Dandy in the Underworld
Marc Bolan & T Rex
Welcome to the 'Dandy in the Underworld' website, the comprehensive web resource showing period documentation and giving first hand accounts of this important period in Marc Bolan's life. This is a non-commercial website which exists purely to create a greater awareness and understanding of a small, but very important, part of the life and career of Marc Bolan.
T Rex's 'Dandy in the Underworld' tour lasted only 11 days in March 1977 and proved to be their last ever UK tour. The aim of this website is to document the tour and album in as much detail as possible using period reports, memorabilia, photos and first hand accounts of the concerts from the fans who attended them. This important period of Marc's life is often overlooked in favour of the hugely successful glam rock years of the early 70s.
Every attempt has been made to ensure that the content of this website is accurate, with references given where appropriate.
Media use
Much of the material shown on the website can be supplied as high res scans for use in articles or books about Marc Bolan, but please note that this service is only available to established journalists, authors or magazine producers. This service is free, please email me for further details and state your intended use for the material.
Please note that photos which have been supplied by fans for use on this website will not be supplied to third parties.
You can help
If you saw T Rex on the Dandy tour and would like to have your memories saved for posterity then please send them to me for inclusion on the website. In addition I would like to show previously unseen photos taken by the fans and photos of the venues from the period. Any photos supplied will only appear on this website and will not be used elsewhere.
All contributions which are used will be acknowledged. If, for any reason, you wish your contribution to remain anonymous then that's not a problem.
Items which are of particular interest are concert ticket stubs, press adverts for the concerts, photos of Marc on tour or in concert, newspaper reports (especially local press reports), live recordings or anything which may be of interest.
If you have any of the above items (or similar) and you would like to help towards this project then please email me.
Research sources
Although the research for the website has come from numerous sources the following four books have been invaluable in my research and consequently I would fully recommend them for anyone wishing to learn more about Marc Bolan.
Introduction
20th Century Boy - The Marc Bolan Story - Mark Paytress
ISBN 0-283-06122-7 (hardback, published 1992, Sidgwick & Jackson)
20th Century Boy - The Marc Bolan Story - Mark Paytress
ISBN 0-283-06171-5 (softback, published 1993, Sidgwick & Jackson)
Later version expanded and updated, published as:
Bolan - The Rise and Fall of a 20th Century Superstar
ISBN 0-7119-9293-2 (softback, published 2002, Omnibus Press)
An excellent biography on the life of Marc Bolan including much original research material.
Marc Bolan: 1947 - 1977, A Chronology - Cliff McLenehan
ISBN 3-00-004526-0 (hardback, published 1999, Zinc Alloy Books)
Later version expanded and updated:
Marc Bolan: 1947 - 1977, A Chronology - Cliff McLenehan
ISBN 1-900924-42-0 (softback, published 2002, Helter Skelter Publishing)
A comprehensive attempt to chronicle the career of Marc Bolan listing events, dates and places.
Wilderness of the Mind - John Willans & Caron Thomas
ISBN 1-85480-150-3 (hardback, published 1992, Xanadu Publications)
ISBN 1-85480-155-4 (softback, published 1992, Xanadu Publications)
Much of this book is dedicated to showing authentic Marc Bolan handwriting, lyrics and rare photos. These offer a candid insight into the world of Marc.
Outtakes - Irving Campbell
ISBN 10/13: 0473120764/9780473120764 (hardback, published 2008, Great Horse Publications)
A serious attempt to document all of Marc’s studio sessions, home demos, collaborations, radio sessions, TV performances and concerts. Also includes some previously unpublished photos.
Credits
A special ‘thank you’ to Irving Campbell (author of the excellent ‘Outtakes’ book), Bob Mootz and George Rab for their help in supplying information, scans and advice in addition to checking the content of the website for accuracy. A special 'thank you' to Mick Jobling for supplying previously unpublished photos of T Rex on tour.
Picture copyright
This is a non-commercial website. If you are the photographer of any of the photos used on the website and you would like have a photo credit and/or a link to your website, or to have the photo(s) removed then please email me.