⚫️𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗔𝗡⚫️

T. Rex founder and frontman 🔳𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍🔳 would have turned 75 years old today. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement of the early 1970ies.

Photo credit: Screenshot from the Placebo video, cover of the T. Rex record / edit by Silke

🎬 𝗧. 𝗥𝗘𝗫 – 𝟮𝟬𝗧𝗛 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗬 𝗕𝗢𝗬
🎵 https://bit.ly/2R0458M 🎵

In 1998 Placebo recorded a cover version of this song for the glam rock movie “Velvet Goldmine”, in which Brian, Stefan and Steve Hewitt appeared as actors. Like in real life they embodied musicians, and allegedly Marc Bolan was the prototype for Brian's character in the film. “20th Century Boy“ was also released as b-side on Placebo's 1998 single “You don't care about us“.
The original by T. Rex was a stand-alone single released in 1973. It directly entered the UK Chart at number 3 and peaked three weeks in a row at that position.

🎬 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 – 𝟮𝟬𝗧𝗛 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗬 𝗕𝗢𝗬
🎵 http://bit.ly/39n6geh 🎵

Marc Bolan was born as Mark Field in London on September 30th 1947. As already mentioned above the guitarist, singer and songwriter was the frontman of the band T. Rex and one of the pioneers of the glam rock movement. His appearance on music show Top of the Pops in March 1971 wearing glitter and satins is often cited as its beginning. The T. Rex album “Electric Warrior“ (also 1971) has been described as the essentiall kick-starter of the glam rock craze. From 1971 to 1973 the band was extremely popular and placed 11 singles in the UK Charts.

Photo credit: Rex Features

On September 16th 1977, two weeks before his 30th birthday, Marc died in a car crash. It's a strange fact that he never learned to drive because he feared a premature death. The car was driven by Bolan's girlfriend Gloria Jones who only suffered a broken arm in the accident she caused.
In 2020 Marc Bolan was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦:
👉 https://bit.ly/3bJvVy7

Post by Silke

🌟𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 & 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗🌟

The 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 I’m going to share with you today was publishes 20 years later after the legendary performance. The 1999 Brit Awards were the 19th edition of the biggest annual pop music awards in the United Kingdom and took place on 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 at the 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂.
On that day, David Bowie joined Placebo on stage to perform 20th Century Boy with them.

The Brit Awards 1999. Photo credit unknown

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗
 https://bit.ly/3i8R8r5

📍Placebo recorded their version of the song in 1998 specifically for the movie 𝑽𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 where Brian and other band members appeared as actors in small roles.
You can read more about the movie in my older post:
https://bit.ly/3iV6Q8y

📍As Brian admitted, 20th Century Boy never belonged to their favourites, so it was performed live only three times. Besides The Brit Awards, it was played next month at Irving Plaza in New York City, also with David Bowie, and then, on July 28th 2000 at Fuji Rock festival in Japan.

📢 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "That version would never be made by ourselves, just for the pleasure of it. It is not a song that has a special cling to us, we did the version ‘cause it was needed for the film. We don't even own any T.Rex record. But naturally, it was a song that we knew for many years... We listened to it on the radio. We have never been T.Rex fans, and we just do versions of songs that we like and from artists we are fond of."
(𝐷𝑁 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑠, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 14𝑡ℎ 2000)

🌟𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧’𝐬 ’𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲’ 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐒, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗🌟
Fronted by the enigmatic Brian Molko, Placebo were a force to be reckoned with in the ’90s – they offered something different to the laddishness of Britpop and the nerdiness of Radiohead. Their brand of subversive alt-rock cultivated a mass of fanatical followers caught in the tightly woven net of androgynous angst and sublime songwriting. It was only a matter of time before the original agitator David Bowie would find a project to collaborate on.

That project came sooner rather than later. In the early days of Placebo, with Molko and Osdal having only demos to their name, they had one major fan – David Bowie. Not a bad place to start eh? Never one to miss the opportunity to promote the music he felt deserved a place on the mantel of music, Bowie then invited the band to open for his now-infamous Outside Tour. Bowie would also lend his vocals to the 1998 recording of Placebo’s ‘Without You I’m Nothing’.

