T. Rex – Mambo Sun
1972
3.2K Likes
Best comments
1.“Barely being lip-synced by the band. I dare say they're still wiggy from the night before. What a bunch.”
More comments
- 2.“I love T. Rex – I'm only 17 – but the guy wasn't finished talking and they just started. Felt bad.”
- 3.“'Shut up talking... WE'VE PUT THE RECORD ON.'”
The story
Mambo Sun opens Electric Warrior, the 1971 T. Rex album that spent eight weeks at number one in the UK and set the template for glam rock. Tony Visconti produced it. Marc Bolan wrote a slinky, sexually charged strut about wanting one girl very badly, then stuffed it with the kind of strange, cosmic images only he would put in a love song.
This clip is from 1972, a few months after the album came out, when the band turned up on TV to mime it. Music sites trace it to the Swiss show Hits à Gogo. The host doesn't even finish his introduction before the song cuts him off. From there it's pure posing: Bolan barely bothers to sync, choosing hip shakes, guitar thrusts and the occasional full-confidence rock-star look down the lens, while percussionist Mickey Finn mimes the female backing vocals and works the crowd.
Half rock show, half comedy sketch, and both halves land. In 1981 the new wave band The Bongos took their cover onto the Billboard dance chart.
