“Bang a Gong (Get It On)” by T. Rex

One of the coolest songs ever recorded.

Hello! 😊👋

Welcome to a new edition of the Best Music of All Time newsletter!

Today’s music pick is one of the coolest songs ever recorded, proving once again that 70s rock is untouchable.

Genre: Glam Rock

Label: Reprise

Release Date: July 2, 1971

Vibe: 🦖

You know you’ve written a truly classic song when other acts sound cooler when they cover it.

From Billy Idol to Power Station to the Struts, playing T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” is one of the quickest ways to convey immaculate taste to your audience. It’s funky, it’s sexy, and it oozes charisma, making it (rightfully) the biggest hit of the group’s outstanding LP, topping the singles chart in the UK and cracking the Top 10 in a handful of other countries globally, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Several cameos will delight classic rock fans, too. King Crimson’s Ian McDonald plays those delectable saxophone breaks, and Yes’s Rick Wakeman holds it down on piano and Hammond organ. But the most crucial partnership on display here is that between T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan and legendary producer Tony Visconti, the latter of whom would go on to work with David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and the Moody Blues, to name just a few.

Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Visconti recounted how the track came together while staying on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

"Marc played it for me several times on his acoustic guitar. I sang background vocals and took detailed production notes. All of the song’s chords were Chuck Berry’s changes. It was all very rock ‘n’ roll. An hour later, when Marc and I finished, I knew we had a smash hit.”

The track still sounds exceptional partly because of Visconti’s approach to the final mix. Like how artists mix their music for streaming consumption now, he considered how fans would consume the single and wanted to make the most of it.

The single had to sound great on dull, low-fi AM radio. So I mixed it bright and thumpy. I also tightened up the sound of Marc’s guitars by compressing them on the mix.

The same article credits “Bang a Gong” with launching glam rock into the mainstream, platforming a subgenre yielding culturally significant work from Bowie, the New York Dolls, and many more. Though your mileage may vary on whether this track was the first “true” glam single, it’s undoubtedly created an archetype that’s been imitated by many but equaled by very few, if any.

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