Photo credit: Steve Finn 

In particular, Molko was very close to Bowie with the latter providing Molko with advice throughout his career. He recently opened up [...] about his presence: “He was my friend and my mentor. He gave me a lot of advice. I’m meditating more on how he was quite a sage and quite a raconteur as well.”
A more intimate collaboration came in the form of a special BRIT Awards performance in 1999 that saw Placebo supported by Bowie covering another glam-rock icon’s biggest hit; Marc Bolan’s ’20th Century Boy’. Released in 1971, the song marked one of the last triumphant moments of Bolan’s sadly short career. It was a song that Placebo were already familiar with having covered the smash-hit for the soundtrack to the film Velvet Goldmine, though following Bowie rejecting the chance to have his own music appear in the film Molko said the pair “agreed never to talk about”.
The track was and remains today, an absolute dancefloor smash. Built on a simple but encouraging lead guitar (so chunky it barely needed dressing), flourished with garish and provocative lyrics, the song has effortlessly become a cross-generational smash. Nowhere is that more easily seen than in this clip from the 1999 BRIT Awards.

On one side of the stage stands the present of rock and roll. Brian Molko and his sparkling charcoaled eyes, full of the kind of sneering misunderstanding that can drive so many to mania. On the other stood an original of the glam-rock era passing the goth-glittered baton across with every lyric he sang. He plays his Tin Machine-era headless guitar and seems happy to let Molko take the spotlight. “We weren’t too bad, we were in key at least,” Molko later told Melody Maker. “But we could never really get the lyrics right. We were doing ’20th Century Boy’. We had a fucking laugh.”

The sound mixing may be a bit dodgy but the performance of this song, in particular, strikes a special chord with fans of both artists. For Placebo fans, it marks a moment in their history that they were named as “the future” by Bowie, of all people. While for Bowie fans it’s a clear indication of his admiration for them, as well as a rousing tribute to his departed friend.

Whichever way you look at it this is a moment worth savouring. So watch as Placebo are joined on stage by David Bowie to perform T-Rex’s hit ’20th Century Boy’ live at the BRITS in 1999.
(𝐹𝑎𝑟 𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 13, 2019)

🌟𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎🌟
20th Century Boy is a song by an English rock band 𝐓. 𝐑𝐞𝐱, written by 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄 𝑩𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏.
It was released as a single and entered in the UK Singles Chart at number 3 on 10 March 1973 where it peaked three weeks in a row at that position.

20th Century Boy's lyrics are, according to Marc Bolan, based on quotes taken from notable celebrities such as Muhammad Ali. This can be seen through the inclusion of the line "sting like a bee", which is taken from one of Ali's 1969 speeches.

Post by Olga

🔸BIRTHDAY: MARC BOLAN (20TH CENTURY BOY)🔸

Photo credit: Marc Bolan - unknown; Brian Molko - screenshot from Velvet Goldmine / edit by Olga

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍, an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and poet, was born on this day, on 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟎𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟕, and would have turned 𝟕𝟒 today

He is known as one of the pioneers of the glam rock movement of the early 1970s with his band 𝐓. 𝐑𝐞𝐱. Particularly, we know the frizzy-haired musician as a songwriter of 𝟐𝟎𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐘.

In 1998, Placebo recorded their version of the song for the movie 𝑽𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 where Brian and other band members appeared as actors in small roles. Actually, Marc Bolan was a prototype for Brian Molko’s character in the film, 𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒎 of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬.
Placebo created “one of the best and most glittery musical performances in the film – the fictional band The Flaming Creatures’ biting, almost gothic rendition of T. Rex’s 20th Century Boy.”
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 2007)

🎥 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲 (𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞)
https://bit.ly/3hkM8we

Also in 1998, the song was officially released as B-side on one of the CDs of 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐔𝐬 single.

