Following The Beatles and Rolling Stones in the 1960s, in the early 70s I began to listen to Heavy Metal. At 13 years old, I heard for the first time and liked both Black Sabbath (Paranoid) and Led Zeppelin (II).
In 1971, after moving to Ottawa, the following summer an older friend lent me some of his albums, including Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon and T. Rex’s Electric Warrior. Fortunately, I had a good pair of headphones to listen to them.
All the above had a major spiritual impact on me, and always at the forefront were incredible lyrics, to inspire this poet in waiting.
T. Rex, although big on electric guitar and sax, had a unique sound, and classified as Glam Rock. Alice Cooper and David Bowie would be along shortly.
The album cover of Electric Warrior especially blew me away, and one of many reasons I eventually bought my first electric guitar. Every song on it is good in my opinion.
Marc Bolan, the founder and singer of the group tragically died in a car accident in 1977. And as with other artists who met with untimely deaths, makes you wonder what T. Rex might have accomplished in the years that followed, had Bolan survived.
Here's a small sampling from Electric Warrior, and note a very young Elton John (1971) playing piano in the first video...
