Glam Rock was born in the UK and Marc Bolan's penchant for glitter and satin catapulted the nascent genre into the stratosphere with his appearance on "Top Of The Pops" in 1971 performing "Bang A Gong (Get It On). Other fashion accessories included platform shoes, makeup and unique hairstyles.

Glam rock gave birth to David Bowie, Mott The Hoople, Sweet, Slade and Roxy Music, also to glitter rock a glam rock lite genre that included Elton John, Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury all from the UK. In the US Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, The New York Dolls, Sparks, Suzi Quatro, Iggy Pop and Jobriath adopted glam rock but only Alice and Lou Reed were able to score pop hits.

It was the response by young music lovers who were reacting to the dominance of the overblown and lengthy songs of progressive rock and concept albums that diluted the excitement of rock and roll. Glam rock drew its power from bubblegum pop, the stomping rhythms of early rock and roll and beefy electrified guitar riffs.

Marc Bolan was born Mark Feld on September 30, 1947 in Hackney, East London to Phyllis and Simon Feld. They moved to Wimbledon where Marc discovered rock and roll from artists like Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry hanging out at clubs that played their style of music.

He got his first guitar at the age of 9 and formed a skiffle band, but by the age of 15 was expelled from school for his "bad behavior". He turned to modeling and was successful, becoming a menswear catalog favorite.

Changing his name to Toby Tyler, he began recording the music of Bob Dylan but was unsuccessful. Another change of labels to Decca in 1965 brought a new name, Marc Bowland a name chosen by the label. He briefly joined a band, then quit to write new music to reinvent himself.

He created Tyrannosaurus Rex with Ben Cartland and Steve Peregrin Took when he got a gig at the Electric Garden, but again was booed off the stage. Three albums with Took were recorded and in 1968 began to make waves on the UK charts.

Bolan purchased a Gibson Les Paul guitar and used it to record his first hit "Ride A White Swan" and shortened the group name to T. Rex and was rewarded with a major hit and solidified his appeal. He also had a fascination for women's clothes and began to experiment.

His first appearance on "Top Of The Pops" was for his single "Hot Love" where he appeared on BBC show and immediately became a viewer favorite with his makeup glitter and androgynous appearance and the song peaked at #2.

The next single was "Get It On" and the opening electric guitar riff became a siren call to dancers who ran to the dance floor and pushed the song to #1 for four weeks in the UK.

The US release was retitled "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" and its tasty mix of pop and hard rock helped it reach #10 on the Hot100 in 1971. Bolan then began to include R&B rhythms into the mix but failed to gain attention and the band eventually splintered in 1977.

Bolan was being driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones when she lost control and hit a post and then a tree and was killed instantly with Jones suffering a broken jaw and arm.

David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Tony Visconti and Steve Harley attended his funeral. His legacy is undeniable with band as diverse as Bauhaus, Duran Duran, The Smiths, Siouxie & The Banshees, Guns N Roses, Violent Femmes, Depeche Mode and David Bowie all bow down to Bolan. His music and memory live on, with Power Station, a supergroup comprised of Simon LeBon, Robert Palmer, Tony Thompson and Andy Taylor covered "Get It On" in 1985 and had a #9 Hot100 hit.

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