Hello Al another great find , I found it a very good honest article of someone
young to finally get to see Marc and T.Rex live for the first time.Although I
think the older “ Hippy’s “ at that concert were maybe looking for the
Tyrannosaurus Rex songs from the 60’s. Tyrannosaurus Rex in my opinion was
Marc’s most creative period in both lyric and music. He really worked hard on
His Tyrannosaurus Rex Albums , they were well rehearsed and thought out. While
He really got good on his electric guitar playing into T.Rex I feel
He really let him self down with a lot of his lyrics. He had gotten into that
50’s trap of music first , lyrics second.Which makes for a great sounding and
feeling of a song , but really does not have a lot of meaning .It just sounds
and feels really good which a lot of music from that time has. As we all
know now Marc was bitten by the Rock Star bug.The fame and Party that goes
with it.In the strange saga of Marc and his music is that his original older
fans from the Tyrannosaurus Rex period felt let down when He found Famewith a
much younger fan base in his T.Rex reincarnation. The original T.Rex had
such good groove together in the studio and Marc was such a master at multi
tracking his guitar parts there is no way that he could duplicate that sound
and feeling live.
Stewart
On Tuesday, August 3, 2021, 04:44:49 AM MDT, ALFRED MASCIOCCHI
<cakrm@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This comes from a magazine put out by Big Stir Records, a small California
based label. This is from issue #5, March 2021. I hadn't read this when
I started to type it all out. Now that I have read it I'm not sure what to
think of it. The author was a pre-teen during the period he (or she, not
clear) is writing about and very much comes off as the self-described
'confused', 'naive', 'starstruck child'. I mean, I love Marc, but, really,
'the greatest lyricist of the twentieth century'? Anyway, here it is.
Al ********************************** Mad About T. Rex by LMNOP
(aka dONW7) I saw T. Rex play live right after The Slider was released.
The album was an instant huge hit in Great Britain but in the United State it
was mainly heard only on college radio stations. I was very lucky to see
Bolan play at this point in his career. To be honest, it wasn't his best
performance. But being the lost and dysfunctional spoiled brat that I was, at
the time it was like being near God. Unlike most who were hooked by the
more popular albums (Electric Warrior, The Slider, and Tanx), it was the fourth
Tyrannosaurus Rex album that had me forever hooked. I found Beard Of Stars in
the cheapie bins at Zayre's (a discount department store in the south). The
album was puzzling and strange at first. But the more I listened, the more it
grew on me. The music...and particularly the lyrics...were mesmerizing.
Something about the music was ultimately intoxicating. There were other
bands and artists I loved, of course. But Marc Bolan reigned supreme. He had
managed to become hugely popular (at least in Europe) while at the same time
composing credible songs with some of the strangest lyrics ever. He was light
years beyond all the other commercial pop/rock artists at the time. Like all
the teenagers in Great Britain, I genuinely wanted to be Marc Bolan. There was
no one who could match his charisma and magnetic personality. He was literate.
He was hilarious. He was cerebral. And the music he made worked its way deep
into my consciousness. Junior high school was the most horrible period of
my life. The other kids at school hated me. And I hated me too, because I was
a confused little freak. Unfortunately, the only people I could relate to at
that time were songwriters. Over time Marc Bolan became more than just a
favorite musician, though. He became what I needed most: A role model and
another individual whose thoughts and words made compete sense to me. I was
hypnotized by his lyrics. Big News When I heard that T. Rex were
scheduled to play in Atlanta, I could not believe it. It was all I could think
and talk about. I begged and begged my parents and they finally agreed to let
me go. They were kind enough to drive me to and from the auditorium - surely a
major headache for them. Considering the fact that the place was in a
questionable part of town (i.e., trashy and dangerous), it seems amazing now
that they even let me go. I tried to get them to take me to the hotel where he
was staying first so I could tell him how much I admired his work. I wanted to
apologize to him that so many people in the United States just didn't 'get'
what he was doing. (Even at that tender young age I was a budding music
snob.). They didn't take me to the hotel, which was for the best. If I had
been able to speak with him, I would have come off like some ridiculous
starstruck child out in the middle of nowhere. Showtime Once inside
the Municipal Auditorium (a dirty old depressing concert hall), I quickly
realized that I was the youngest person there. It was nothing like Great
Britain where Marc Bolan had hoards of teenagers chasing him everywhere he
went. The auditorium was only about half full and people seemed generally
lethargic about the event. Almost all of the attendees were drugged out adult
hippies who weren't quite ready for Marc's flamboyant sound and style. Whoever
selected the opening act made an awful choice. The opening act was...The
Doobie Brothers (barf). Their music was horrible and they were horrible. It
was ultimately sickening watching the audience oooh and aaah over The Doobie
Boobies. They were second-rate crap. And they didn't even belong on the same
stage as Marc Bolan. Finally they stopped playing. The extremely positive
audience reaction made me want to vomit. How in the world could all those
people enjoy that awful mindless shit so much? A half-full auditorium. A
terrible opening band. Stoned out hippies everywhere. It was a huge change
from the sold out concerts overseas playing for screaming teenagers. And I'm
sure it must have been disappointing for Marc. He seemed kind of tired and
worn out and like he was just going through the motions. The sound was
terrible, probably because the band was at the mercy of the house soundman.
