The World's No.1 Scootering magazine

20th Century Toy

Marc Bolan was born in September 1947 and grew up in London, his early years in Hackney before moving to Wimbledon. At the age of nine he was given his first guitar and this sparked his love of music, Rock ’n’ Roll acts such as Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran being early influences. By 1962 Mark (as he still was) had become a mod. Now I’m not sure if this also sparked his rebellious nature but after ‘leaving’ school at the age of 15 he started a modelling career. This was fairly successful and even included an appearance in a magazine called Town in which he gave an insight into the fashion and mindset of the 1960s mod movement.

Of course Mark’s first love was music and after a couple of stage name changes and some fairly mediocre demos he finally joined a pop art/mod band called John’s Children. Although apparently quite successful as a live act they didn’t sell many records and when John’s Children collapsed Mark, now Marc, decided to form a psychedelic-folk rock acoustic duo with Steve Peregrin Took (Lord of the Rings fan I guess!). This act, called Tyrannosaurus Rex, featured Bolan singing and playing acoustic guitar and Took supplying percussion and the occasional bass riff.

In 1969 Marc bought a vintage Gibson Les Paul and with it the band’s sound started to evolve. Took was replaced by Mickey Finn and by 1971 the band had reached number two in the charts with Ride A White Swan, which marked the new era for the band now known as T.Rex. The band expanded to a four-piece, Bolan took to wearing top hats and feather boas on stage, as well as putting drops of glitter on his cheekbones. The glam rock era had arrived and soon other performers such as David Bowie and their fans also adopted the fashion and make-up.

Over the next two-and-a-half years Marc and T.Rex achieved multi national success with hits such as Hot Love, Get it On, Jeepster, Metal Guru and of course 20th Century Boy...