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(ethereal rock music)

- [Marc] He came from the past,

his frozen eyes had known our planet's childhood,

his acts to his heart by leads of love.

With one soulful wail a thousand mean ones were burned

and in turn and jive on into my songs,

for his name as Electric Warrior.

(fire roaring and crackling)

(people chattering)

- I went to this festival, it was in August '71,

there's like a 175,000 people were attending.

And in the afternoon, the compare, the MC,

was kind of saying who was gonna come on later that night.

We're gonna have "The Faces,"

and the whole audience just went, "yay!"

You know, just "yay, The Faces!"

And then we're gonna have "T-Rex" and the whole audience,

175,000 people got up and booed.

I've never heard that before.

(lively rock music)

♪ Well, you're dirty and sweet ♪

♪ Clad in black, don't look back and I love you ♪

♪ You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah ♪

♪ Well, you're slim and you're weak ♪

♪ You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you ♪

♪ You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl ♪

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

So this is this Sunday night.

The Faces come on, kick the footballs out,

everybody goes crazy.

Couple of hours later, Marc Bolan comes on

near midnight or something,

the whole audience gets up and starts booing.

You know the whole audience, I'm not kidding.

I mean, we are just going like, what's he gonna do?

You know, I'd never seen this before.

I'd never really seen 175,000 people booing at someone.

(crowd booing)

Marc walked up to the microphone and said, "fuck off!"

Walked back to his amp, turned it up.

The whole audience sat down and shut up.

I couldn't believe, I mean, well this is incredible!

So he starts the performance.

(lively rock music)

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

He did over an hour performance

and there was like an extra 10 minutes,

he was battering guitar with a couple of tambourines,

which I'm thinking, "what's gonna happen at the end?"

(guitar music)

What's gonna happen when he finishes it?

(guitar music continues)

- Rock on! (crowd cheers)

- The audience got up

and gave him a 15 minute standing ovation.

I've never seen anything like that.

You know, in a way he saw a little bit of a punk attitude

right there in 1971.

(crowd cheering) (lively rock music)

(lively rock music)

- [Hol] Da, da, da (laughs) you know.

(lively guitar music)

- Yeah.

- That was the basic structure change,

was like, do you want to real, you know,

you wanna keep the song rolling?

- Right, so the, uh...

going back to the E and just holding for like two extra bars

in the, in between each-

- Yeah, one- - Between, before each verse.

- There needs to be, "you're my girl."

(lively rock music)

- Verse.

♪ Well, you're dirty and sweet ♪

♪ Clad in black, don't look back and I love you ♪

♪ You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah ♪

- Verse.

♪ Well, you dance when you walk ♪

♪ So let's dance, take a chance, understand me ♪

♪ You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl ♪

- Chorus, three cycles.

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

- That'd be much more drama and much more spooky.

- Yeah.

- And I think you gotta have the sexy,

but then you have to have it spooky.

Wanna do something a little more, even more whispered,

- More spooky.

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

♪ Get it on, bang a gong, get it on ♪

- Not only is he an important historic artist,

he's also one of the great

songwriters of that era, you know?

And that's the fun thing

about this "Angelheaded Hipster" album

is that you get to hear his songs

and how great they were lyrically and musically.

Really, really powerful work.

(lively rock music continues) ♪ Oh yeah ♪

- Oh yeah.

Hey.

- Hey, how are ya, Al?

- What I believed was we were going to explore

Marc Bolan as a composer, as a songwriter,

where he's never gotten his due.

He's gotten his due as a rocker with cool grooves.

You listen back to those songs and they are deep.

No, I'm just trying to listen, excuse me a second,

I'm just gonna listen to the songs they're doing today.

(upbeat drum music)

Trying to make a "a happening,"

as they used to say in the sixties.

Put a bunch of people together.

♪ Metal guru, is it you ♪

♪ Metal guru, is it you ♪

- My aim for this album was one thing only.

I liked the music of Bolan years ago,

but I felt that he deserved universal acclaim

and to be recognised for who he really was.

♪ Metal guru could it be ♪

♪ You're gonna bring ♪

His life was cut short, as a lot of people's,

but he didn't achieve the acclaim and the fame

that Jimi Hendrix did before he died.

He was on the cusp of that.

And I just felt, well, how about trying to get people

to really see just how good his songs were,

you know, and how good he was.

♪ Metal guru, is that you ♪

- He was the pioneer of the glam rock movement

and inspired people like me and Bowie.

- He brought glitter to the masses

and I thought, "no, he's done it, he's done it!

"He's done it first!"

(speaking foreign language)

- The music of T-Rex, the music of Marc Bolan

leaves so much room for your own fantasy.

- He was so ahead of his time, Marc.

He was the first person to wear mascara and glitter

and, you know, really camp it up.

- I feel exactly the same.

Marc was the the first guy he was so loved in England,

you know what I mean?

The music he was playing was relevant.

- [Interviewer] I've been reading recently Marc,

an article which suggests that you are

the successor to the Beatles.

That you, in fact, claim that you're a successor

of The Beatles. - I never said that.

- [Interviewer] You didn't say that?

- No way.

- Do you have in your mind any intentions-

- [Marc] They said that.

- They said that, okay.

- Five years ago it was the Beatles.

This last five years it's been T-Rex.

We played for the kids that never saw the Beatles,

never saw Jimi Hendrix.

They're seeing us as those sort of people, you know,

because they never saw, they weren't around then.

The average age of the audience is 15.

(crowd cheering and whistling)

This is a song that, uh...

Lots of people ask me to sing.

Song called "Cosmic Dancer."

(crowd cheering and whistling)

(sombre music)

♪ I was dancing when I was twelve ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was twelve ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was ah, yeah ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was ah, baby ♪

♪ I danced myself right out the womb ♪

♪ I danced myself right out the womb ♪

♪ Is it strange to dance so soon, yeah ♪

♪ I danced myself right out the womb, yeah ♪

(lively rock music)

- Are they good?

Those roles?

(Nick laughs) - [Hal] They're so good.

- [Person] They're, yeah. (laughs)

- [Hal] You're so good.

He's committed three (indistinct) now.

- He's committed, (laughs) yeah, yeah.

- [Person] He's fully committed to that one fill.

(all laughing)

I wonder maybe it didn't work so well

when we're doing it slow.

I don't know, but I always, as a kid-

- [Person] Oh yeah, yeah.

- As a kid I was always like,

"fucking hell." - [Person] Yeah.

- But maybe now listening to them back, I'm like, hm.

Um, anyway, let's, uh...

I just had to work out words as well, so... a bit.

All right.

♪ I was, I ♪

It's actually, I'd love it if the voice

was more present in the headphones.

Present and big, it seems kind of small and uh...

- [Person] Okay, hold on one second.

- I don't know, it could be a little bit louder

and a little bit wider and...

- [Person] And then low?

(sombre music)

♪ I was dancing when I was twelve ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was twelve ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was ah ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was ah ♪

♪ Dance myself right out the womb ♪

♪ I danced myself right out the womb ♪

♪ Is it strange to dance so soon ♪

♪ I dance myself right out the womb ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was eight ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was eight ♪

♪ Is it strange to dance so late ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ Danced myself into the tomb ♪

♪ I danced myself into the tomb ♪

♪ Is it strange to dance so soon ♪

♪ I danced myself into the tomb ♪

♪ Is it wrong to understand ♪

♪ The fear that dwells inside a man ♪

♪ What's it like to be a loon ♪

♪ I liken it to a balloon ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

- [Interviewer] Marc, you've just become a father.

How do you feel?

Do you feel different?

