Electric Warrior is the second studio album by English rock band T. Rex, their sixth since their debut as Tyrannosaurus Rex. The album marked a turning point in the band's sound, moving away from the folk-oriented sound of the group's previous albums and pioneering a more flamboyant, pop-friendly glam rock style.
The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the best selling album of 1971. Specifically the single "Get It On" helped promote the album's success and reached the top ten in the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Retitled "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" by the US record company, it also became the band's only North American hit.
Electric Warrior has since received acclaim as a pivotal release of the glam rock movement. It had a profound influence on later musicians of different genres.
Promotion
Marc Bolan, in a 1971 interview contained on the Rhino Records reissue, said of the album, "I think Electric Warrior, for me, is the first album which is a statement of 1971 for us in England. I mean that's... If anyone ever wanted to know why we were big in the other part of the world, that album says it, for me."
Bolan was a guest on the BBC Television show, Cilla, in January 1973. He and Cilla Black sang an acoustic version of "Life's a Gas".
Artwork
The cover artwork was designed by English art design group Hipgnosis, based on a photo taken by Kieron "Spud" Murphy of Marc Bolan at a T. Rex concert. Murphy also took the photo of the band that was used for the poster that was included with the first issue in the UK and Germany. The inner sleeve artwork, portraits of Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn, was drawn by artist George Underwood.
Release
Electric Warrior was released on 24 September 1971 by record label Fly in the UK and Reprise in the US. It went to number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, staying there at the slot for 8 weeks. The album remained in the UK chart for a total of 44 weeks. It was preceded by the single "Hot Love", a hit single in the UK, where it stayed at number 1 for six weeks. In the US, Electric Warrior reached number 32 in the Billboard 200 chart.
Two singles were released from the album: "Get It On" and "Jeepster". "Get It On" was T. Rex's biggest selling single, and became the band's only top-ten US hit. In the United States, "Get It On"'s title was originally changed to "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" to distinguish it from Chase's song "Get It On", which was also released in late 1971.
Reception
Contemporary reviews
In a positive 1972 review for Rolling Stone, Ben Gerson noted Bolan's transition from his earlier fairytale lyrics, noting that now "his targets are your common rock & roll cliches, as well as your common pseudo-poetic, pseudo-philosophical rock & roll cliches [...] What Marc seems to be saying on Electric Warrior is that rock is ultimately as quaint as wizards and unicorns, and finally, as defunct. Gerson concluded that the album established Bolan as "the heaviest rocker under 5’4″ in the world today." The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was reserved in his praise: "A freak hit turned [Bolan] into a singer of rhythmic fairy tales for British pre-pubes, exactly what he was always suited for, and the great 'Bang a Gong' extends his subject matter into the rock myth itself, which has its limits but sure beats unicorns. Now if he'd only recycle a few more pop readymades I could stop complaining about fey."