Mark Bolan's T-Rex

From a Prog perspective, Marc Bolan's earlier bands, John's Children (proto-punk) and Tyrannosaurus Rex (psychedelic/cosmic  folk duo with Steve 'Peregrin' Took) were part of the underground scene in London during the late 60's and the latter could be regarded as being Proto-Prog bordering on Prog-Folk.

 

Steve 'Peregrin' Took left Tyrannosaurus Rex and went on to form hard-rock band The Pink Fairies and then later Shagrat (both bands have Hawkwind connections), he was replaced in Tyrannosaurus by Mickey Finn. As a side note the Syd Barrett Appreciation Society fanazine Terrapin was also dedicated to Took.

 

In 1971 Marc Bolan upset many of his Hippy followers by changing the folk duo of Tyrannosaurus Rex into an electric pop group named T. Rex and released a self-titled album that wasn't quite Glam Rock (anti-prog) yet, but was just electric versions of Tyrannosaurus songs (notably The Wizard  - a song that Bolan successfully sued Uriah Heep over, even though the two songs are not even remotely similar) - this is an interesting album and well worth tracking down as it is a definite cross-over between the two styles,

 

T.Rex hit the Glam Rock big time with their next three albums: Electric Warrior, Slider and Tanx at the height of their Glam popularity, but as Glam faded, so did T.Rex.

 

The only Prog song Marc Bolan every created was The Children of Rarn Suite. Bolan recorded bits of this 20+ minute epic during the 1971 T.Rex album sessions, but never finished it, only releasing two very short 'clips' of it on that album. After Bolan's death in 1977, producer Tony Visconti attempted to peice together the full suite from demo tapes and by adding sections of his own - releasing it on the compilation Marc: The Words And Music of Marc Bolan 1947-1977.