Re: Why no T.Rex?

Why isn't Bolan's career covered in the Trouser Press. Bowie and the Dolls are. Was it because he was too popular at his peak? Or is it because he never was, so why start now?

The original idea of the book was to cover the punk scene. Which led to the precursers of punk/alternative uch as Bowie. Now that punk/alt has spread into the mainstream, the distinction between punk and mainstream has become somewhat blurred. So what they hell, might as well...

I totally get that, but even neil young has an entry.

It's just waiting for someone to write it. Same with Love, Mott the Hoople and Roy Wood, all of whom are prime candidates for TP entries.

OK, i'm game

but it will be in a form of a love letter...

NP
Sneakers
racket
(hubba hubba hubba)

But NOT Crosby, Stills or Nash!

But yeah, I know what you mean - I still don't buy Madonna as "alternative"anything, but she's in there. Ira would probly tell us to "get yer OWN book then!"

Yeah, TP is by far the best music site on the net, it would be nice if there was a site that reached out a little further. AMG is a little too generic and doesn't contain the critical writing that makes TP great.

Before he died Bolan was becoming something of a mentor to bands like the Damned. I think if he'd lived long enough to form stronger associations with the punk & post-punk bands (ala people like Bowie, Gabriel and Fripp) there would've been no question if he belonged here or not and he would've been covered long ago.

greatest losses in rock

artist has to be near peak or ready to venture forth somewhere else so no johnny cash/george harrison/glenn ford


jimi
bolan
otis
chris bell
brian jones
jeff buckley
sandy denny
marvin
tosh
peter ham

Curtis & Cobain could likely be ruled out, given the fact that since they both ended their careers purposefully they must've said everything they had to say.

While there's no evidence really that John Lennon would've done anything more exciting than the pleasantries of Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey, his work on Yoko's stuff on those albums hints at the possibility he may have been open to running wild in the future.

And while I don't think Grant McLennan had any peaks ahead of him he hadn't already climbed, the idea that we'll never hear any new McLennan songs is a pisser.

I'm of the theory that Nick Drake's death was accidental and not an intentional suicide, so I definitely would put him on the list.



Post Edited (08-31-06 11:03)

Buddy Holly
D. Boon
Gram Parsons
Andie Gibb



Post Edited (08-31-06 17:23)

Eddie Cochran is, for me, rock's greatest lost opportunity. And then Bobby Fuller.

cough, Duane Allman,cough

I think Kirsty MacColl had much, much more to give.

I think that Otis Redding was another lost opportunity. "(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay" was supposed to be a beginning of a new phase for him instead of the end. He had just connected w/the white audience via the Monterey Pop Festival, just like Jimi Hendrix & was set for an artistic breakthrough when the plane crash happened. Who knows how soul music would have developed differently if he had lived.

D.Boon
Matty Blagg
James Darroch