- Uh, I'm still waiting to feel different,

but I'm still wanting to grow up, you know,

and I haven't done that yet.

No, it's lovely, I helped deliver the baby as well.

It's called Roland Bolan.

Roland Seymour Bolan.

And it was really cute 'cause it looks like me.

So it was really, it's an amazing thing.

Just a miracle, I reckon.

Babies they're, you know, they just plop out

and he came out dancing.

He was out, he was getting down here.

♪ Danced myself right out the womb ♪

♪ I danced myself right out the womb ♪

- He said that as a child,

he knew everything that he was going to do in life

and what he was going to accomplish in life,

but he never knew that he would've a son.

His reaction was that the best thing that happened

for him in his life was that Roland was born.

(sombre music) (Nick vocalising)

- [Hal] Perfection. (all laughing)

- How'd it go? - Yeah, we got it.

- Oh, we got it? - We're good.

(plucky guitar music)

- I always thought he was a better lyric writer

than like Bowie and some of these people of that time

that people considered to be

kind of deeper writers or something like that.

(stammers) it was the use of language

and the use of imagery.

The production of that particular record

that was so extraordinary for me,

and these very simple but complex words at the same time.

It's just a perfect record.

♪ I was dancing when I was twelve ♪

Marc Bolan to me, uh...

kind of seemed to invent a kind of language with his songs

that really, that was perfected on that particular record.

A kind of way of using words and images

that I think is entirely unique.

And slowing "Cosmic Dancer" down a bit,

kind of allows some of that,

his writing and his lyric writing

to sort of breathe a little bit, you know?

I didn't wanna do one of the faster ones, particularly.

He's a really, uh...

I don't know, it's a very emotional song for me.

You know? (sombre music)

♪ I was dancing when I was ah ♪

♪ I was dancing when I was ah ♪

(energetic rock music)

♪ Well you can bump and grind ♪

♪ it is good for your mind ♪

♪ Well you can twist and shout ♪

♪ Let it all hang out ♪

♪ But you won't fool ♪

- Everything in there, it's like this room,

you know, everything is, ah!

Let's see how they interact.

Let's see how this person interacts with this song.

(lively music)

That felt nice.

- [Person] Yeah.

- [Person] Everybody's amazing.

- You know, that some of the mementos,

this one's very special to me

because these are actual Polaroids

that my mom and my dad were taking

together while they were on tour.

It was around the time of, I think it was

their first tour and that's where you could kind of see

the professional relationship

and also the love affair came together.

- Gloria was a staff writer with Motown.

She was part of the corporation they called it,

where she would write, you know she wrote for Gladys Knight.

When she started appearing in T-Rex,

she's credited as The Gloria Jones.

'Cause Marc was very appreciative of her writing.

She's not just a backup singer, she's The Gloria Jones.

You know, and she rearranged "Tainted Love" and recorded it.

- On your mark or get set go, go, Gloria Jones!

(groovy music)

♪ Sometimes I feel I've got to ♪

♪ Run away, I've got to ♪

♪ Get away from ♪

- You really see how much fun they were having

and how playful it was and you know,

two people fell in love

and they fell in love musically and personally.

My dad definitely, he had a unique style and he never,

sometimes he didn't get as much credit,

but he could really play.

And if you hear, and it was about the sounds

and what they were coming up with,

with Tony Visconti and you hear those sounds

and they're coming out in the records today.

- He was great where he put the rhythm pattern,

you know, it was the guitar.

You listen to any record of his, you know,

with before he comes in like, you know, it's him.

It's just ah, get-go.

(upbeat music)

♪ Well, she's my woman of gold ♪

♪ And she's not very old, uh-huh ♪

♪ Well, she's my woman of gold ♪

♪ And she's not very ♪

- I actually learned to play guitar,

the first song I ever learned how to play was "Hot Love."

♪ I don't mean to be bold ♪

♪ But may I hold your hand? ♪

- It doesn't sound like he's imitating Elvis Presley.

♪ She's my woman of gold ♪

♪ And she's not very old, uh-huh ♪

It somehow sounds like he's doing it in a different way.

It sounded modern.

♪ And I love the way she twitch, uh-huh ♪

- He comes out wearing this glittery jackets,

he had glitter his cheeks and red shoes that were women's,

I found out, and a feather boa.

And he's just chopping away on Les Paul,

and we just got colour TV from '71 to '74,

Sweet, Slayed, Bowie, T-Rex, Wizard, Mot, Queen,

everybody trying to outdo each other with colours.

But let's be honest, Bolan was the first one

to actually step out there and really take advantage

of what colour TV could do to teenage kids.

♪ La, la, la, la-la, la-la ♪

♪ La, la, la, la-la, la-la ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

(upbeat music continues)

- You have to remember, Marc was this explosion

of extraordinary imagination, fantasy.

And he lived in this world of elves and goblins and stuff,

but actually he was really coming from East London

and he probably wrote that on the tube coming in

and you know, somehow it was all in his head.

(upbeat music continues)

♪ La, la, la ♪

- I totally fell in love with that sound of that record.

I knew that he was riffing on old rock and roll.

I knew something was going on with the guitar sound

and with his singing and their songwriting

that was kind of avant garde.

- The androgynous look of the early seventies

to me as a kid from Sheffield, me and my soul brothers,

who I'm still tight with now,

were probably the only half a dozen people

that I know that didn't care.

We didn't go round beating up people

because they liked The Partridge Family.

But we regularly got beaten up for liking Bowie and Bolan

because he's a fucking puff.

And that's the way it was portrayed.

You know, it's like I didn't see like that.

I saw him as being theatrical.

I saw him as being artistic

and I saw him as standing out from the crowd

and not looking like Tony Orlando or Donny Osmond.

- Certainly there's been a change in England in two years

and we are part of the change.

I mean, guys now can wear makeup.

I'm now a famous person, but two years ago

I couldn't have done, and I can even swear a little bit

or show my legs.

(guitar music)

(lively rock music)

♪ Friends say it's fine, friends say it's good ♪

♪ Everybody says it's just like Robin Hood ♪

♪ I move like a cat, charge like a ram ♪

♪ Sting like a bee, babe, I wanna be your man ♪

(lively rock music continues)

- When I was growing up,

there was like certain people that were really sexy

when you were little and you didn't understand why.

And it was Marc Bolan was like, yeah.

He was like, I didn't understand what it was he was doing,

but it was just like whatever that is

that kind of girly boy situation, I really like that.

Yeah, I'm, mh-hm.

(lively rock music continues)

- [Donny] it was for little girls

and little girls don't like big hairy men.

A younger girl would like a male that is not threatening.

The age was 11 to 13, probably down to nine.

(lively rock music continues)

- [Interviewer] Let's talk about your new record

"20th century Boy."

What's the story behind it?

- [Marc] Lyrically the content is erection rock.

And I consider that every young male

in the 20th century thinks he's a super stud

and the records made for him.

- [Interviewer] You described it as your best ever.

- [Marc] I never did that.

You read that I described it-

- [Interviewer] Well, I read it in-

- [Marc] Yeah well, you're down spoken.

Yeah, right.

- [Interviewer] isn't true that you said

that this record is- - [Marc] No.

What I said is I think it's a funky sound is what I said.

- That was huge, you know,

there's that on the telly and you're like,

"oh, what the fuck is that?" (laughs)

Like what's, yes.

Like I wanna know what that is.

- Eyeliner I think is still a political act,

you know, in some places.

It was playing with gender, it was playing with power.

Gender is power.

(upbeat rock music) (crowd cheering)

- Yeah!

Get it on, yeah!

