Album: Electric Warrior
Artist: T. Rex
Born: Stoke Newington, London
Released: September 1971
Genre: Glam Rock
Influenced: Big Star, Gary Numan, Blondie, Morrissey
There's an interesting theory in Rob Young's Electric Eden that Marc Bolan and David Bowie were the "Judases" of the electric folk movement, more effective pied pipers to a glittery future as Ziggy Stardust and Electric Warrior than as psychedelic folkies like Donovan and Incredible String Band. In an earlier guise as Tyrannosaurus Rex, the group generated four albums of fabulously weird psych-folk that would inspire groups like Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective four decades later. By the time the 70s rolled around though, things would change radically for Bolan. Electric Warrior is the group's second album as T. Rex and a huge leap forward in terms of sound and songwriting. One of T. Rex's best songs, Ride A White Swan, emerged from the sessions for the previous album and its success gave the group the confidence to pursue this new direction. The results were a potent new form of pop, glam rock, making Electric Warrior the top-selling album of 1971 in the UK charts, though the hair flicks (see his Top Of The Pops performance with Elton John below) and generally camp sexual suggestion was too much for a more conservative American pop audience.
Get It On is of course the album's standout single, but only one of many great songs on the record, including the likes of Cosmic Dancer, Jeepster, Girl and Life's A Gas, some of which were given a second life in the 21st century by appearing on the soundtrack to Billy Elliott. There's a glorious freedom and lack of seriousness in the music, and all the energy of early rock & roll, with simple riffs and sexually-charged singing (listen to those sharp intakes of breath on opener Mambo Sun!). Two of the original features of glam rock were the ridiculous sparkly outfits and weird lyrics ("I've got stars in my beard"), but little else had changed since Little Richard. On Jeepster, his use of car symbolism for sex with a woman is nothing short of inspired. Not all of this is throwaway pop though, with Life's A Gas one of several songs showing Bolan's qualities as a lyricist. This album distills much of the joy of pop and never fails to bring a smile to my face. Keep a little Marc in your heart.
There's an interesting theory in Rob Young's Electric Eden that Marc Bolan and David Bowie were the "Judases" of the electric folk movement, more effective pied pipers to a glittery future as Ziggy Stardust and Electric Warrior than as psychedelic folkies like Donovan and Incredible String Band. In an earlier guise as Tyrannosaurus Rex, the group generated four albums of fabulously weird psych-folk that would inspire groups like Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective four decades later. By the time the 70s rolled around though, things would change radically for Bolan. Electric Warrior is the group's second album as T. Rex and a huge leap forward in terms of sound and songwriting. One of T. Rex's best songs, Ride A White Swan, emerged from the sessions for the previous album and its success gave the group the confidence to pursue this new direction. The results were a potent new form of pop, glam rock, making Electric Warrior the top-selling album of 1971 in the UK charts, though the hair flicks (see his Top Of The Pops performance with Elton John below) and generally camp sexual suggestion was too much for a more conservative American pop audience.
Get It On is of course the album's standout single, but only one of many great songs on the record, including the likes of Cosmic Dancer, Jeepster, Girl and Life's A Gas, some of which were given a second life in the 21st century by appearing on the soundtrack to Billy Elliott. There's a glorious freedom and lack of seriousness in the music, and all the energy of early rock & roll, with simple riffs and sexually-charged singing (listen to those sharp intakes of breath on opener Mambo Sun!). Two of the original features of glam rock were the ridiculous sparkly outfits and weird lyrics ("I've got stars in my beard"), but little else had changed since Little Richard. On Jeepster, his use of car symbolism for sex with a woman is nothing short of inspired. Not all of this is throwaway pop though, with Life's A Gas one of several songs showing Bolan's qualities as a lyricist. This album distills much of the joy of pop and never fails to bring a smile to my face. Keep a little Marc in your heart.
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