Marc Bolan influenced countless musicians through a very short period as the lead for T. Rex, even reaching the heights of The Beatles in the U.K. and getting cited as the spark for “glam rock” in 1971. Sadly his life was cut short, enhancing the strength of his influence but also revealing just how much was lost.
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According to Rolling Stone, Bolan died in a car crash on Sept. 16, 1977, at the age of 29. He had kicked his habits at the time, claiming he was “living in a twilight world of drugs, booze and kinky sex” due to the pressure of having fame in your youth. He started in 1966 as a member of John’s Children, later forming Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1968 with Steve Took. Micky Finn would replace Took, the name would get chopped down to size, and the acoustic roots were replaced with a hard rock edge.
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The band was responsible for eleven British Top 10 singles, but didn’t make the major jump to the U.S. outside a lone hit single in 1971’s “Bang a Gong (Get It On).” After a dip in the mid-70s, Bolan had been making a comeback and filmed two shows for a new British TV series. He also had plans to work on another series with David Bowie. Then tragedy happened.
Bolan was the passenger at the time of the car crash, with his then-girlfriend, singer Gloria Jones, behind the wheel. Their car would end up hitting a tree and Bolan would die at the scene. She ended up hospitalized for her injuries but faced scrutiny after for allegedly being under the influence. Both had reportedly been drinking alcohol before the crash.
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The T. Rex frontman had been quoted as fearing he’d be dead before reaching 30 years old, a self-fulfilling prophecy that tragically came true. Some later accounts have questioned the specific accounts of the accident, including Vicky Aram, who was behind the Mini seconds after the crash.
“As I came over the bridge with Richard [Jones] beside me, I can still in my mind see, so clearly, a purple car which looked like a little beetle. It was upright and it was smoking and there was a tiny glimmer of light from the moon, the night was so still,” Aram told The Independent.
“I said ‘we’ve got to get them out, this car might blow up.’ I took my mother’s rug from the back of my car and put it on the ground. Some of the fans are comforted by the fact he was laid on a nice lady’s rug. I don’t think Richard thought Marc was dead, but I knew he was. Gloria was groaning and almost conscious. But Richard cried and said, ‘Please don’t leave me.’”
Aram also noted that Bolan wasn’t killed by the tree, instead dying in the initial strike against the “steel-reinforced fence post.” Fee Warner, founder of the T Rex Action Group bought the land where the Sycamore tree stands, hoping to keep it from being cut down. They preserve a shrine and note why some people miss how the accident truly unfolded.
“A lot of people don’t [realize] there was a fence between the tree and the road, because the fence was removed,” she explained. “When we came to build some steps, we found that when they had taken the fences away, they had taken away the ones that were undamaged, but the damaged ones had become buried on the site.”
On his death, David Bowie shared kind words with Rolling Stone on the gravity of the loss.
“I’m terribly broken by it. He was my mate. The only tribute I can give Marc is that he was the greatest little giant in the world,” Bowie said. He attended Bolan’s funeral, alongside names like Rod Stewart and Steve Harley at Golders Green Crematorium.