(upbeat rock music continues)

To take something feminine and put it on a man or a musician

and make it sexy.

I think that's dangerous, I think people love that.

Like Joan always says with her guitar,

it's pussy to the wood.

(upbeat rock music continues)

♪ 'Cause you're my lover, yes you are ♪

It's something that affects people emotionally and sexually.

And it's just glitter.

It's just paint and powder and pigment.

But when people see it, it pushes.

♪ Just like a car ♪

♪ You're pleasing to behold ♪

- Marc Bolan, he was a big part of my life as a kid.

You're going from being non-sexual to sexual.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Your motivation ♪

♪ ls so sweet ♪

♪ Your vibrations ♪

- Sex is a part of it, yes,

but it's sex by courtesy of the Magic Prince,

and I presume that means you.

- Whoo!

- Who is going to deflower the young virgin

in an atmosphere of blissful romance.

- That sounds nice, I like that.

- What does (indistinct) mean?

(audience laughing)

- I don't know.

I think what they're trying to imply is that, um...

I don't know, the appeal of what I'm supposed to be

to that thing is like a teenage crush thing.

♪ And I'm gonna suck ya ♪

(upbeat rock music continues)

♪ Uh-Uh, wow ♪

(upbeat rock music continues)

- Are you guys gonna do those cuts that are on the record

or are you just doing it different.

The one before that we got it right.

- [Person] I would love to hear that.

- Yeah, maybe that's

something to work with. - [Joan] Sure.

- [Person] And may maybe that's what we got.

- Because without the stops I'm kind of lost.

You know what I'm talking about?

- [Interviewer] There are fans clustering

outside your office door. - Bless them.

- [Interviewer] Does this get on your nerves at all?

- Um, sometimes, you know,

but at the moment they dunno where I live fortunately,

but not really.

I mean, some of them very cute.

- [Interviewer] How often do you come here?

- [Fan] Come every day.

- [Interviewer] For how long?

- [Fan] About two years now.

- [Interviewer] So you're professional Marc Bolan fan?

- Oh yeah.

- We follow him around everywhere.

- [Interviewer] Oh, every day?

Everywhere he goes? - Every time,

everyday, we know where he is.

- [Interviewer] Do you go to work?

- We do part-time work.

- [Interviewer] I see. - At weekends.

'Cause then you know the office is shut

so we can't come here.

- [Interviewer] You've been dogging his footsteps

for two years and he's never once got angry?

- No, never.

Perhaps he's been angry but he doesn't show it to us,

you know? - Yeah.

- But he's really a nice person.

- But what is it about him that makes you

so terribly excited for such a long time?

- Everything.

He's so good looking and his music and the way he dresses,

the way he acts, everything.

- And you're not at all deterred by the fact

that he has a wife and a mistress and a baby?

- Well, we put up with it. (both giggle)

- We just wanna be genuine friends

'cause we care about him.

We like to know that he's all right and well and everything.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ The wild winds blow ♪

- It happens right at the end

after the last chorus, I believe

♪ The way you flip your hip it always makes me weak ♪

Only listened to this a billion times when I was 13 or something.

♪ 'Cause you're my love ♪

♪ Oh, girl I'm just a Jeepster for your love ♪

♪ I said, girl I'm just a vampire for your love ♪

♪ And I'm going to suck ya ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪

(upbeat rock music continues)

- With Bolan there was sex within the whole sound.

It always had some feeling of sex in there

because of his appearance as well

and the way he projected himself.

- [Interviewer] You were one of the first rock artistes

who got into the bisexual treatment.

- Artiste is quite nice. (both laugh)

Sounds very bisexual.

- [Interviewer] You're not really bisexual, I gather?

- Um, I've experienced many things in my life.

I think, you know, as a child,

my mother always told me that

if you love someone in any sphere,

you know, love them all the time.

I love many men and many women,

but I happen to like titties

so I tend to sexually go more towards women,

but I've checked everything out.

- [Interviewer] So it wasn't just an image

when you were being bisexual, you really were?

- No, David Bowie and I were gonna get married at one time.

- [Interviewer] Well thank you very much.

- My pleasure.

- This one for you Marc!

(crowd cheering) (upbeat rock music)

♪ And it's plain to see you were meant for me, yeah ♪

♪ I'm your toy ♪

- I first met Marc Bolan he became

a very, very good friend of mine.

(crowd applauding)

We actually met very early on in the sixties

before either of us were even a tadpole known.

We were nothing.

We were just two nothing kids with huge ambitions.

And we both had the same manager at the time

and we met each other, firstly,

painting the wall of our then manager's office.

(all laughing)

Hello, who are you?

I'm Marc, man. (crowd laughing)

Hello.

What do you do?

I'm a singer. (crowd laughing)

Oh yeah?

So am I. (crowd laughing)

You a mod?

Yeah, I'm King Mod.

Your shoes are crap. (crowd laughing)

- [Jeff] We modelled in 1962

for the annual IMBEX,

International Men's and Boy's exhibition Olympia.

And that's where we first met.

- He'd been in all the magazines.

He was it.

He wore the best suits and at 14

he'd been on the streets like looking cool.

Very young mod.

Mark Feld within that year changed his name to Marc Bolan

and Marc taught me a very, very important thing in life

that in Carnaby Street in those days

they'd throw away anything that didn't have a button on

or there was a tear or something.

They put it in the dust bins at night.

So if you hit Carnaby Street about eight o'clock

you could get a full wardrobe just out the dust bins.

And so I, bless Marc,

he kept my wardrobe going for years that bloke.

(lively rock music)

♪ Walkin' in the woods one day ♪

♪ I met a man who said ♪

- [Marc] I was expelled from school when I was 14.

But I always read.

I mean I write words that don't even exist

but to me I understand it.

"The wizard" I did in 1965,

The "Hippy Gumbo" followed after that.

- [Person] The "Hippy Gumbo" ain't no good.

Chop 'em up for firewood.

- [Marc] Dylan made me aware that you could

use good words with pop music.

Before that I'd just written poetry.

♪ Met a man he was nice ♪

♪ Said his name was paradise ♪

(jaunty music)

♪ Hippy Gumbo he's no good ♪

♪ Chop him up for firewood ♪

♪ Hippy Gumbo he's no good ♪

♪ Chop him up for firewood ♪

♪ But in the morning with the sun ♪

♪ He pulled an automatic gun ♪

♪ He blew my soul, he blew my brain ♪

♪ He explained I could not do the same ♪

♪ Hippy Gumbo he's no good ♪

♪ Chop him up for firewood ♪

- Should we get kind of hushed and abstract

or are we kind of like trucking through, do you think?

- [Person] I always get louder.

- Louder?

Okay. - [Person] Yeah.

- Let's do that.

♪ Hippy Gumbo he's no good ♪

♪ Chop him up and burn the wood ♪

♪ Hippy Gumbo he's no good ♪

♪ Chop him up and burn the wood ♪

- Does anybody want a coconut toffee?

Coconut toffee?

Do you want a coconut toffee?

They're really fucking good.

Can I say like the second verse,

when the bass came in it was like,

what if it did get a little bit more jaunty almost,

just a bit more, like strange

and upbeat on the second verse.

When I was singing it today, I was like,

"oh yeah, it's a love song."

But it's funny actually, you know, singing his words,

singing someone else's words.

'Cause when you sing your own song,

you like every line has a different meaning

and you sort of play with that.

And today I had that with his song.

It's like every line was like,

oh I could read a million things

into each one of these lines.

He's just a free individual and I can only imagine

what that must have felt like.

(smooth rock music)

- When I was just getting into Marc Bolan about 1970,

I'd read that he had this book of poems out.

