Classic Pop Icons

We mark the release of the deluxe edition of T. Rex’s “Electric Warrior” by selecting “Get It On” as Song of the Week on Classic Pop Icons. “Get It On” was released on single in the summer of 1971, backed with “Raw Ramp” and appeared on “Electric Warrior” a couple of months later. The song was retitled “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” when released in the US to avoid confusion with the existing song “Get It On” by the group Chase.

Bolan had founded the band as “Tyrannosaurus Rex” in 1967 and released several albums with an acoustic folk bias, before going the full-band, electric route for the 1970 single “Ride a White Swan” and album “T. Rex”. The more commercial sound was reflected by improved chart fortunes, with “Ride A White Swan” reaching number two on the UK singles chart and the follow-up “Hot Love” reaching the top spot. It was during the promotion for that single that Marc Bolan’s position as a leading proponent of glam rock began to really take hold. This would be solidified with the release of the next single “Get It On” and the album on which it appeared, “Electric Warrior”.

With the release of “Electric Warrior,” the band’s transformation from folkies to glam rockers was complete, although ballads such as “Girl” did evoke the more sparse approach of earlier work. This change of style led to a somewhat predictable backlash from some early followers of the band, including Radio DJ John Peel, who had championed the band’s previous work, but would slam “Get It On” and lose a friendship with Bolan in the process. It’s hard to escape the feeling that some of these fans were taking themselves and the band a little too seriously. It also suggests that they didn’t understand what had influenced Bolan to perform in the first place. He had always been inspired in equal measure by the energy of early rock ‘n’ roll and the intellectual ambition of both the great poets and songwriters such as Bob Dylan. When Bolan had watched early rock stars enter the Hackney Empire to film “Oh Boy!” or guitarists such as Hank Marvin playing at Soho’s 2 I’s coffee bar more than a decade before, he had dreamed of emulating them. The music on “Electric Warrior” saw Marc Bolan add his own unique musical twist to these early rock influences, and no more so than on “Get It On,” which has a simple chord structure and infectious groove that evokes the likes of Chuck Berry. Bolan did in fact once claim that “Get It On” was his attempt to re-write Berry’s “Little Queenie” – hence the “meanwhile I’m still thinking” lyric on the outro.

Lyrically, “Get It On” is less conventional, with typically imaginative and unusual phrases from Bolan such as “Well you’re built like a car/You’ve got a hub cap diamond star halo” and “Well you’re slim and you’re weak/You’ve got the teeth of the hydra upon you”. Most girls wouldn’t know whether to be offended or flattered if described in such terms!

Bolan’s increasingly elaborate appearance, with androgynous clothes and glitter make-up, also had its roots in his early teenage years, when he had earned the respect of the older kids at his local arcade by being the flashest dresser of them all. In the Mod parlance of the time, he was the main face. The importance of image wasn’t lost on him then and it wouldn’t be later.

“Get It On” was one of the songs that helped make T. Rex perhaps the biggest act in UK music in 1971. The band may have lost some early supporters, but they picked up many more, selling four million records in 1971 alone.

“Get It On” – T. Rex

Authorship

The words and music for “Get It On” were written by Marc Bolan.

Recording date/location

The basic track for “Get It On,” including backing vocals, was recorded at Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles in April, 1971. Overdubs, including piano, saxophones and strings, were made at Trident Studios in London the following month.

Musicians

The following musicians played on “Get It On”:

• Marc Bolan – vocals, guitars
• Mickey Finn – conga drums, bongos
• Steve Currie – bass guitar
• Bill Legend – drums
• Howard Kaylan – backing vocals
• Mark Volman – backing vocals
• Rick Wakeman – keyboards
• Ian McDonald – saxophone.

Finn had replaced Steve Took as the T. Rex percussionist in 1969. Currie and Legend would complete the classic T. Rex line-up, appearing on the band’s most successful work.

Bill Legend, Mickey Finn, Marc Bolan and Steve Currie

Kaylan and Volman (aka Flo and Eddie) were former members of The Turtles, who subsequently joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Ian McDonald had been a member of King Crimson and was later a founding member of Foreigner.

Blue Weaver had replaced Rick Wakeman in The Strawbs when Wakeman left to join Yes.

Producer, Tony Visconti, commented on the recording of “Get It On” in an interview with Blair Jackson conducted for “Mix” magazine in 1999:

Chart performance

“Get It On” reached number 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on February 27, 1972. This was the only major U.S. hit for T. Rex.

T. Rex’s chart fortunes were very different in the UK, where “Get It On” hit number one in July 1971. This was one of ten Top Ten hits in the UK from 1970 to 1973, including four number ones.

“Electric Warrior” reached number one on the UK album chart and number 32 in the US.

There will be a new Song of the Week on April 30.

T. Rex’s “Get It On” is available on the new deluxe, vinyl and box set editions of “Electric Warrior,” which is released today in the UK and on May 1 in the US and Canada.

Title
Electric Warrior – Deluxe Edition (2 CDs)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now
Electric Warrior – Box Set (2 CDs/DVD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now
Electric Warrior – Vinyl (2 LPs)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now