20th Century Boy

Today marks the 31st anniversary of Marc Bolan's untimely death. He was killed just a couple of weeks shy of his 30th birthday when the car he was in crashed into a tree.

Bolan, born Mark Feld, was a genius. Born to be a star. After leaving his hippy, acoustic days behind in the 60s, he became the biggest British music sensation since the Beatles, in the early 70s with his group T-Rex.

If you only ever listen to one T-Rex LP, it would almost certainly be their best and most famous, Electric Warrior, which features Get It On, Jeepster and my favourites Monolith and Cosmic Dancer. But it's follow up, The Slider, isn't too far behind (Metal Guru, Telegram Sam, Chariot Choogle, Baby Strange).

Even as his star started to wane as the decade wore on, he continued to record and still produced a few gems. Songs such as Solid Gold Easy Action, Children Of The Revolution, Venus Loon, Teenage Dream, Sound Pit, New York City and Dandy In The Underworld, for example, sound as great as most of his work during his "glory" years.

But then in 1977 he was gone. What adds to the tragedy is his stock was reportedly on the rise again and he was set to tour again. He'd even been fronting his own music show which showcased a variety of acts, including a host of young punk bands, who saw him as a forefather type figure. Very apt.

Understandibly, T-Rex were labelled Glam but for me, Marc was far too versatile to be pigeon-holed. He was way before my time and I'm sad to admit I only got into his music after it was used in a TV commercial for jeans in the early 1990s. But now I'm eternally grateful I didn't go flicking the channels when the adverts came on.

RIP Marc.