So I went to my local library and they had it.

So I took it out and I spent three weeks copying it out

word for word into an exercise book.

I still got that at home next to a proper copy now.

There they are.

The version I wrote out is like an 11 year old kid.

Every single poem.

And I'm telling you, what head have you got on today?

Because as you're writing 'em out

and you're reading 'em going,

"oh this is weird."

It was old Tolkien esque stuff and it was, it was just mad.

I just love the fact that he was full of expression

but he just went off and didn't matter what it was.

About lions or dragons or grass or mushrooms.

It was just off with the fairies, really.

I mean, literally, off with the fairies.

- [Marc] "The star of youth was spawned one day

"born on the horses of the sleigh.

"In a green of elm, the sky, outstretched spake.

"Drink deep O' Twinkler in my lake.

"For a wish you'll be burdened to coronet on your dome,

"like a willow the wisp all a tender,

"you'll surrender in the deep foamy kitchens of the muse.

"And one word they will say

"and like a pelican and yellow amethyst,

"they bless long your stay in the abbey blue,

"but in glitter hue you wept for summers' limbs

"upon the pleasant turf

"and your shields of ice in the chilly times.

"Creamed in gray wolfs hair, you stride your windy stare,

"you'll miss no cathedral bed.

"For you dote on the treasure in the chest of your head."

- He used to come in and he was,

you know, he'd be number one in the charts.

But the big thing was

he was the biggest selling poet in Britain

and he loved that.

- Well right now there's a group called "Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Marc Bolan is the, well there are only two in the group

but Marc Bolan is the singer and he was with John's children

who released a number of records and Marc decided to go out

and form his own little group, just the two of them.

And he sings very gentle, soft little songs.

And one of them is playing right now in the background

and it's very beautiful.

- Okay, let's have a look. - Okay.

♪ Broken dusty mama ♪

♪ Her face melted just like wax ♪

♪ Her once gazelle-like features ♪

♪ Bloodied by the age axe ♪

- He wouldn't just pose in front of the mirror

with his guitar and act out Elvis fantasies.

So I think he was born to be this, to be what he became.

I think Marc Bolan had this dream as soon as he could speak.

♪ The seal of seasons moved with grace love ♪

♪ Upon the Orkney oceans face love ♪

♪ She swam and moved just like a prancer ♪

♪ A gypsy dancer ♪

♪ A salty shimmered shell of foam ♪

He would've wanted a rock band right then,

he couldn't afford it.

He had a 12 quid guitar,

he had a bongo drum player Steve Peragrin Took,

that's all he had.

♪ One breath and shells grew on my nut tree ♪

♪ it swayed ♪

- [Marc] I care very deeply about mankind as it is.

And I just try to, in my own way,

make it a bit more interesting.

And I do believe in unicorns.

I believe in the tree spirit and I have Scenescof

and Scenescof is, I suppose, very much like Sauron

in Lord of the Rings.

He's sort of an arch villain that I use all the bad things.

I lay it all on Scenescof so I can use him

as an outlet for all the bad things.

(ethereal music)

(ethereal music continues)

(ethereal music continues)

♪ Ri-Ri-Na ♪

♪ Ta-Na-Ni-Na ♪

♪ Ri-Ri-Na ♪

♪ Ta-Na-Ni-Na ♪

♪ Ta-Na-Ni-Ni-Ni-Na ♪

♪ Ta-Na-Ni-Ni-Ni-Na ♪

♪ Ni-Ni-Na ♪

♪ Ah-Ah-Ah ♪

♪ it was grand to have known her ♪

♪ it was grand ♪

- It's not so easy to

be vulnerable around people you don't know

and in a space that you're not used to.

And so the challenge becomes how can I become vulnerable

in every circumstance or whenever I choose to be?

The plan was to do a very, very deconstructed version.

We took it in a different direction

where it's more about this celebration.

The song we chose was "Scenescof."

I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right.

What is that?

What is Scenescof?

Is it scenes... sea of?

That line, "I don't need anyone to dictate all my fun."

It's an anthem of freedom.

But that's exactly, yeah,

we'll move into that just a little bit at the end.

But that was beautiful.

For me as a young kid in San Francisco

walking around the city.

Okay so now.

I have no idea what's gonna happen

and I...

And as uncertain as every single aspect of my life was,

I had that to rely on.

I just didn't need anybody but that song.

- [Interviewer] Do you have any special things

that you want to do in America?

- [Marc] I want to play to people there

like we have done here, like the concert tour that we did.

It was just really playing to people

and having within a quieter thing,

an excitement which equals sort of rock and roll,

but doesn't have any of the violence or no violent feelings.

If people dance or people move about

or sort of scratch at the air, it's because they want to

and it's because they're enjoying the music.

(crowd applauding) (groovy music)

♪ I love ev'ry dance ♪

- There was still conga drums

now it was Mickey Finn on conga Drums.

It's a transitional period

like the acoustic is dropping away,

the electric is introduced.

♪ I love ev'ry dance with my baby ♪

♪ By the light of the magical moon ♪

- Tyrannosaurus Rex was unknown in America.

I had never heard them on FM radio.

You know, I don't think anyone

should underestimate Mickey Finn.

These were like poly rhythms even back then

and for them to be playing no bass player,

that's extraordinary.

So Mickey Finn is not just keeping time for Marc,

he's also playing rhythm,

which is dual and Marc is playing rhythm as well.

But the voice is what was astonishing.

♪ By the light of the magical moon ♪

- [Marc] What I fought for England was like rustic gods

or or pan and I related to pan, not as an evil Goddess,

like a pastoral deity and music, I'm sure,

is just piped down to you from the sort of higher spheres.

(groovy music)

♪ Come the sun, see it run across the sky ♪

♪ Cosmic eye is for you and no one else ♪

♪ Come the sun, see it run across the sky ♪

♪ See it cry for you and no one else ♪

♪ Love, love you ♪

♪ Oh girl I do love you ♪

♪ Ah-Ah-Ah ♪

- It's like a worship for me to write 'cause I don't do it,

do you know, it's like I'm being used

by melody as a being if you want.

And there are certain chords that just

there are magic mists within those chords.

You play a sort of C major chord

and I hear like 25 melodies and symphonies up here.

I've just gotta pull one out.

You know. (Marc vocalises)

You know, it's just anything.

It's all there.

There's no strain it just gushes out.

(celestial music)

♪ We are children of Rarn ♪

♪ We've trodden the vales of the sun ♪

♪ The child will cry ♪

♪ On swans they fly ♪

♪ We are the children of Rarn ♪

♪ And we are the seekers of space ♪

♪ We've seen our master's face ♪

♪ It's young and gold ♪

♪ And silvery old ♪

♪ We are the seekers of space ♪

There aren't people like Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix

or Jimmy Page if you like,

whoever you relate to out of those sort of people.

That's through the use of a guitar,

which is like a piece of wood with string on it,

really, when you relate to it that, made by man.

That certain things can stir your emotions up

out of a piece of carpentry,

or blowing a piece of steel pipe and and making you cry.

What happens, you know, within that pipe,

you know it's a spirit coming through.

It's when people deny sort of spiritual factors,

it's very sad, 'cause it's everywhere around us.

- He started using electric guitars by then

and he renamed the group T-Rex.

