| "Get It On" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by T. Rex | ||||
| from the album Electric Warrior | ||||
| B-side | "Raw Ramp" | |||
| Released | 1971 | |||
| Format | 7" vinyl | |||
| Genre | Glam rock | |||
| Length | 4:25 | |||
| Label | Fly (UK), Reprise (U.S.) | |||
| Writer(s) | Marc Bolan | |||
| Producer | Tony Visconti | |||
| T. Rex singles chronology | ||||
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"Get It On" is a song by the British glam rock group T. Rex, featured on their 1971 album Electric Warrior. Written by frontman Marc Bolan, "Get It On" was the second chart-topper for T. Rex on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the song was retitled "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" to avoid confusion with a number of the same name by the group Chase. It is T. Rex's best-known song.
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Bolan claimed to have written the song out of his desire to record Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie", and said that the riff is taken from the Berry song. In fact, a line (And meanwhile, I'm still thinking) of "Little Queenie" is said at the fade of "Get It On".[1]
This was the song that virtually ended the once-solid friendship between Bolan and John Peel, after Peel made clear his lack of enthusiasm for the song on air after playing his advance white label copy. Bolan and Peel only spoke once more before the former's death in 1977.[2]
During a December 1971 Top of the Pops performance, Elton John mimed a piano on the song.[3][4] This has created confusion among many listeners of the song, causing them to believe that John was a member of the group (although he did play on the studio versions of other songs as a guest musician).
The piano glissando on the record was performed by Rick Wakeman. Wakeman, who was desperate for work at the time to pay his rent, had bumped into Bolan in Oxford Street, who offered him the session. Wakeman pointed out to Tony Visconti that the record did not actually need a piano player. Visconti suggested that he could add a gliss; Wakeman said that Visconti could do that, to which Bolan replied, "you want your rent, don't you?" Wakeman did and earned £9 for his efforts.[5]
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Get It On" at number 36 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
While it only spent four weeks at the top in the UK, starting 24 July 1971[6] ("Hot Love" was number one for six weeks from March to May[7]), it was the group's biggest hit overall, selling nearly a million copies in the UK. It peaked on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles chart at number ten[8] in January 1972, becoming the band's only major U.S. hit. The song reached #12 in Canada in March 1972.[9]
| Chart (1971/1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[6] | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles[9] | 12 |
| German GfK chart[10] | 13 |
| Dutch Top 40[11] | 15 |
| Irish Singles Chart[12] | 1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[13] | 6 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[14] | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop Singles[8] | 10 |
| Preceded by "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" by Middle of the Road[15] |
UK number-one single 24 July 1971 – 14 August 1971 (4 weeks)[6] |
Succeeded by "I'm Still Waiting" by Diana Ross[16] |
| Preceded by "Sometimes" by Red Hurley |
Ireland number-one single 12 August 1971 – 19 August 1971 (2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Never Ending Song of Love" by The New Seekers |
| "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Power Station | ||||
| from the album The Power Station | ||||
| B-side | "Go to Zero" | |||
| Released | 29 April 1985 | |||
| Format | 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 3:43 (45 Mix) 5:31 |
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| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer(s) | Marc Bolan | |||
| Producer | Bernard Edwards | |||
| Power Station singles chronology | ||||
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"Get It On" was covered by the Power Station in 1985. Their version – titled "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" – was released as their second single from their debut album. The track was a hit in both the UK, reaching number 22 on the UK Singles Chart[17], and the U.S., where the song peaked at number nine (one place higher than the original) on the Billboard Hot 100[18]. When Robert Palmer heard that the other Power Station members had recorded demos for "Bang a Gong", he asked to try out vocals for it. Before long, the band had decided to record the entire album with Palmer[19]. This single, along with "Some Like It Hot", became the Power Station's signature songs.
The dancer in the video is Sara Carlson.
The song was performed live on the Miami Vice episode "Whatever Works", with Michael Des Barres on vocals[20], where all of the then-touring group had cameos.
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Get It On" | Marc Bolan | 3:43 | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Go To Zero" | Guy Pratt, Robert Palmer | 4:57 | ||||||
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Get It On" | Bolan | 5:31 | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Get It On" (45 Mix) | Bolan | 3:43 | ||||||
| 2. | "Go To Zero" | Pratt, Palmer | 4:57 | ||||||
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[18] | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks[18] | 19 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[18] | 47 |
| Irish Singles Chart[21] | 12 |
| UK Singles Chart[17] | 22 |
British dance act Bus Stop (known in the U.S. as "London Bus Stop") sampled the vocals from the T. Rex original in their 2000 pseudo-cover of the song, which charted at #59 in the UK[23].
The opening and riff of the song are similar to that of the Oasis song "Cigarettes & Alcohol". Joan Jett said, on her Sirius radio program, that this was one of the songs she learned to play guitar with. The opening and riff of the Rolling Stones' 1974 song "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" also bears a distinct similarity.
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