Formation and psychedelic folk (July 1967 – mid-1970) Marc Bolan founded Tyrannosaurus Rex in July 1967, following a handful of failed solo singles and a brief period as lead guitarist in psych-rock band
John's Children. After a solitary disastrous performance as a four-piece electric rock band on 22 July at the Electric Garden in London's
Covent Garden alongside drummer Steve Porter plus two older musicians, guitarist Ben Cartland and an unknown bassist, the group immediately broke up. Subsequently, Bolan retained the band name and the services of Porter, who switched to percussion under the name
Steve Peregrin Took, and the two began performing acoustic material as a duo with a repertoire of folk-influenced Bolan-penned songs. Inspired by an influential performance by
Ravi Shankar whom Bolan had seen while touring West Germany with John's Children, the band adopted a stage manner resembling the performance of traditional Indian music. The combination of Bolan's
acoustic guitar and distinctive vocal style with Took's
bongos and assorted percussion—which often included children's instruments, such as the
Pixiphone—earned them a devoted following in the thriving
hippy underground scene.
BBC Radio 1 Disc jockey
John Peel championed the band early in their recording career. Peel later appeared on record with them, reading stories written by Bolan. Another key collaborator was producer
Tony Visconti, who produced all of the band's records through to the mid-1970s. Their debut album ''
My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows'' remained in the
UK Albums chart for nine weeks and peaked at number 15. During 1968–1969, Tyrannosaurus Rex had become a modest success on radio and on record. Their third single "Pewter Suitor", released in January 1969, failed to chart but their third album
Unicorn charted just outside the
Top Ten. Their fourth single "
King of the Rumbling Spires", issued in July 1969, was a musical departure compared to the previous material: they used a full rock band setup with a drumkit and an entirely electric sound. However, by mid-1969, there was a rift developing between the two halves of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bolan and his girlfriend June Child were living a quiet life, Bolan working on his book of poetry entitled
The Warlock of Love and concentrating on his songs and performance skills. Took, however, had fully embraced the anti-commercial,
drug-taking ethos of the
UK Underground scene centred around
Ladbroke Grove. Took was also attracted to anarchic elements such as
Mick Farren/
Deviants and members of the
Pink Fairies Rock 'n' Roll and Drinking Club. Took also began writing his own songs, and wanted the duo to perform them, but Bolan strongly disapproved of his bandmate's efforts, rejecting them for the duo's putative fourth album, in production in Spring/Summer 1969. In response to Bolan's rebuff, Took contributed two songs as well as vocals and percussion to
Twink's
Think Pink album. Behind the scenes, Bolan's relationship with Took ended after this dispute, although they were contractually obliged to go through with a US tour which was doomed before it began. Poorly promoted and planned, the acoustic duo was overshadowed by the loud electric acts they were billed with. To counter this, Took drew from the
shock rock style of
Iggy Pop; Took explained, "I took my shirt off in the Sunset Strip where we were playing and whipped myself till everybody shut up. With a belt, y'know, a bit of blood and the whole of
Los Angeles shuts up. 'What's going on, man, there's some nutter attacking himself on stage.' I mean, Iggy Stooge had the same basic approach." Bolan returned to the UK in September and advertised for a replacement for Took. A month later, he recruited percussionist
Mickey Finn. As well as progressively shorter titles, Tyrannosaurus Rex's albums began to show higher production values, more accessible songwriting from Bolan, and further experimentation with electric guitars and a true rock sound.
Glam rock and commercial success (July 1970 – December 1972) Bolan continued the process of simplification by shortening the band's name to T. Rex. The eponymous first
T. Rex album, also recorded that summer, was released in December and continued the move to electric guitars. During the February–April 1971 suspension of the official album chart (caused by
a national postal strike) a chart by
Melody Maker—which the
Official Charts Company's website nowadays recognises as canonical for the gap period—listed the LP as having peaked at number 7. "Ride a White Swan" was quickly followed by a second single, "
Hot Love", which reached the top spot on the UK charts, and remained there for six weeks. On later projects, Bolan and Visconti would sing their own backing vocals in Flo & Eddie's style. After Bolan's displays, glam rock would gain popularity in the UK and Europe during 1971–1972. The completion of T. Rex's move to electric guitar rock coincided with Bolan's more overtly sexual lyrical style and image. Having already begun standing up onstage to perform electric songs, Bolan also incorporated more physical showmanship, such as struts, dances and poses, into his stage act. The group's new image and sound quickly attracted a new audience much to the despair of the band's early fans. Some of the lyrical content of Tyrannosaurus Rex remained, but the poetic, surrealistic lyrics were now interspersed with sensuous grooves, orgiastic moans and innuendo. In September 1971, T. Rex released
Electric Warrior, the first album from the Bolan/Finn/Currie/Legend line-up. Often considered to be their best album, the chart-topping
Electric Warrior brought much commercial success to the group; publicist
BP Fallon coined the term "T. Rextasy" as a parallel to
Beatlemania to describe the group's popularity. The album included T. Rex's best-known song, "
Get It On", which hit number 1 in the UK. In January 1972 it became a Top Ten hit in the US, where the song was retitled "Bang a Gong (Get It On)". The album still recalled Bolan's acoustic roots with ballads such as "Cosmic Dancer" and the stark "Girl". Soon after, Bolan left
Fly Records; after his contract had lapsed, the label released the album track "
Jeepster" as a single without his permission. Bolan went to
EMI, where he was given his own record label in the UK, T. Rex Records, also known as "The "T. Rex Wax Co." The band then released two other standalone singles, "
Children of the Revolution" and "
Solid Gold Easy Action", which both reached number 2 in the UK. In December, Bolan's own rock film
Born to Boogie was released to theatres. The film featured footage of two T. Rex shows at the
Empire Pool, Wembley, which had been shot by
Ringo Starr and his crew earlier in the year.
