.160.209.216 (talk) 01:12, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

NO!

and why that totally crappy picture of him? it totallysucks... why not a color picture instead?

It certainly is a crappy picture of one of the most beautiful men that ever lived!--Timtak (talk) 12:46, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Not a photo of his gravestone!!! A photo of his face in black and white!!! YOU IDIOTS!!! (150.101.166.9 (talk) 10:20, 26 November 2013 (UTC))

Eddie Cochrsne's guitar

Can someone consider putting a reference to the following (appearing in Eddie Cochran article) in THIS article?

>Earlier in the tour, the same guitar had been carried to the car for Cochran by the 12-year old Mark Feld, later known as Marc Bolan of T. Rex, who would himself die in a car crash in 1977. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.63.16.20 (talk) 17:55, 19 February 2015 (UTC)