Billy Idol has made considerable achievements, especially in the punk rock scene, for over 40 years. Besides his passion for music, some influential artists also encouraged him to take this path and pursue a career in the music industry. As it turns out, the singer-guitarist Marc Bolan was at the top of his list.
Despite passing away at a very young age, Bolan brought remarkable innovations to the rock scene and became the pioneer of the glam rock movement during his tenure with his band T. Rex. During a recent conversation on Raised On Radio, Idol revealed that the lead vocalist once did such a favor to him that he turned into a rock god for him.
The singer recalled the time he participated in Marc’s show to perform live with his then band, Generation X. However, as their equipment was left down on the motorway, the show’s producer Muriel Young said they wouldn’t be able to take the stage, adding that David Bowie would debut ‘Heroes.’ Although Young insisted on her decision, Marc Bolan intervened and helped out Billy Idol and his bandmates.
Bolan gave an ultimatum to the producer, saying that if they did not perform, he would be out of the show too. After he offered the band to use his guitar, they ended up performing live that day. Idol indicated that the T. Rex singer could have chosen the easy way and told them they could not be a part of the show, but he wanted to be on their side. Billy chose him as his rock god praising his musical talent and for the favor he did for them.
Billy Idol said the following about Marc Bolan:
“My rock god is Marc Bolan. He was just very instrumental in Generation X, the punk rock group I was in a career really because we got to play live on his Marc Show. That day we turned up to be on his show, and our gear got left down the motorway.
So the producer Muriel Young was flipping out and in front of Marc and us, was telling us there’s no way we were going to be on the program because she had David Bowie coming from Switzerland to do his debut ‘Heroes’ on this Marc episode. She was saying there’s no way they’re going to be on, ‘That’s it, they’re off the show.’
Marc said, ‘Well if they’re not on it, I’m not, dude.’ Then he said, ‘They can use my guitar; we can make this happen.’ So, we actually ended up playing live on that show. He could easily have turned to us and said, ‘Sorry, Lads, there’s no way you can be on it.’
But I think he just knew that for us, it was a big thing and then for punk rock it was a big thing in a way because we were getting to play live and sort of show people what we were like. So, he was great in that way, and I think just when I thought about the earlier years when he was like he used to have all his hits, ‘This guy is super talented,’ that’s what I thought. He went on to prove it by having all those hits in the early ’70s.”
You can check out the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RSHV3mvgng