The concert was good but not great. But none of this really mattered because
it was still an unforgettable life-changing experience. Encore T.
Rex only played for about 40 minutes. As they left the stage everyone in the
audience began simultaneously yelling for them to play 'Rip Off'. That was one
of my favorite songs from Electric Warrior too. So I stood on my chair and
began yelling 'Rip Off' along with everyone else . We all wanted an encore.
The band did not come back onstage. The show was over. After a few
minutes, everyone left. There was a peculiar feeling of unease and
disappointment in the air that I did not understand. What was confusing to me
as how angry the hippies seemed to be at the end. I guess they all really
wanted to hear 'Rip Off' and he didn't play that one. It was a good song, but
certainly not his best. Fast Forward Several years later something
caused a flashing white light to suddenly go off in my head. I forgot what
triggered it, but for some reason I had a MAJOR REALIZATION. Those
hippies weren't yelling for Marc to play 'Rip Off'. They were mad as Hell
because the band only played for 40 minutes. Duh...! Being so young and
naive, I didn't know what the words meant. So it seems absurd now that Marc
Bolan's youngest and most devoted fan in Atlanta was yelling right along with
all those angry hippies. How could I have been so dumb! Sheesh, I'm sorry
Marc. I'm sorry I was so young and stupid. Change, Change, Change
I did see T. Rex play once more a few years later as the opening act for Three
Dog Night (the pairing was all wrong...AGAIN). But this concert was a major
disappointment even for me because by that time Marc had morphed into
something completely different and forgettable. Alcohol and substance abuse
combined with an out-of-control ego had killed off the charisma and magic. He
had fired his original band members Mickey Finn, Steve Currie, and Bill
Legend...all of whom were so crucial to his sound. He had dumped his wife June
Child who was in many ways responsible for his kickass look and style. And he
had also dumped his producer Tony Visconti, who was hugely responsible for his
sound ands ultimate financial success. Sadly at that point arc Bolan seemed
just like everyone else. Once the coolest of the cool, by that time he had
transformed into a generic phony show off. Thankfully near the end of his life
he was getting his act together again. But by then it was too late. In a
sudden instant he was gone forever. Than And Now Unike so many
artists from the 1970s whose sound is dated and irrelevant, Marc's music has
held up extremely well. The songs from his peak years continue to sound fresh
and totally relevant. The first four Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and the first
four T. Rex albums still sound as incredible and infectious today as when they
were first released. Because he never could conquer the United States
when he was alive I think Marc Feld (his real name) would be very happy to see
how many new and credible up-coming American bands and artists in the
twenty-first century now proudly cite him as one off their main influences. It
seems ironic that so many music journalists initially described his music as
disposable pop. While Bolan is mainly known for his music and the way he
looked, what we always admire most are the lyrics. For several years, Marc was
the ultimate wielder of words. His lyrics were works of art. Pure
intellectual poetry. Unusual. Sensitive. Puzzling. Rather than focusing on
the meaning in so many instances, he placed more emphasis on the way words
sounded together. Marc Bolan was far more than just another music
celebrity. He was the greatest lyricist of the twentieth century.
