‘Get It On’: 55 years of T Rex’s chart-topping sexual glam rock anthem
Whether it’s Elvis Presley’s hip-shaking dance moves, the rather unambiguous lyrics of Hasil Adkins’ ‘She Said’, or Ray Charles’ orgasmic call-and-response on ‘What’d I Say’, sex has always been a selling point of rock and roll.
For the inaugural years of rock and roll’s dominance, that sexualised content had to be somewhat subtle, restricted to turns of phrase or off-hand noises so as not to upset the radio pluggers or, indeed, the conservative commentators in America already decrying rock and roll’s emergence as the end of days. By 1971, though, a lot of that stuffy conservatism had fallen by the wayside, and T Rex took full advantage.
In the wake of the counterculture period, where the younger generation established a world in which free love became rather abundant, spurred on by the advent of the contraceptive pill some years prior, rock and roll’s sexual leanings became far more pronounced. Even still, few songs were quite as overt as Marc Bolan’s ‘Get It On’.
That 1971 T Rex single certainly wasn’t rock and roll’s first bedroom-focused anthem, but it was the first commercial smash to be so open and unapologetic in its sexualised nature. When Bolan commands you to ‘Bang a gong, get it on’, there is little ambiguity in what he is suggesting. Suddenly, not only was there no shame in being “dirty sweet”, but it was something to be celebrated in this bold new age of 1970s glam rock.
In a very real sense, ‘Get It On’ was a watershed moment for British rock and roll. Not only did it present its sexual theming and rock prowess in such an overt manner, but it also managed to become a colossal commercial success in the process. In the wake of its release, the single topped the UK singles charts for four weeks and even managed to breach the top ten on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, too.
Commercial success isn’t always an indicator of quality, of course, but in this case, it is an indicator that the societal sands were shifting in 1971. Whereas, in the decades that had preceded it, sex was a rather taboo topic in mainstream culture and society, spoken about only in innuendo and knowing glances, T Rex had helped to break down those barriers of acceptability.
They weren’t the only ones to be creating sexualised glam rock records, but their efforts inevitably triumphed over the rest. The beauty of ‘Get It On’ isn’t exclusive to the mustard-hued days of 1971, either.
With its timeless Chuck Berry-style riff and Bolan’s generational prowess as a frontman, ‘Get It On’ remains one of the greatest rock and roll anthems ever to emerge from the airwaves of this sceptred isle.
Rock songs, like chart-topping hits, come and go with the changing of the tides, but only a select few are allowed to become truly timeless. 55 years on from its original release in July 1971, ‘Get It On’ has masterfully retained its driving groove and hip-shaking rock and roll energy.
In over half a century, nobody has quite managed to recapture its unique appeal, and in the age of hyper-sexual pop music in 2026, there are still few songs quite as seductive as Marc Bolan’s masterpiece.
