T-Rextasy has arrived at the top of the charts. Over the next year and a bit one band, led by one tiny little sparkling pixie, will dominate the top of the UK singles charts, and bring with it the defining sound of the early seventies. Wham bam, yes it’s glam!
Hot Love, by T. Rex (their 1st of four #1s)
6 weeks, from 14th March – 25th April 1971
But the intro to ‘Hot Love’ is actually quite gentle, quite lilting. A boogie-woogie bassline and some light strings. It’s still an intro that makes you sit up, that sounds unlike anything that’s topped the charts before – one of those leaps forward that come along every so often – it’s just not instantly ‘T. Rex’. Well she’s my woman of gold, And she’s not very old, Uh-huh-huh…
Tyrannosaurus Rex had spent the tail end of the sixties recording psychedelic folk-rock with mystical themes (sample title: ‘By the Light of a Magical Moon’). As the seventies came around they dropped the ‘yrannosaurus’ and plugged their guitars in. But here, Marc Bolan is still singing like a hippy: Well she’s faster than most, And she lives on the coast, Uh-huh-huh… Note the Elvis stutter, though. You can be sure it’s deliberate. Bolan wasn’t afraid of comparing himself to the greats.
One of the complaints most often directed at Marc Bolan is that his lyrics are nonsense. But to say that is to miss the point completely. Firstly, any man who can produce lyrics like ‘I drive a Rolls-Royce, Cos it’s good for my voice’ is a stone-cold genius. But secondly, glam rock, essentially, isn’t about the lyrics. The lyrics are just something to hang all the sequins and hair-sprayed wigs on. At the same time, if you listen again, and squint a little, you can squeeze meaning out of them: Well she ain’t no witch, And I love the ways she twitches, Uh-huh… I’m a labourer of love, In my Persian gloves, Uh-huh-huh…
These lines paint him as a gigolo, a dandy, a Byronic figure marauding the countryside giving the ladies hot love all night long. And then, 1:15 in, glam rock truly arrives. The lead guitar kicks, Bolan screeches, twice, like a vampire going straight for a virgin’s neck, before letting out a lascivious, drawn-out moan…. Uuuuuuh…
The last three minutes of this five-minute long record is a coda, a prolonged fade-out. La-la-la-lalalala… La-la-la-lalalala… Bored with aping Elvis, Bolan now thinks he’s The Beatles. The man was never short on confidence… The band as a whole were a force of nature – their drummer (this was the first T. Rex song to feature a drum-kit) had the stage name ‘Legend’, given to him by Marc, of course.
La-la-la-lalalala… it goes, on and on, with big drums, stomping and clapping, growing progressively more raucous, until a huge wig-out right at the end. Bolan mutters, then grunts, then moans. If this was it, then it would still be quite the legacy at the top of the charts. But there’s more to come. Much more. They had hit #2 a few months before with ‘Ride a White Swan’, and were embarking on a run of ten singles, none of which would chart lower than #4.
After this glowing write-up, though, I do have to admit that ‘Hot Love’ isn’t my favourite T. Rex song. (It isn’t even my favourite T. Rex number one.) But it is the perfect introduction to the band: catchy, silly, fun, and sexy.
Find my Spotify playlist here.
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I think Get It On is the only thing I’ve ever heard from T. Rex.
You will get a kick out of this…
I found a blog where a woman claims to “channel” Marc Bolan. I. S***. You. Not:
https://channelingmarc.com/
Oh geez… does he still take requests?
Vic…go to youtube and listen to 20th Century Boy…it was on a commercial over here…you probably have heard that one. I found it on a commercial and then loved it.
Yes, you need to do a T Rex deep-dive! ’20th Century Boy’ is great with it’s crunchy guitars and power chords, and so are ‘Children of the Revolution’, ‘Jeepster’, ‘The Groover’, ‘Ride a White Swan’, ‘Solid Gold Easy Action’… plus the three other #1s that are coming up soon. All these are from their 1970-73 imperial phase when they were the biggest band in Britain and Marc inspired some crazy devotion… Hence why some people still think they can communicate with him from the beyond!
I’ve read where they were beyond huge over there in the early seventies. I have seen “Born to Boogie” the documentary that Ringo Starr produced back then for them.
I do need to listen to more. I’ll check some of those out.
Bolan seemed like a pretty cool guy…but I won’t bother him right now…imagine fans bugging you from the Great Beyond.
Haha… To be honest, I love him and his music, but the sudden fame and adoration seemed to turn him into a bit of a diva. Lots of drugs didn’t help either… He was just turning things around when he died, which is a shame. I think he’d enjoy the attention, even in the afterlife!
A couple of weeks ago I saw a few interviews with him…this was before it became huge…down to earth guy. It’s such a shame about him…I would have liked to see where he would have went.
😆 IDK but, that blog is full of her “conversations” with him. I showcase a Welsh psychic’s work on my blog but, he never “channeled.” He was just a healer & Akashic reader…and scientist. No one should channel. You don’t know WTF you are talking to on the other side. Just because something can sound benevolent, doesn’t mean that it is.
I will search for it. Got emails to read, too…
I really like this! Why they didn’t hit in America I’ll never know. My favorite by them is probably 20th Century Boy.
Adored T.Rex. I came back from 2 years in Singapore, Ride A White Swan had been on the radio so I knew and Loved that one, but had no idea what was about to come as we landed back in the UK in September 1971. My Aunt (aged 15) had bought the Hot Love single so I played that a lot while we lived with grandma & grandad, loved it. Still do. And then I saw Bolan do Jeepster on Top Of The Pops (a live video, as he refused to promote this album single released against his wishes while setting up his own record label on EMI) and it was like pop music had moved on to the next phase – this was the sound of the future! And I hadn’t even heard Get It On until the Xmas annual charts reviews! 🙂
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