''Marc'' is a British television

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

presented by T. Rex's lead singer

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted in ...

. It was produced in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

by Granada Television for the ITV network. A second series was planned but Bolan died before it could be produced. Produced by Muriel Young and directed by Nicholas Ferguson, it ran for six weekly episodes in the autumn of 1977, before its host died in a car crash on 16 September that year. A

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

show with a very limited budget and markedly low production values, it gave Bolan a chance to showcase

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands such as Generation X, the Jam,

Radio Stars Radio Stars were an English new wave group formed in early 1977. They released two albums and had one UK Top 40 single. Career Radio Stars were formed by Sparks exile Martin Gordon (bass, songwriter) and also included ex-John's Children v ...

and Eddie and the Hot Rods. T. Rex lip synced at least three songs each week, with Bolan's guitar never appearing to be plugged in, a mixture of new versions of their old hits, and fresh tracks, while the guests were slotted in between. Not all were as notable as those listed above, though they also included Roger Taylor, drummer with the rock band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, in a rare solo TV appearance. They were also joined by a dance troupe called 'Heart Throb', images of whom standing next to Bolan, on

Shutterstock Shutterstock is an American provider of stock photography, stock footage, stock music, and editing tools; it is headquartered in New York. Founded in 2003 by programmer and photographer Jon Oringer, Shutterstock maintains a library of around ...

, dated the 10th of August, 1977, identify them as Isobelle Skullnice; June Griffiths; Alison Basham; and Kirsty Hayes. Bolan introduced their 'Ain't it Strange', single, on Show 6; (by which time "Pam, Michael, and David" appear on the credits). Bolan referred to them in Show 6 as "My" (his) dancers". After his friend David Bowie had soloed the last episode's penultimate song, 'Heroes', he and Bolan were meant to duet "Sleeping Next To You", into the fade. A few seconds into Bowie's vocal, Bolan tripped over a microphone cable, fell forward, recovered, and smiled. Bowie is said to have called out "Could we have a wooden box for Marc to stand on?". Following the show, Bolan and Bowie co-wrote and recorded a rough outline of a new song, " Madman". The new wave band Cuddly Toys found a bootleg tape and recorded it, which became a UK Indie Chart single and featured on their 'Guillotine Theatre' album. The final show was recorded on 7 September 1977, but not broadcast until after Bolan's funeral on 20 September 1977, which was also attended by David Bowie and Rod Stewart, among others. An edited highlights compilation was released in the United Kingdom on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in 2005. It contained only the T Rex performances from each of the six episodes. ITV (TV Network) Studios licensed it for release once again, in 2017; that Region 2 ( DVD region codes) release contained additional T Rex TV performances from Shang a Lang, 'Supersonic', and 'Get it Together', all of which pre-dated the 'Marc' shows, whilst still excluding the other artists' songs. In 2007, a DVD release of all six shows in their entirety was released in Japan only.

Show details

Show 1 24 August 1977 # "Sing Me a Song" –

with T. Rex # " All Around the World" – The Jam # "

I Love to Boogie "I Love to Boogie" is a song by English rock band T. Rex. It was recorded in May 1976 and released as a single in June by record label EMI. It later appeared on T. Rex's final studio album, 1977's '' Dandy in the Underworld''. Its B-side, "Ba ...

" –

with T. Rex # "Cool Wind From the North" – Stephanie de Sykes # "No Russians in Russia" –

# "Heart Throb's Dance" (You Made Me Believe in Magic/ (by Bay City Rollers) # "

Celebrate Summer "Celebrate Summer" is a song by English rock band T. Rex, which was released in 1977 as a non-album single. The song was written and produced by Marc Bolan. "Celebrate Summer" was the last T. Rex release before Bolan's death in a car crash on 16 ...

" –

with T. Rex # "You Got What It Takes" – Showaddywaddy # " Jeepster" –

with T. Rex Show 2 31 August 1977 # Show credits # "Celebrate Summer" –

with T. Rex # "Heart Throb's Dance" (Roots Rock &

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...

) # "If I Can Just Get Through Tonight" – Alfalpha # "You Made Me Believe in Magic" – Bay City Rollers # "

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

" –

with T. Rex # "Ride a White Swan" –

with T. Rex # "Just a Little Tenderness" – Mud # "People in Love" – 10cc # "Endless Sleep" –

with T. Rex Show 3 7 September 1977 # "Sing Me a Song" –

with T. Rex # "Groove a Little" –

with T. Rex # "Looking After Number One" –

The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock music, rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hit record, hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Repub ...

# "You're My Baby" – Jamie Wild # "Let's Dance" –

with T. Rex # "Heart Throb's Dance (Celebrate Summer)" –

with T. Rex # "Get Your Love Right" – Alan David # "Quark Strangeness and Charm" –

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

# "Hot Love" –

with T. Rex Show 4 14 September 1977 # Show credits # "New York City" –

with T. Rex # "Idolizer" – Denis Conly # "Tulane" – Steve Gibbons Band # "I Love to Boogie" –

with T. Rex # "Endless Sleep" –

with T. Rex # "Confessing" – Robin Askwith # "I Wanna Testify" – Roger Taylor (

) # "

Dandy in the Underworld ''Dandy in the Underworld'' is the twelfth and final studio album by English rock band T. Rex. It was released on 11 March 1977 by record label EMI. It reached No. 26 in the UK charts, the band's highest-charting album since 1974's ''Zinc Allo ...

" –

with T. Rex Show 5 21 September 1977 # "Sing Me a Song" –

with T. Rex # "Sunshine of Your Love" – Rosetta Stone # "Heart Throb's Dance" (Get On) # "Bring Back the Love" –

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

# "Celebrate Summer" –

with T. Rex # "No Russians in Russia" –

# "Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)" –

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

# "Get It On" –

with T. Rex Show 6 28 September 1977 # Show credits # "Deborah" –

with T. Rex # "Your Generation" – Generation X # "I'm a Fighter" – Lip Service # "Heart Throb's Dance" – Ain't it Strange # "Groove A Little" –

with T. Rex # "Ride A White Swan" –

with T. Rex # "Heart Throb's Dance (I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet)" – Gonzalez # "Do Anything You Want to Do" – Eddie and the Hot Rods # "Heroes" –

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

# Instrumental jam ("Sleeping Next To You") with

and

& T. Rex

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0320064, title=Marc 1977 British television series debuts 1977 British television series endings 1970s British music television series Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television English-language television shows