Beetle (Canada) - 17th October 1972

Marc Bolan - Born to Boogie

Beetle Interview Extracts


Beetle: You've been compared to David Bowie a lot lately. Do you see any basis for comparison?

Marc: No, not at all. I look at it two ways: in terms of artistic bent and in terms of how big he is. Artistically he's much more into mind show wheras I'm still only appealing to the street kids at heart. I know I've been cultivating a following among the progressive rock fans but they are really only street kids deep down anyway. But David's really a big talent and I wish him all the best. He's paranoid about not being able to do what he wants to. We were talking just the other day and he was really worried about like the manipulation of stars and things like that. There seems to be a curse on rock stars that is hard to tell the average person about because the average person is not experienceing the pressures and the changes in the same way that people like David and myself are. It's hard to relate it to someone who doesn't know what's involved. David's afraid of dying before he makes a big enough contribution. But I can see why people relate the two of us. After all I've played on two of his records and I've produced one so that's probably where people latched on to the comparison. Also people tend to compare anyone in the same class as far as drawing power and things like that are concerned. I'm always being compared to Rod Stewart and others like him and it upsets both of us that it happens. It's far from an insult to be compared to him because he is so popular, but at the same time what he and I do is totally unrelated. Do you know what I mean?

Probably the biggest single contribution that David will ever make is producing Mott The Hoople's new single. It's certainly the most important thing that he's done so far and could well be the thing that he'll be remembered for the most when people look back a few centuries from now.

Beetle: That single's called "All The Young Dudes" isn't it?

Marc: Yeah, and it's just great. David really outdid himself on that one.




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