Marc Bolan History

@GlamRockMarc Kosh won a prestigious D&AD for his work on this exquisite sleeve.

Limited UK Edition — Creamed Cage (1,500 Copies) The rarest UK pressing of Zinc Alloy, preserving John Kosh’s original multi-layered “Creamed Cage” design. Released on 1 March 1974, this limited UK edition is the most elaborate and visually ambitious version of Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow. Only 1,500 numbered copies were produced before the design was withdrawn due to rising production costs and material shortages from the 1973 oil crisis. This edition is the only one to feature John Kosh’s full “Creamed Cage” gatefold concept — a layered, textured, sculptural design reflecting the album’s dense, experimental sound. The standard edition that replaced it dramatically simplified the artwork, making this limited run the definitive artistic expression of the album. Collectors regard this pressing as one of the crown jewels of 1970s T. Rex vinyl. 🔘 – Track List Audio content identical to the original 1974 UK LP. (Full tracklist preserved in the main album entry.) 🔘 – Packaging & Variant Notes • Individually numbered (1–1500) • Heavy card stock • Multi-layered “Creamed Cage” gatefold • Textured overlays and sculptural elements • T. Rex Records labels • UK-only release • Withdrawn immediately after first run 🔘 – Context & Notes • Represents Bolan’s most ambitious packaging since The Slider. • Production costs were significantly higher than standard LPs. • The oil crisis made the design unsustainable for mass production. • Surviving copies are condition-sensitive due to layered construction. • Highly prized by collectors and archivists. 🔘 – Visual Archive Limited UK Edition — Zinc Alloy (1974), featuring John Kosh’s original “Creamed Cage” design. 🔘 – Related Material • Standard UK Gatefold Edition (1974) • 1994 CD Reissue • 2002 2CD Edition 🔘 – Discography Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow — 1974 🔘 – Mini-Timeline ✦ 1 March 1974 — Limited edition released ✦ March 1974 — Standard gatefold replaces limited run 🔘 – Glam Flashback The “Creamed Cage” edition captures the full artistic ambition of the Zinc Alloy era — a bold, tactile expression of Bolan’s most experimental period. 🔘 – Closing Notes This edition remains the most visually striking and collectible version of Zinc Alloy, preserving the album’s original artistic vision before compromises were made. 🔘 – Tags #ZincAlloy #MarcBolan #TRex #1974 #LimitedEdition #CreamedCage

Dear friend (who thinks I’m unkind - or even homophobic), Remember how much we loved Boy George and Marilyn when we were growing up? Our parents weren’t thrilled by men in make-up and dresses - but we thought they were cool. They were expressing individuality and challenging rigid gender stereotypes. You and I both grew up supporting gay rights for a simple reason: people shouldn’t be punished, excluded or shamed for who they love. That belief hasn’t changed. But being gay, lesbian or bisexual is about who you’re attracted to. Gender identity is about how someone understands or describes themselves. Those are not the same thing. And treating them as if they are puts women and girls at risk. Here’s the crucial difference. Many of the pop stars we grew up with played with gender expression - flamboyant clothes, make-up, theatrical performance. David Bowie made a whole art form out of it. But we still understood they were men - and so did they. They weren’t demanding entry to women’s spaces. They weren’t claiming women’s awards or competing in women’s sporting categories. And women weren’t being forced to agree that the man standing in front of them was a woman - or risk social or professional consequences. We both have daughters now - young women just starting their adult lives. I’ve taught mine that no means no and I’m sure you’ve taught yours the same. But that message becomes meaningless if our girls are also being told they must say “yes” to any man who says he’s a woman - even when their instincts say otherwise. If a girl isn’t interested in make-up or stereotypically feminine things, she may be told she’s actually a man - rather than simply a strong, independent young woman who dresses and behaves as she pleases. And if she’s same-sex attracted, she may face pressure from men who identify as “lesbians” and expect access to her spaces - and her body - something we'd never have accepted as progressive or 'kind' when we were younger. Single-sex spaces - toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards, refuges, prisons - exist because women need them. Not because all men are dangerous, but because male violence is a reality and sex-based boundaries reduce risk. Women cannot know which men pose a threat and which don’t. That’s why all must stay out of women's spaces. Good men understand this - without question. I know you want to be kind. So do I. But kindness isn’t asking women and girls to surrender their privacy, dignity or safety in order to prove they’re “tolerant”. Or calling them 'homophobic' or bigoted for saying no. With love, Janet

@ZackPolanski It's particularly horrendous to see someone who is apparently a part of the LGB community selling out women and promoting homophobia

"It’s particularly horrendous to me when you have someone from within our own community who demonises a minority group. I don’t know what’s going on in Wes Streeting’s head, but what I do know is it’s terrifying for trans people,” he said. attitude.co.uk/news/zack-pola…

@AttitudeMag Maybe Zack should take a break from trying to erase the rights of women and LGB people and look out of the window? Seems the planet is on fire and we're all going to hell in a handcart. If only there were a party which represented green issues. Oh.

Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, on the importance of trans rights and ensuring that people with lived experience are "in the room co-designing policies from the very beginning." Watch the full interview: youtu.be/S5qoSJlI4cM

I didn’t really get the problem with gender ideology at first. I’m liberal-minded about most things. 'Live and let' live has generally been my motto. I believed inclusion mattered. I believed in being kind. In not using language that might upset people unnecessarily. I knew people who identified as transgender. I knew some adults chose medical treatments or surgery to resemble the opposite sex. That seemed to me a matter of personal autonomy. Adults can do what they wish with their own bodies. What I hadn’t realised - and I feel slightly embarrassed admitting this - was that I’d misunderstood what was being claimed. I thought “transgender” meant a form of self-expression. A man who liked wearing women’s clothes. Someone changing their name. Gender non-conformity. What I hadn’t grasped was that some activists weren’t just asking for tolerance. They were asserting that declaring yourself the opposite sex made you the opposite sex. Not metaphorically. Literally. And that this wasn’t just cultural. It had legal consequences. - It meant men who said they were women were demanding access to women’s sports, prisons, domestic violence shelters and hospital wards - It meant the rewriting of healthcare language - “pregnant people”, “bodies with cervixes” - to avoid saying “women” - It meant children struggling with identity being affirmed onto medical pathways with lifelong implications And also redefining same-sex attraction. Lesbians called 'bigoted' for not wanting relationships with men who identify as women. Gay men accused of prejudice for saying they're not attracted to female bodies. None of which made any sense. But I'd also overlooked how far this had travelled - into HR policies, professional bodies, schools, political parties and public institutions. And how easily disagreement was framed as cruelty. Speaking up felt risky - because others were being publicly humiliated for doing so. None of this is abstract. Because sex is the basis on which safeguarding works. On which data is collected. On which cancer screening programmes run. On which fair sport and single-sex spaces depend. It’s written into law - including the Equality Act - because material differences matter. If sex becomes a 'feeling' rather than a biological category, those protections become unstable. And once reality becomes negotiable, everything does. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it. But I needed to be sure. So I read. Books, research papers, policy documents. When I finally spoke publicly, there was backlash from all directions. Many women thanked me - both quietly and publicly. But some feminists criticised me for speaking too late. Others were angry about a past interview I’d done with the parent of a transgender person, accusing me of promoting harm. It takes courage to change your mind publicly. It takes courage to speak when you know your reputation, friendships or livelihood may be on the line - when you know raising your voice could strain, or even end, relationships you value. Once I understood what was at stake, staying silent was no longer an option. I lost my livelihood simply for saying I didn’t like the phrase “pregnant people”. That alone tells you something is deeply wrong. It shouldn’t be this way. I will never judge any woman for when she finds her voice. Because every voice adds value - whenever it is raised. And I know how persuasive this ideology can be. I know how easily it bypassed me. And I know how much courage it takes to admit, publicly, that you got something wrong.

@Gaynotqueer1 IncelXS

Thanks for all the replies! 🤣🤣🤣

@NadiaWhittomeMP What on earth are you talking about? You have no idea about the history of the LGB movement and you do not represent us.

There is no LGB without the T. We rise together and we fall together. Part of my speech in Parliament for LGBTQ+ History Month:

It's me in the Telegraph! @TheGreenParty insists it is progressive to pump hormones into kids and to wreck single sex services. It plays at democracy but stops political dissent. So I am taking the fight to court where I will win. Please support my case: crowdjustice.com/case/the-green…

@MyArrse Nice story but not true. Rolan's education was funded via a Trust Fund set up by Marc in 1973. Rolan never met Bowie.

What a man David Bowie was: When Marc Bolan died in a car crash, Marc's 2 year old son Rolan and Widow were left penniless. David secretly looked after them and Paid for Rolan’s private education. Paid all Rolan's expenses. Phoned them regularly making sure they were ok.

In the UK album chart dated 18 Dec 1971, Electric Warrior reached the summit after 10 weeks pinging between 2 and 6. It was the Christmas number one. After six weeks at #1 it slipped for a week to #2, reclaiming the crown on 6 Feb 1972. 8 weeks at #1 in all. #electricwarrior

@GlamSlam72 It was UK #1 for six weeks initially, then spent a week at #2, then two more at #1. Non-consecutive, therefore.

21 December 1972: T.Rex perform Telegram Sam for the special Christmas edition of #topofthepops, broadcast on Christmas Day. This performance was wiped and has yet to be found...

@20th_Centurygal Prince

Who’s the best guitar player you’ve ever seen live? 🎶🎸 Remember, this is all in good fun...😊🎶

Vogue magazine, December 1972, considering different types of stars. Which - in your opinion - was Marc?

Saka’s goal catalogue for England is unreal x.com/OdellMedia7/st…

50 years after its recording in Munich (22 April 1975), I'm Dazed is #3 on the UK's Official Physical Singles Chart

@DaveonXh @T_Rex_Official It has not been overdubbed at all. Steven Wilson mixed it from the original multi-tracks so everything you hear is T.Rex from April 1975.

@T_Rex_Official Is this unadulterated as Marc recorded it or has it been overdubbed?

We are delighted to share the video for ‘Billy Super Duper (Take 2). Check it out here and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below: youtu.be/IDgFLR97PeM ‘I’m Dazed’ / ‘Billy Super Duper (Take 2)’ vinyl: trexbolan.lnk.to/imdazed #TRex

@PetrocTrelawny @DavidsBookshop @richardsisson I spent many teenage hours in the messy second-hand record shop there in the late 1970s, hunting down rare vinyl. Much more fun than being at school up the road!

hello Letchworth Garden City. Looking forward to a very special night at the legendary ⁦@DavidsBookshop⁩ on Sat 1st Nov at 7pm. Talking PT’s Classical Music Puzzle Book. I’ll be joined by ⁦@richardsisson⁩ on keyboard. And you ? Book here - davids-bookshops.co.uk/products/event…

While celebrating one plaque, here's another (two). Who doesn't love a Venn diagram?

An English Heritage blue plaque for glam rock pioneer & T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan has been unveiled at his former West London home! A true icon whose legacy continues to inspire generations🎶 Thanks to @BBC, @PRSforMusic, @EnglishHeritage, our patron Rick Wakeman @GrumpyOldRick