(groovy music)

♪ Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways ♪

♪ Ride it on out like you were a bird ♪

♪ Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam ♪

♪ Ride it on out like you were a bird ♪

♪ Wear a tall hat like a druid in the old days ♪

♪ Wear a tall hat and a tattooed gown ♪

♪ Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane ♪

♪ Wear your hair long, babe you can't go wrong ♪

♪ Catch a bright star and a place it on your forehead ♪

♪ Say a few spells and baby, there you go ♪

♪ Take a black cat and sit it on your shoulder ♪

♪ And in the morning you'll know all you know, oh ♪

- When he recorded "Ride a White Swan,"

he played it to me upstairs and I said,

"well that's just a great way

"to be Chuck Berry in the modern world.

"It's perfect, Marc."

And I took the demo before release

to the Isle of Wight with me

and played it every two hours throughout five days.

I was the promo man on Ride a White Swan.

(ethereal music)

♪ She was born to be my Unicorn ♪

♪ Robed head offerns ♪

♪ Cat child tutored by the learned ♪

♪ Darkly ghostish host ♪

♪ Haggard vizier of the moats ♪

♪ Seeks the sandled shores of God's baby of the moors ♪

♪ Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways ♪

♪ Ride it on out like you were a bird ♪

♪ Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam ♪

♪ Ride it on out like you were a bird ♪

- [Maria] I was heavily pushing the unicorn.

She was born to be my unicorn.

- We thought put unicorn first drawn as initially an intro.

Then it took a different direction of having all of unicorn

and swan as the coda.

(upbeat music)

♪ La-Di-Di-Di-Da ♪

♪ La-Di-Di-Di-Da ♪

- You know, at thanksgiving sometimes,

like if I bring a care package over to somebody's house,

if I've made pie, and I made a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie,

and I had a piece of each in Tupperware

and they moulded together and became one pie.

- Pie is my favourite word.

- Really?

- Yeah. - Like in a mathematics?

- No, I tell people, "now let's go have some pie."

- Oh, okay.

- "Ride a White Swan," went up to number two

so right away we're gonna make another record immediately,

and he wanted drums on this one.

I introduced Marc to Bill and he says,

"oh you are from the group Legend.

"Well, I'm gonna call you Bill Legend from now on."

So Bill played on "Hot Love," and by the end of the session

Marc says you're my drummer.

- I didn't know where it was gonna go.

Okay, we had like what, "Hot Love," in the charts?

What was gonna be the next one?

Would that be a number one or what about the one after that?

If it was, but I never assumed or presumed

that it was going to be successful.

- [Tony] Waiting in the wings was Steve Currie,

the bass player.

From there on end this was a T-Rex band

that was gonna be the band for the next three years.

(upbeat rock music)

- He was so wonderful, he come down and said,

"Elton, I sold a million records this morning."

And I went, "fabulous, Marc, how great for you."

But he wasn't egotistical, he was so fantastic.

(upbeat music continues)

- Rock music is the thing that one feels about and enjoys,

and if one doesn't feel and enjoy it,

then one shouldn't really talk about it or listen to it.

Can we go to the audience

or do you wanna cut off? - [Interviewer] Yes,

by all means, yes.

- What do you think a pop star is?

Can anyone say?

Just as on a flash.

Come on, doesn't matter, they'll cut it out.

- [Person] Hard worker. - [Person] Hard worker.

- I was gonna say (indistinct).

- Well that's nice.

That makes, really. - It is, it is.

I think it is a job.

I mean people think that it's, you just go into a studio

and a couple of hours it's all over.

It's not like that at all, is it?

- Not at all. - I mean it's damn hard work.

It really is.

- But isn't everything? (funky rock music)

(funky rock music continues)

♪ I could never understand the wind at all ♪

♪ Was like a ball of love ♪

♪ I could never, ever see the cosmic sea ♪

♪ Was like a bumblebee ♪

♪ And when I'm sad, I slide ♪

♪ I have never, ever ♪

- The funny thing about this song is

I definitely wrote some new baselines

and wrote some parts in it

that emphasised the funkiness of the song.

But the truth is we wouldn't have had to change

any of the notes to make it funky.

We just would've had to play it like Snarky Puppy

'cause the song itself is funky.

I did an arrangement that I felt would reflect

and bring out kind of the funkiness of the tune

but also kind of the weirdness

and kind of dissonance, in a certain way.

'Cause it's not a thing that I think can be played cleanly,

that song, it has to be kind of murky

and ambiguous, you know?

But the baselines, actually, in that song,

in that arrangement could be parliament baselines.

(funky music continues)

- On "The Slider" there was that spontaneity.

It wasn't time enough to think, you know,

Bill Legend said he would just barely know the song

and then Marc would say that's it, that's a take.

You know, nowadays records are usually made to a click track

and by the time you get to the end of the song,

it's still the same exact tempo.

There was no click track in the seventies

and if you listen to "The Slider,"

it starts out like (slow tempo vocalisation).

By the end of "The Slider" it's (upbeat tempo vocalisation).

It must have cranked up about 15 beats per minute.

(upbeat music)

(funky music)

♪ I have never, never nailed a nose before ♪

♪ That's how the garden grows ♪

♪ I could never understand the wind at all ♪

♪ Was like a ball of love ♪

♪ And when I'm sad, I slide ♪

- I feel like the time he was making music

there was a lot of like really,

like important figures in rock.

So he might get overlooked in that regard

but like yeah, he's just really good.

- I think he probably has a lot to do with like

a man carrying himself like that,

like making that okay and like that's cool.

Like people like him and Bowie and stuff, you know,

you don't have to be like the super masculine,

you know character to be a male singer.

You can be a character or you know be your own thing.

(funky music continues)

(funky music)

(funky music continues)

(crowd cheering)

- When you hear Marc Bolan,

it is really apparent that he is not posing,

he's pulling from those artists that came before him.

It's not like he just appeared from an alien planet

with a totally new language of music.

His, you know the lineage behind him is apparent,

but it's the conviction that that makes it still feel fresh,

when I listen to records like "Tanx," or "The Slider,"

it's like you'd still feels fresh.

♪ Beneath the bebop moon ♪

♪ I want to croon with you ♪

- I come from a very poor background

and I'm kind of like a fairytale what happened to me.

But within that fairytale, it's hard work,

and now after seven years, I'm a businessman

and I do my own shit to protect my people.

- I have to thank Marc

'cause he came over one night for dinner

and he talked, you know, "oh, back off.

"Well Boogaloo." (laughs)

And they left,

we went to bed and you know

when you're in that twilight zone?

I just heard,

♪ Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said, back off ♪

♪ Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said ♪

♪ Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said ♪

♪ Back off, Boo-ga-loo, Boo ♪

- LA was kind of the hot bed

and I always would hear like the new stuff

because we'd drive around Sunset Boulevard

or go by the Continental Hyatt house,

or try and get into Rodney's club.

And so you got a sense of like

the coming thing on the street when you came to LA,

and it was T-Rex.

It was that kind of pumping, groovy hop-rock,

little bit of Eddie Cochran

and a little bit of like futurism,

and it felt so fresh and like insidious.

It got under your skin in the way he used vocals

and like you know women's voices, men's voices

and it was such a great kind of gumbo

of all these influences.

You couldn't get it outta your head

or like you couldn't get the rhythm outta your body.

(funky music)

(people chattering)

- A Bob Marley song.

- [Person] She wants us to hear it?

- Yeah,

not to emulate it or anything

but just to kind of get the vibe.

- No more BPM than that.

What is that?

- [Person] What's the BPM on the drums?

- [Person] One, four, two.

- [Person] One, four, two.

- Oh. - [Person] One down?

- 140.

- [Person] Can you do 140, please?

- This gonna be awesome. - Yeah.

