There are few music genres whose starting point can be so accurately pinpointed. It was 11th March 1971. T.Rex performed Hot Love on Top Of The Pops. Well, they mimed it. Drummer, Bill Legend, can clearly be seen thwacking his thigh with his fist rather than actually striking the snare drum and the cymbals remain strangely motionless. As a twelve year old, I was fascinated by the size of Steve Currie’s left ear. My dad probably enjoyed Pan’s People. Normally, they danced to a hit song when they couldn’t persuade the act to appear but, on this occasion, they performed a little prance to liven up the prolonged coda and keep the audience interested. The key thing was Marc Bolan’s face. It took a while to notice, but a couple of minutes in, he raised his eyes towards a spotlight above him and something caught the nation’s eye. Chelita Secunda had added two spots of glitter below his eyes. They looked like teardrops. He appeared to be conflicted with deep emotions. A million, young female hearts fluttered. Glam Rock was born.

Marc declared Glam Rock as dead in 1973, when he was promoting his soul influenced album, Tanx, but it » Continue Reading.