Transition, decline and resurgence (January 1973 – September 1977) '' The next album, 1973's
Tanx, was another commercial success, reaching number 3 in the German Albums chart, An eclectic album containing several melancholy ballads and rich production,
Tanx showcased the T. Rex sound bolstered by extra instrumental embellishments such as
Mellotron and saxophone. "The Street and Babe Shadow" was
funkier while the last song "Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys" was seen by critics as a nod to
gospel with several female backing singers. Released at the same time in March 1973, the heavy rock track "
20th Century Boy" was another important success, peaking at number 3 in the UK Singles chart but was not included in the album. Lyrically, the album harkened back to the Tyrannosaurus Rex days with long song titles and lyrical complexity, but was not a critical success. In the US, Warner Brothers dropped the band without releasing the album there. Bill Legend left the band after the album's completion. In addition to recruiting
Paul Fenton as their new drummer, T. Rex extended their line-up with second guitarist
Jack Green, pedal steel guitarist
B. J. Cole and Bolan's girlfriend, singer and keyboardist
Gloria Jones. Keyboardist
Dino Dines was also added later in 1974, around the same time drummer Davey Luton replaced Fenton. Soon after
Zinc Alloy... was released, Bolan split with producer Visconti, then in December 1974, Finn also left the band. A single, "
Zip Gun Boogie", appeared in late 1974 credited as a Marc Bolan solo effort (though still on the T. Rex label). It only reached UK number 41, and the T. Rex band identity was quickly re-established. ''
Bolan's Zip Gun (1975) saw the group further developing the soul and funk of previous records. Most of the material had already been released the previous year in the US as Light of Love''. It was self-produced by Bolan who, in addition to writing the songs, gave his music a harder, more futuristic sheen. Bolan's own productions were not well received in the music press. However, in the US,
Rolling Stone magazine gave it a positive review. During this time Bolan became increasingly isolated, while high tax rates in the UK drove him into
exile in Monte Carlo and the US. No longer a vegetarian, Bolan put on weight due to consumption of hamburgers and alcohol, and was ridiculed in the music press. T. Rex's penultimate album,
Futuristic Dragon (1976), featured an inconsistent production style that veered from
Wall of Sound-style songs to
disco backing, with nostalgic nods to the old T. Rex boogie machine. It only managed to reach number 50, but the album was better received by the critics and featured the singles "
New York City" (number 15 in the UK) and "
Dreamy Lady" (number 30). The band's final show took place at
Gröna Lund in
Stockholm, Sweden, on 24 March 1977.
Bolan's death, disbandment and reformation attempts Marc Bolan and his girlfriend Gloria Jones spent the evening of 15 September 1977 drinking at
The Speakeasy Club and then dining at Morton's club on
Berkeley Square, in
Mayfair, Central London. While driving home early in the morning of 16 September, Jones crashed Bolan's purple
Mini 1275 GT into a tree (now the site of
Bolan's Rock Shrine), after failing to navigate a small humpback bridge near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride,
Barnes, southwest London, a few miles from his home at 142 Upper Richmond Road West in
East Sheen. While Jones was severely injured, Bolan was killed in the crash, at age 29. As Bolan had been the only constant member of T. Rex and also the only composer and writer, his management disbanded the remaining group (keyboardist Dino Dines and drummer Tony Newman; there was a vacancy for bassist) immediately upon his death. As of , drummer Bill Legend is the only surviving member from the classic 1971–1973 line-up, or indeed any line-up of T. Rex/Tyrannosaurus Rex prior to June 1973; Steve Peregrin Took went on to co-found
Pink Fairies and appear on
Mick Farren's solo album
Mona – The Carnivorous Circus, before spending the 1970s working mostly on his own material, either solo or fronting bands such as
Shagrat (1970–1971) and
Steve Took's Horns (1977–1978). He died in 1980 from asphyxiation caused by choking on a
cocktail cherry. The following year, Steve Currie, who had played for
Chris Spedding before moving to Portugal in 1979, died in a car crash. Mickey Finn played as a
session musician for
the Soup Dragons and
the Blow Monkeys before his death in 2003 of possible liver and kidney failure. Since Bolan's death, there have been two known public attempts by former members to reform the band. These have drawn strong criticism from fans and former associates of Bolan who contend that without a living Bolan, no such band can be an authentic incarnation of T. Rex. In 1997, Finn, Green and Legend's successor,
Paul Fenton, formed a "T. Rex" line-up, soon renamed
Mickey Finn's T-Rex, with former
Smokie and
Saxon members. Following Finn's death in 2003, the band continued on as T. Rex (A Celebration of Marc and Mickey) until a petition signed by Legend, Tony Visconti and David Bowie, among others, forced them to revert to the name Mickey Finn's T-Rex with his family's blessing. In 2014, Legend put together his own version of the band, Bill Legend's T. Rex, later known as
X-T. Rex. ==Influence and legacy==