(funky music)

♪ Well you can bump and grind ♪

♪ it is good for your mind ♪

♪ Well you can twist and shout ♪

♪ Let it all hang out ♪

♪ But you won't fool the children of the revolution ♪

♪ No, you won't fool the children of the revolution ♪

♪ No, no, no ♪

♪ Oh, no, no ♪

♪ No, no, no ♪

♪ You can Terraplane ♪

♪ Terraplane ♪

♪ In the falling rain ♪

♪ In the falling rain ♪

♪ I drive a Rolls-Royce ♪

♪ I drive a Rolls-Royce ♪

♪ 'Cause it's good for my voice ♪

♪ But you won't fool, oh yeah ♪

♪ The children of the revolution ♪

♪ Hey, yeah, you won't fool ♪

♪ No, no, the children of the revolution ♪

♪ No, no, no ♪

- Hey, one second, do you remember...

Do you remember the baseline you were doing before?

- [Person] Like there was something more sparse, right?

- Yeah.

- Wayne, instead that thing could you throw like,

do like beef artist shit in there?

- [Macy] Get in there.

- I just think that's, if that was beefed up.

(funky music)

♪ All right, you don't fool me now ♪

♪ Baby, bump and grind ♪

♪ We're gonna bump and grind ♪

- She's such a dynamic person

and she comes from such a different genre

but I think for how she got it

and how she kind of thought it was as Bob Marley,

it felt like a, it's like a chant

of like we have to do something,

and we have to fight for it and we have to bump,

if we don't bump the table, no one will.

And she took it and turned it into,

it could be an anthem of a whole new generation.

(upbeat music)

- Marc took a train ride alone to surprise me at Manchester.

I was opening for Bob Marley,

and any other day I would've been in the hotel,

that day I decided to go to the mall.

So he goes over to the auditorium

and guess who's there on stage?

Bob.

So I said, "well, what did you do?"

He said, "he and I just sat there and looked at each other

"and played the guitar.

"Bob just sang to me and played

"and he said I just crossed my legs

"and just listened to him."

And so they had that wonderful moment

and that was that peace, one love.

Marc was very happy

'cause he was comfortable in integrating,

bringing the two cultures together.

At that time Marc was starting to change his sound

but he actually loved where he was going.

He liked the fact of riding down Sunset Boulevard

in our gold Cadillac with David Bowie driving

and they're in these gangster hats,

and all of a sudden a couple of people look over and say,

"oh there's Marc Bolan and David Bowie

"driving down Sunset Boulevard."

I mean so that's where life was.

♪ Bolan likes to rock now ♪

♪ Oh yeah, he does, yeah he does ♪

♪ Bolan likes to rock now ♪

♪ Oh yes, he does, yes he does ♪

♪ Oh yes, he does ♪

(uplifting music)

♪ Is there a sane man ♪

- I was 16 and I really wanted to interview Marc Bolan

and he was coming to San Diego.

He played the San Diego Civic Theatre

and I went backstage to meet him

and do one of two interviews.

Drove up from San Diego the next day,

I believe with Neal Preston,

and we had a great interview with him

at the Beverly Wilshire.

And Marc, you can see from the photos,

he kind of was holding court in this room,

kind of an opulent room.

He ordered some champagne and he on a show day,

you know, 'cause he was playing Santa Monica

that night, I guess.

And he drank this champagne and was charmingly loopy,

and kind of performed the Marc Bolan character for us.

- What I remember about that day is pretty much summed up

in,

the now...

The somewhat famous

nipple photo.

You know, he's just so matter of fact here.

And it wasn't like he was taking the outta me or anything,

it was just thought this will make a good photo.

But you know, the look on his face is just priceless.

- He was fun and cheeky

but underneath it, I remember very clearly

was a kind of wounded bravado.

'Cause he had a little bit of a story to tell,

which was about this album "Tanx"

had come out in January of that year,

gone to number one in the UK, big hit, right?

And they were trying to like

put him over the top in America.

But what happened was

he had already played out the glam rock thing in England.

So by the time "Tanx" comes out he said,

"I don't wanna put on the makeup in England anymore,

"'cause like I played that character.

"I did it and now all the people that imitated me

"have taken over but I need to move on."

And he said, "I'll wear the makeup in the US

"because I haven't played that out,

"I haven't played that out here yet."

But he was slightly irritated

that his influence had not landed here

and was possibly waning there.

- [Marc] Boston's the only city on this whole tour

that has not sold well, I don't know why that is

and I must accept that.

To anyone out there, we're just gonna rock and roll

so you're gonna come and rock and roll.

You know, but I'll play the three people.

♪ I could have loved you, Girl, like a planet ♪

♪ I could have chained your heart to a star ♪

♪ But it really doesn't matter at all ♪

♪ No it really doesn't matter at all ♪

- At first it seems a little whimsical

and then it says you know,

"well, but it really doesn't matter at all."

Life's a gas and you know, life isn't always a gas.

♪ I could have built a house on the ocean ♪

♪ I could have placed our love in the sky ♪

♪ But it really doesn't matter at all ♪

♪ it really doesn't matter at all ♪

♪ Life's a gas ♪

(sombre music)

- Marc and I had an extraordinary relationship.

We both knew we were gonna do great things

and we were very close in the beginning,

and then as it got closer to us actually making it,

we drifted apart and we'd be very wary of each other.

He started getting fairly, you know, known

and invite me to do mine performances on his tours

and stuff like that.

But we kind of drifted, you know,

we were at either end of the room by that time, you know,

even being sort of superficially pleasant with each other.

It was like, who was gonna do it first?

♪ It really doesn't matter at all ♪

♪ it really doesn't matter ♪

- He talked a lot about Bowie and Bowie who'd kind of,

obviously started out around the same time.

There's a lot of intertwined history with them.

They were close friends, but I think because

of the kind of culture of the UK pop scene

where there's Melody Maker and there's Sounds,

and there's New Musical Express.

And so these are weekly's and they need content, right?

So they would really like luxuriate in this world

where all the pop artists would snipe at each other.

Rod Stewart would snipe at Elton John,

who'd snipe at Marc Bolan, who'd Snipe at Bowie,

who'd snipe at Jethro Tull, you know,

and they just would like be crabs in a bucket.

So I got the feeling that Marc was coming off

of a publicised feud with David Bowie.

So he is alternately really complimentary of David Bowie

and then a little jealous.

(sombre music continues)

♪ It really doesn't matter at all ♪

♪ it really doesn't matter at all ♪

♪ Life's a gas ♪

(sombre music continues)

- That had a great feel. - [Person] Yeah, yeah.

- You worked so extra hard.

- [Interviewer] You vanished a bit at the end of the year.

- [Marc] I didn't realise that

I'd only put two singles out this year and one album,

but I also didn't wanna be that involved,

in my opinion, over 'Marlena Dietriching' the act

or over painting yourself or becoming a circus clown,

or pretending to be Judy Garland or something,

which I don't ever see rock and roll as.

♪ His name was always buddy ♪

♪ And he'd shrug and ask to stay ♪

♪ She'd sigh like twig the wonder kid ♪

♪ And turn her face away ♪

- Bowie, had started to do the glam rock thing

and had put out "Aladdin Sane" that same year

and then announced from the stage in July

that he'd retired and it was a big deal.

Bolan was a little jealous because he says,

"they're playing Bowie like he's James Dean."

Like he's too big and too starry for rock

and here was Bolan in the US still trying to make it,

and they had put him on a tour opening for Three Dog Night.

♪ Oh baby ♪

(upbeat rock music)

- In 73 I saw him, they were opening for Three Dog Night.

I was with my friends and my little sister in the front row

and we knew that we were there to see T-Rex.

So in my little group right in the front,

I mean literally the front, we could touch Marc.

That's when I really wanted to become a guitar player.

- His success in England was phenomenal.

