Iggy Pop on the brilliance of Marc Bolan: “He mated Joni Mitchell and Chuck Berry”
As a proto-punk pioneer, Iggy Pop‘s status in the music industry is unquestionable.
His work with The Stooges and as a solo artist is some of the most influential in rock, with him named a hero by Sex Pistols, The Smiths, Nirvana and many others. Yet, just like every musician worth their salt, at points he has taken inspiration from some of his most eminent peers.
One of these was Marc Bolan. Notably, the late songwriter, guitarist and poet pioneered the glam rock movement of the early 1970s and became an icon as the leader of T Rex. A great friend and counterpart of David Bowie during this era, the pair had something of a friendly creative rivalry.
Indicating this duality, the two shared the same manager, Les Conn and producer, Tony Visconti, with Bolan even playing guitar on Bowie’s 1970 single ‘The Prettiest Star’. Most famously of all, the hit 1972 Mott the Hoople song ‘All the Young Dudes’ – which was written by Bowie – namechecks T Rex.
Due to the gravity of his persona and work, Marc Bolan impacted droves of listeners, with Iggy Pop one of the most prominent. When speaking on the BBC Radio 6 show The Songs of David Bowie, Iggy Pop waxed lyrical about the late T Rex leader after playing ‘The Prettiest Star’. There, he also revealed his significant impact on the style of Iggy and The Stooges’ 1973 masterpiece, Raw Power.
He said: “The melodic single-note guitar with a wonderful echoey tremolo effect on it is Marc Bolan, and he really does justice to the vibe and the melody of that song, ‘The Prettiest Star’. It’s well known those guys were aspirant together in the big bad tough-ass music industry, both trying to get going at one time or another, and both did, and know you know each one touched my life as a listener and as a musical worker.”
Pop continued: “Marc Bolan’s T Rex had a hell of a lot to do with the feel behind the Iggy and The Stooges album Raw Power. And I went to see him with James Williamson at Wembley Arena, and it was a gas. He made the opening band play in front of a triple life-size cardboard cutout of himself.
“I say triple life-size because life-size wasn’t too big with Marc; he was like a little guy full of life, kind of like a Yorkie or a Maltese or something. He had a lot of balls in his music and was a person full of life. Anyway, I thought that was a beautiful song and a beautiful lyric. Even though it was a single, it wasn’t exactly the sort of thing that crushed America as a delicate thing.”
However, his most glowing praise of Bolan came elsewhere. Discussing his brilliance more concisely during an interview, Iggy Pop likened the curly-haired glam rocker to a fusion of Joni Mitchell and Chuck Berry, with a dash of Bob Dylan thrown in for good measure – that’s some of the highest praise a musician can get.
He said: “It was like he mated Joni Mitchell and Chuck Berry somehow, and then there’s Bob Dylan in there and all sorts of things.”
Listen to Iggy Pop praise Marc Bolan below.