In 1999, Placebo performed the song live together with 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 at the 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 at the London Arena (later, it was played on stage only twice).
🎥 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞 - 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗
https://bit.ly/3eK588H

Screenshot: Placebo and David Bowie Brit Awards 1999

🎥 𝐓.𝐑𝐞𝐱 - 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲
https://bit.ly/3kJhaCZ

In the late 1960s, 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍 had risen to fame as the founder and leader of the psychedelic folk band 𝐓𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐱 with whom he released four critically acclaimed albums. Bolan's March 1971 appearance on the BBC's music show Top of the Pops, wearing glitter on the face, is cited as 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒎 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
T. Rex's 1971 album Electric Warrior, with all songs written by Bolan, has been described as "the album that essentially kick-started the UK glam rock craze."
Bolan died on 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟕, at the age of 29 in a car crash two weeks before his 30th birthday. It happened when a car driven by his girlfriend, singer Gloria Jones, struck a tree in southwest London.

In 1977, a memorial stone and bust of Bolan, Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine, was unveiled at the site where he died. His musical influence as guitarist and songwriter was profound; he inspired many later acts over the following decades. As a member of T. Rex, Bolan was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

⭐𝟔 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍⭐
(based on a film Marc Bolan: Cosmic Dancer by BBC Four, featuring interviews with those who knew him best - his partner Gloria Jones, producer Tony Visconti and manager Simon Napier-Bell)

𝟏. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬
Marc Bolan, born Mark Feld in Hackney, London, always knew he was going to be a pop star, even when he was kid. He was fascinated by early rock'n'roll stars like Eddie Cochran, Little Richard and Elvis and says in the film, "I always knew I was different - right from the start, right from the moment I was born. When I was younger, I certainly thought I was a kind of superior being." Later, like Bowie, he became a master of reinvention - he was first a mod, then a hippyish singer-songwriter, before coming into full bloom as a glittering glam rock superstar. […]

𝟐. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐥, 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲-𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲
Aside from his fascination with early rock'n'roll, Marc looked to books - particularly The Lord of the Rings - for inspiration, and also intriguing figures from British history. One man he became obsessed with was Beau Brummell (1788-1840), a fashion icon from Regency England who is credited with establishing the modern men's suit, worn with a necktie, as a means of standard, formal dress. "Ninety-five per cent of my success is the way I look - look and presence is what people pick up on," he says in the film. […]

𝟑. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐁𝐂
[…] In 1967, [the first band Bolan joined, John's Children] released a single Desdemona, which contained the lyric, "Lift up your skirt and fly" - about a witch, Marc claimed, but the line aroused suspicions. The BBC banned the song, and the name of their only album, Orgasm, caused issues in the US, too. […]

Screenshot of the Placebo video, cover of the T. Rex record / edit by Silke

𝟒. 𝐓. 𝐑𝐞𝐱 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲
Tyrannosaurus Rex (later shortened to T. Rex), were the headliners of the first-ever Glastonbury festival. […] Back then, Glastonbury wasn't the huge media event it is now, but it was still a great booking for the band and it secured them a place in British music history.

𝟓. 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 "𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞"
John Peel was a huge supporter of T. Rex in their early days, and calling Marc "a flower child with a knife up his sleeve" was an observation rather than an insult. He, like many others, noticed that Bolan was fiercely ambitious. […] Tyrannosaurus Rex became T. Rex, Marc dabbed some glitter on his face, and there began an extraordinary run of impeccable glam rock singles, including Ride a White Swan (their breakthrough hit in 1970) and, all in 1971, Hot Love, Get It On and Jeepster.

𝟔. 𝐇𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡
Marc feared a premature death - hence he never learned to drive - and he also believed he would die young, once saying: "The thing about success, certainly in the rock'n'roll business, is that it gives you an incredible amount, but what it takes away is irreplaceable and sometimes I get a funny feeling that I shan't be here very long. And I'm not talking in terms of things like success. It frightens me sometimes."
If that wasn't freakish enough, in the film Simon Napier-Bell says the following: "Chet Baker was a hero of his, and James Dean. And I said, 'Well, be careful having James Dean as a hero, because you might end up dying in a Porsche. And he said, 'Oh, I'm just tiny, I'd like to die in a Mini.'"
It was in a Mini that he died, on that tragic night in September 1977.
(𝐵𝐵𝐶,15𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2017)

Post by Olga