It didn't translate so much to America.

Of course, Get it on, Bang A Gong was a huge hit over there.

I think his records were too out there

for American audiences at that particular time.

- [Interviewer] Can you see that

this repetitive riff is going to change?

That you're gonna do something totally different?

Something that, I mean you did the Cilla Black show,

which no one thought you would do.

Is there gonna come a time on record

when Marc is just gonna change like that?

- [Marc] I've just done it in the new album.

It's just that you know when you hear it,

you'll know what I mean.

And then you're saying,

"man, well why are you doing something so different?"

You watch. (upbeat music)

♪ It don't make no difference ♪

♪ 'Cause I move in the mud ♪

♪ I said sing it to me children ♪

♪ I'm the groover honey yeah ♪

♪ I'm the groover honey yeah ♪

♪ I'm the groover honey ♪

I'm much more interested in American music at the moment,

spending most of my time in America as I have been recently.

Into a lot of Black American music.

I've expanded the whole sound incredibly.

I've double-headed the tour, it's Marco Bolan and T-Rex

as Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow.

Which in fact is the title of the new album.

And I'm using two drummers, two sax players

and the chicks, two black chicks,

which I use in the records.

It's exciting for me starting out at the beginning,

super hardened, as you said before, cooling slightly,

when I know what I've got, my next phase is equally as hot,

if not more so.

♪ Dawn storm, oh my dawn storm ♪

♪ I realise you're blue ♪

♪ Please babe, oh don't squeeze babe ♪

♪ All that I say must be true ♪

♪ Times they are strange ♪

♪ And I won't rearrange ♪

♪ No, no, no, not my love for you ♪

♪ Times they are strange ♪

♪ And I won't rearrange ♪

♪ No, no, no, not my love for you ♪

♪ Baby I'm not crazy ♪

- We rented a wonderful home on Benedict Canyon.

We had so many, many, many people around us

and during that time Marc started experimenting with dance

'cause disco was becoming popular.

♪ And I won't rearrange ♪

♪ No, no, no, not my love for you ♪

Some of the change was accepted

and then some criticism was there,

isolation was there.

(sombre music)

(sombre music continues)

♪ And I won't rearrange ♪

♪ No, no, no, not my love for you ♪

♪ Times they are strange and I won't rearrange ♪

♪ No, no, no, not my love for you ♪

(sombre music continues)

- This song was almost kind of a very consoling song.

It was like this love song like a serenade to someone

that you could tell, whoever he was singing it to,

he saw them as like a, as like the dawn light,

like very pure and like, - Yeah.

- Calm.

(eerie celestial music)

♪ You damaged the soul of my suit ♪

♪ You pulled my love out by the roots ♪

♪ But I'm not such a bad boy ♪

(eerie celestial music continues)

- I'll never forget, he came home

and he was really, really sad.

And then he realises that now I understand who fans are,

but he said, "I have to be me

"and I have to create and I have to change."

And I thought that they would want that

and that they would change with me.

He said, "but I'm finding out

"that now I have to change for myself."

- He said he was working on a record

that was gonna be his "Blonde on Blonde,"

which I guess is the "Zinc Alloy" album.

He had already written "Interstellar Soul,"

which he was very happy about,

and he was heading towards the thing

that Bowie himself would do in '75,

which was the "Young American" stuff.

So he just kept, you know, kind of crossing paths with Bowie

probably in an annoying way, ultimately, career wise.

- David went totally R and B where Marc went more into punk.

Marc and Lonnie Jordan hit it off,

he's the keyboard player for War.

He said, "Lonnie, you're going to be in Los Angeles,

"I'm going to call you."

He said, "I've an idea for a wonderful song

"that I need you to play the piano on."

Lonnie said, "no problem man, I'm there."

So he goes into the studio, plugs his guitar in.

All of a sudden you hear, wham!

"Surprise, surprise, the boys are home."

♪ Surprise, surprise ♪

♪ The boys are home ♪

♪ My guardian angel's run down my telephone ♪

♪ The heat's on, mister ♪

♪ Can't you hear them scream ♪

♪ What ever happened to the teenage dream ♪

♪ The curfew comes at the crack of light ♪

♪ The sad old wino aches to dissipate the fright ♪

- Whenever you look at these great artists,

there's always something missing.

Their preoccupation and their focus and their energy

has been spent in a certain area,

and so they miss out on others.

- [Interviewer] Such as?

- Common sense.

♪ A broken god ♪

- The fans didn't want to accept his new music.

He cried and he said, "why?

"Why can't they change with me?"

Then he understood,

I am so glad that I have my worth.

That I understand every song that I have written.

But he said, "my dream is to become a film director."

- First it's Rosemary who's gonna ask Marc a question.

- Yeah.

Have you any plans to make another film?

- Yeah, I'm in fact gonna be making one

in about three months time

and I play a murderer in it, So watch out.

We start in four weeks time.

- Mm-hm and where will you make that?

- We'll do it in Monte Carlo.

I'll definitely be doing films.

I'll be directing that one too.

- He was a dream maker.

He and Stan Lee actually spoke

about the future where Stan ended up going.

- [Marc] What about Silver Surfer, are they in there?

- [Stan] Yeah, he's one of my favourites.

If I saw this nut on a flying surfboard in a story,

you see, and I said, "who's that guy?"

He said, "well I figured a guy like Galactus

"would have to have a Herald who goes before him

"and flies on a flying surfboard,"

and so was born the Silver Surfer.

- [Marc] And he was beautiful.

♪ Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen ♪

♪ What ever happened to the teenage dream, yeah ♪

- [Person] That whole summer I'd looked after him

throughout the TV show.

I managed him every week on that TV show

and you know there was a TV series?

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering)

- All right.

Welcome to a new show called Marc.

Could be a lot of new sounds, a lot of new experiences.

The biggest and the best so far this week

are an amazing group called "Jam!"

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Oi ♪

♪ All over the country ♪

♪ We want a new direction ♪

♪ I said all over this land ♪

♪ We need a reaction ♪

♪ Well there should be a youth explosion ♪

- Most of the older stars were really quite anti punk.

Marc was in the tour, he's like, "wow, what goes on?

"Wow, man, what's it like at the Roxy?

"Wow man, could you take me down?"

And We did go down to the Roxy

and he launched this album

"Dandy in the Underworld" at the Roxy Club.

♪ Prince of Players, Pawn of none ♪

♪ Born with steel reins on the heart of the Sun ♪

♪ Gypsy explorer of the New Jersey Heights ♪

♪ Exalted companion of cocaine nights ♪

♪ 'cause he's a Dandy in the Underworld ♪

♪ Dandy in the Underworld ♪

♪ When will he come up for air ♪

♪ Will anybody ever care ♪

- We went to see the Ramones.

We were at the back,

when I looked up Marc pulled up

all the way to the front stage

and that's who he was, he just,

he loved music, he loved creating.

- I find that The Pistol is very believable.

I find, um, the Ramones beautifully unbelievable.

"Suzy ls a Headbanger," "Sheena ls a Punk Rocker,"

Debora was a zebra, which is my first hit right in '67.

It's all, I mean, it's all related to violence in the mind,

not in the body.

(upbeat music)

♪ Life is the same and it always will be ♪

♪ Easy as picking foxes from a tree ♪

♪ But I can't get no satisfaction ♪

♪ All I want is easy action ♪

♪ I can't get no satisfaction ♪

♪ All I want is easy action ♪

♪ A stud is a lamb with the thoughts of a tiger ♪

♪ Who moves like a cat and knows how to ride her ♪

♪ But I can't get no satisfaction ♪

♪ All I want is easy action ♪

(upbeat music continues)

- It was very absurd, it didn't even make any sense.

