Tuesday 1 September 2020

UK Number 40s: T Rex - London Boys (1976)


The story of T Rex in summary goes a bit like this: They started out in the late 60s making folk music as Tyrannosaurus Rex, then in the 70s they shortened the name to T Rex and became one of the biggest glam rock bands until Marc Bolans sudden death from a car crash in 1977.

That story doesn't paint the whole picture though. At the beginning of the 70s they were the biggest glam rock band from a chart perspective. They scored 4 number ones and 4 number twos with their first 8 hits as T Rex. Even hits number 9 and 10 made numbers 3 and 4 respectively. No act had ever made the Top 4 with their first 10 hits by this point, and the only acts to have achieved that since then are Kylie Minogue, Boyzone, Spice Girls and Westlife.

However, after this run of Top 4 hits they never made the Top 10 again. The turning point came in late 1973 when "Truck On (Tyke)" made number 12.

This record was their penultimate Top 40 hit. By this point Marc Bolan and Steve Currie were the only members of their classic line up left, and Steve Currie would leave the band later on in the year. It was intended to feature in rock operas The London Opera and Billy Super Duper, but these operas were never made.

Their final Top 40 hit came a 3 months later with "I Love To Boogie" which made number 13. There were 4 more singles that followed before Marc Bolans death, 2 never made the Top 40 and 2 never made the charts at all.

One final note is that this record isn't listed on everyhit.com , the 2nd number 40 so far that's been left off.

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