T. Rex - Metal Guru
Metal Guru / Thunderwing / Lady
T. Rex MARC 1 (1972)
In 1972 as a 10 year kid I was inducted into the glam rock sounds by religiously watching Top The Pops (TOTP) every Thursday night. Marc Bolan was something special, talk of the playground and at the time of this release at top of his game. T. Rex mania was everywhere.
This was his fourth #1 UK single and it also happened to be his last one to reach the #1 slot. The basic track was recorded during the Slider sessions at the beginning of 1972 and in a later studio session in London vocals were added including Backing vocals from Flo & Eddie (previously members of The Turtles).
The single was released in the UK on 5th May entering the charts at #9. The following week after appearing on TOTP it reached #1 on the 14th May and remained there for 4 weeks. It also reached #1 in Ireland and Germany but surprisingly it failed to chart in the US.
Whilst the 45 was a slice of glam rock pop the song supposedly had religious undertones with Bolan once stating:
"Is a festival of life song. I relate 'Metal Guru' to all gods around. I believe in a god, but I have no religion. With 'Metal Guru', it's like someone special, it must be a godhead. I thought how god would be, he'd be all alone without a telephone. I don't answer the phone any more. I have codes where people ring me at certain times."
The video below is from the 1972 Christmas TOTP special (then akin to the Queen's speech in its importance in the Christmas calendar). It included performances by Gary Glitter, Slade, The Osmonds and Ringo Starr.
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