Some of it was like almost rambling,

but it was such like a beautiful and very clear images

and kind of like extreme lyrics,

and that was very fun for me.

♪ I can't get no satisfaction ♪

♪ All I want is easy action ♪

♪ I can't get no satisfaction ♪

♪ All I want is easy action ♪

This is super fucking cool, it's such a punk track.

- Yeah, it is. - Like you said,

"Hey, hey, hey!"

(mimicking icing guitar riffs)

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ A stud is a lamb with the thoughts of a tiger ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ Who moves like a cat and knows how to ride her ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ But I can't get no satisfaction ♪

♪ All I want is easy action, baby ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ Stroll on ♪

- He found his roots when he started the TV show

and discovering like Generation X with Billy Idol,

the Damned and he kind of evolved to the godfather of punk.

- This is a new group called Generation X

who have a lead singer called Billy Idol,

who's supposed to be as pretty as me.

We'll see now, Generation X!

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Well I'm trying to forget your generation ♪

♪ Using any way I see ♪

♪ Well, the ends must justify the means ♪

♪ I said, your generation don't mean a thing to me ♪

- We were fans.

In some way or other we'd grown up with Marc

and I think that shows you his attitude to other musicians

and maybe groups that are starting out.

He championed us and he stood up for us that day.

Someone like Marc kind of made you

want to do something with your life.

♪ We can be heroes ♪

(sombre music)

- And then we got together again in and around 1974

and we became really firm friends up until he died,

and it again, another great tragedy, you know.

- Thank you for goodbye and all the boys in the band,

David, everybody, all the cats, you know they are,

this is a new song. (guitar squeals)

- [Person] One, two, three. - Yeah!

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music continues)

♪ What am I gonna do with you ♪

- There's been a lot of talk about revolutions.

The only revolution that's gonna happen

is if people like myself or or Mick Jagger

or Rod Stewart or whoever

try to get into other fields,

be it television, be it movies,

then we will get a revolution.

If it's left to other people, there'll be no revolution.

Cheers.

- He was fascinated with the whole James Dean concept

of like die young and leave a beautiful corpse.

There's a point also where you wanna live

and I know he definitely would love

to be behind these cameras right now.

That's where he was going into more film and television.

(sombre music)

♪ If I could have grown ♪

♪ All upon my own ♪

♪ if I could have grown ♪

♪ I grew ♪

♪ if I could have grew ♪

♪ I do ♪

- Do you know about karma?

Which is you are here on earth for a certain specific lesson

and when you die you take the form

of another being after a certain time,

this is obviously my time to be a poet and a musician,

but next time I might be a dustman or a cat.

You know, to learn humility perhaps as a cat

or now it's probably to attune

to the whimsical changes of mankind.

(sombre music continues)

♪ Hey let's do it like we're friends ♪

♪ Let's do it, do it ♪

♪ Let's do it like we're friends ♪

- [Interviewer] Do you ever wake up in the middle

of the night and think in another 20 or 30 years

I'm going to be 50 or 60, what shall I be doing?

You don't?

- Never think about, I mean.

- [Interviewer] And it doesn't haunt you that at night?

- Um, I don't think I'll live that long.

- [Interviewer] You don't?

- No.

(sombre music)

♪ If I could have grown ♪

♪ All upon my own ♪

- It's such a long time ago, you know,

but I can remember vividly

Marc skipping around playing and Steve and Mickey,

and I think the sadness

is that they're all gone. (sighs)

I look back on it was so much affection in one sense

and I wish I could have helped him.

♪ You could call it home ♪

♪ if I cry my tears ♪

- [interviewer] What do you normally do on September 16th?

- I light a candle, play a bunch of T-Rex songs

and usually my closest friends...

They'll call me.

And then if I want to hang out with someone that cares,

I'll be there, if not, I'll just stay by myself.

♪ Do it like we're friends ♪

♪ Hey let's do it ♪

♪ Let's do it like we're friends ♪

♪ Let's do it, do it ♪

♪ Let's do it like we're friends ♪

- He came into the world knowing what he was doing.

Marc came into the world dancing.

And he loved people, he loved to see children dance.

- [All] You won't fool the children of the revolution!

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Ba-Da, Ba-Da, Ba-Da, Ba-Da, Ba-Da ♪

♪ Ba-Da, Ba-Da, Ba-Da, Ba-Da, Ba-Da ♪

♪ But you won't fool the children of the revolution ♪

♪ No, you won't fool ♪

These are vulnerable children.

They absolutely have nothing.

But since attending our training school,

they are now expressing and understanding

that they have a purpose for being.

♪ You can tear a plane in the falling rain ♪

♪ I drive a Rolls Royce ♪

♪ 'Cause it's good for my voice ♪

♪ But you won't fool ♪

- Great stars go in and out of fashion sometimes.

Any great, great artists,

there's times where they're more in vogue

and times where they're not cool anymore

or they have the wrong look.

But they will always come back.

They'll always bubble up to the surface

and there's no question, so he'll be with us forever.

(upbeat rock music) ♪ Ow ♪

- Sometimes you can play with art in a reckless way

and it benefits you, you know?

I think Marc Bolan definitely did that.

You know, I think David Bowie definitely did that.

I think Hendrix did that, but you know,

that wave has come and gone,

and hopefully a new one will rise up again.

♪ Let it all hang out ♪

- [Marc] "Children of the Revolution,"

that song I wrote for all the kids at the whole world.

♪ No, you won't fool the children of the revolution ♪

- He was 30 years of age,

and I just got that feeling that he had a lot more in him.

You can only but guess where his music might have gone to

or where he might have been at a decade later

or two decades later.

Who knows?

(upbeat rock music continues)

- These children for the first time in their lives,

they have value.

They're able to say I can be somebody

because they are the future.

- Whoo!

(indistinct).

One and a two and a bubbly-bubba-boo-boo-yeah!

(upbeat rock music) (crowd cheering)

Yeah!

(upbeat rock music continues)

♪ Baby, I wanna walk you home ♪

♪ Oh baby, I wanna walk you home ♪

♪ There's a shadow in the basement ♪

♪ And I'm scared to sleep alone ♪

♪ Baby, doesn't everybody weep ♪

♪ Oh baby, doesn't everybody weep ♪

♪ I'd slide up there beside you ♪

♪ But my nightmare's oh too steep ♪

♪ Ow ♪

♪ Come on ♪

♪ Whoo ♪

♪ Baby, I love you baby ♪

♪ I love you baby ♪

♪ I love you baby ♪

♪ I love you baby ♪

♪ I love you baby ♪

♪ Oh, yes I do ♪

(upbeat rock music continues)

(upbeat rock music continues)

(lively rock music)

♪ I've been down there ♪

♪ Everybody's been there ♪

♪ Everyone, everyone ♪

♪ It's true ♪

♪ Desolation angel on the cover of my paper ♪

♪ Loves everyone, everyone ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Rock on ♪

♪ Rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Rock on, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Baby, rock on ♪

♪ Mild mouthed Rita she's a Chevy Chase cheetah ♪

♪ Loves everyone, everyone ♪

♪ Ah, Ah, Ah, oh ♪

♪ Teddy's going steady he's a silver-plated poet ♪

♪ Loves everyone, everyone ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Rock on, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Rock on, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Baby, rock on ♪

♪ Prophet pumped the car-scar ♪

♪ Deeper only sweeter ♪

♪ Loves everyone, everyone ♪

(lively rock music continues)

♪ Rock on, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Rock on, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Rock on, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Baby, rock on ♪