10 Greatest T. Rex Songs Ever
8. Get It On
Noel Gallagher famously pinched the riff from Get It On to form the spine of Oasis’ Cigarettes & Alcohol, but as Bolan freely admitted, this chunky rocker borrowed liberally from Chuck Berry’s Little Queenie.
It still featured the band’s distinctive sound and Bolan’s particular and peculiar lyrical bent; Bolan telling the object of his affection, “You’re thin and you’re weak, you’ve got the teeth of a hydra upon you”.
Get It On - retitled Bang A Gong stateside - was the band’s only US hit, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as providing them with another UK number one. Marc proudly proclaimed that, “Get It On is a great screwing record. I bet over 20,000 kids have been conceived to that one.”
Get It On even had celebrity fans. Check out Elton John miming a piano part on the band’s Top Of The Pops performance, despite not having played on the song.
However, not everyone was enamoured of the track. After legendary radio DJ John Peel expressed his lukewarm feelings towards Bolan’s latest song on air, the formerly firm friends fell out, talking just once more before the latter’s death. Perhaps Peel preferred to “screw” in dignified silence?