🔘 The T. Rex Story – Feb. 11, 1972

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BRAVO Magazine – “Die Hexer mit dem Rock im Blut” (The Wizards with Rock in Their Blood)

A vivid, three‑page BRAVO profile tracing Marc Bolan’s journey from London street kid to glam‑rock sorcerer, capturing the mythology, mischief, and magic that shaped T. Rex at the height of their early‑70s fame.

🔘 Overview

Published on February 11, 1972, this BRAVO feature marks the launch of a new series: The T. Rex Story. Written in the magazine’s signature pop‑myth style, it paints Marc Bolan as a glitter‑drenched folk hero — part street urchin, part fashion prodigy, part mystic, and wholly destined for stardom. The article blends biography, fantasy, and fan‑mag theatrics, offering a uniquely European lens on Bolan’s rise just as T. Rexmania was exploding across Germany.

🔘 Source Details

Publication: BRAVO (Germany)

Date: February 11, 1972

Issue Context: Three‑page feature, launch of “The T. Rex Story” series

Provenance Notes: Transcribed from original German BRAVO text; cleaned and formatted for GlamSlamChronicles.

🔘 The Story

BRAVO’s 1972 portrait of Marc Bolan is part biography, part fairy tale. It traces his childhood as Marc Feld — a poor Mod kid from Soho who stole records, designed his own rainbow‑coloured suits, modelled his own clothing, and absorbed magic, music, and mysticism in equal measure.

The article revels in Bolan’s eccentricities:

building guitars from orange crates

learning rhythm with Helen Shapiro on pots and pans

working as a magician’s assistant in Paris

adopting a fruit‑and‑vegetable diet from an occult book

believing rock music must be erotic, magical, and transformative

The narrative culminates in the fateful August 12, 1969 meeting between Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn — the moment BRAVO mythologises as the birth of T. Rex.

It’s a perfect example of BRAVO’s early‑70s style: breathless, colourful, and deeply invested in turning rock stars into legends.

🔘 Key Highlights

• BRAVO launches a new multi‑part series: The T. Rex Story

• Marc Bolan’s childhood portrayed as a mix of poverty, mischief, and creativity

• Early modelling career with self‑designed psychedelic suits

• Magical apprenticeship in Paris shapes his worldview

• Bolan’s philosophy: rock must be erotic, mystical, and emotionally honest

• Meeting Mickey Finn in 1969 becomes the origin myth of T. Rex

• BRAVO positions Bolan as the most charismatic British rocker since the Beatles and Stones

🔘 Article Text

New Series: The T. Rex Story — The Wizards with Rock in Their Blood

It happened on August 12, 1969, in London. Two guys dressed in purple bumped into each other: Marc and Mickey. They had never met before. A few hours later, the biggest rock group of the seventies was born. In two years, these two crazy boys with electric guitars, hot songs, and crazy clothes would bewitch all the teens on the planet.

Marc tells BRAVO: “My first girlfriend was named Jennifer. She was pretty, dark‑haired, and from Scotland. The very first time, we took our clothes off completely. Of course, we didn’t have a child; we were just playing doctor. We were both only five years old at the time.”

Back then, he was still called Marc Feld. At twelve, he was a real Mod. His parents were poor — his father a truck driver — and Marc sometimes stole records, cigarettes, or fruit from market stalls.

And this same boy is now the king of rock in England. Since 1965, he has been called Marc Bolan because that’s what his managers wanted.

At every concert, girls faint in droves before Marc and Mickey even touch their guitars. How did these two rockers manage it so quickly? The story begins with the band’s boss: Marc Bolan.

Marc remembers helping his father unload trucks and helping his mother at their vegetable stall in Soho. He played wildly from a young age — enough to make people notice him.

He was expelled from school at fourteen. By then, he already owned forty suits, all sewn by his mother in shimmering rainbow fabrics. A fashion company noticed him, and suddenly Marc Feld was a model, presenting his own designs.

He built his first guitar from an orange crate. His neighbour Helen Shapiro kept rhythm on pots and pans.

In a Soho café called Nora, the barmaid secretly gave Marc the jukebox key so he could listen to Bill Haley, Eddie Cochran, and Elvis Presley for free. He helped her serve customers in return.

He stole records, sold them to acquaintances or pawnbrokers, and built a collection. “Of course I know that wasn’t right,” he tells BRAVO. “But life in our neighbourhood was tough.”

At sixteen and a half, he hitchhiked to Paris and apprenticed with a magician. He worked as servant, chauffeur, cook, and even summoned spirits for wealthy clients. “Magic never left me,” he says. “Rock is magic, love, and sorcery.”

He wrote his first song, “Wizzard,” in Paris in 1965.

He adopted a strict fruit‑and‑vegetable diet from a magic book — no meat at all. Even today, he pulls a face if someone mentions steak.

After “Ride a White Swan,” he wrote “Hot Love.” When BRAVO asked why it was so long, Marc replied: “Love isn’t a matter of minutes. It’s a long game. If I wanted to be honest, the song had to be long.”

He believes eroticism is essential in music: “If someone’s music is good but they’re horrible to look at, you won’t feel it. The sexuality has to jump from the stage to the audience.”

He met June in 1968 — not love at first sight, but “love at third sight.” She remains his anchor.

Then came August 1969. Marc, in a vegetarian café, spotted a boy dressed entirely in purple — Mickey Finn. They talked for hours. The next day they met again and began making music.

Tyrannosaurus Rex was born — later shortened to T. Rex. And by 1972, BRAVO declares: if any young person in England doesn’t know T. Rex, they must have been born blind and deaf.

🔘 Closing Notes

This BRAVO feature captures Marc Bolan at the height of his mythmaking powers — a magician, a Mod, a model, a rocker, and a romantic, all woven into one irresistible glam‑rock icon. It’s one of the most colourful portraits of Bolan ever printed.

🔘 Sources & Copyright

All original text and images remain the copyright of their respective publishers and creators.

This post is presented for historical, educational, and archival purposes only.

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