Marc Bolan…can’t separate the art from the artist

[PointyFinger03]

I have a thread in chat but didn’t name the ‘artist’ but thought people should be aware.

I’ve loved TRex for decades and had crush on Marc Bolan and thought he was so sexy. Watching 1971 on Apple TV and tried so hard to think it was of the times but no, he was a young adolescent predator.

[Westfacing]

I was 16 in 1970, a big Bolan fan and went to many of his concerts. If I'd somehow managed to get down and dirty with him I don't think it would have been an exploitative situation. Although the power balance would be in his favour, the small age gap makes a difference.

If he was 25 and exploiting 12 year-olds that would be different - OP how old were the girls in the programme you saw?

[PointyFinger03]

If I find out someone has had sex with someone underage then I won't be interested in their work again. There's about a squillion songs and movies and God knows what else out there to constantly entertain us so why waste my time on those degenerates?


im really with you there

[PointyFinger03]

100 percent

[PointyFinger03]

Westfacing - 12 to 15 according to show. He defs kissed girls on camera that i think are 13 or below

[PointyFinger03]

Jesus tho, 12?!!!!!!

[HouseBook]

Any chance of just giving the age of the girls?

[PointyFinger03]

12 - 15

[TrashyPanda]

Shocking to think he was only 29 when he died. I can remember hearing it on the news.
he looked so much older. Due to the drugs, I guess.

did he make a point of seeking out under age girls?
not that I’ve heard of.

did this documentary state how old the girls were?

[TrashyPanda]

@PointyFinger03

Westfacing - 12 to 15 according to show. He defs kissed girls on camera that i think are 13 or below

So the show contacted the girls 40+ years after they kissed him, and verified their ages?

[Kindofcrunchy]

Does it bloody matter how old they were exactly? If they were under 18 then it's gross, end of story. The problem is that a lot of people from a certain generation get defensive about their idols and don't like to admit that things were dodgier back then.

[HouseBook]

Does it bloody matter how old they were exactly? If they were under 18 then it's gross, end of story.

Yes, because 17 and 12 are not the same.

[IntentionalError]

Different times, different social norms. Todays 15 & 16 year olds are viewed & treated as children. Half a century ago, the vast majority had left school and were working full time. If every pop star who ever slept with an enthusiastically willing teenager was cancelled, radio stations would have nothing to play.

[PurpleWisteria1]

@Softplayhooray

If I find out someone has had sex with someone underage then I won't be interested in their work again. There's about a squillion songs and movies and God knows what else out there to constantly entertain us so why waste my time on those degenerates?

That’s all great and everything. Until you realise that almost every successful male artist backwards from 1990 will have had some relations of some kind with underage girls.

[Pixiedust1234]

@PointyFinger03

well I don’t fully know how to give you proof. I loved TRex until I saw this footage on Apple TV. Maybe it’s on YouTube but I’m not in a court of law to prove it to you?!

If you are going to besmirch somebody and call them a paedophile then yes, get some real evidence rather than you thinking they look young. Good grief 🙄

[PointyFinger03]

Well you can watch what I watched that left in doubt the ages

[Westfacing]

Sixteen is and was then the age of consent.

I haven't seen the footage as don't have Apple.

I'm not defensive of past idols - used to love Woody Allen's work, now I can't bear to watch any of it, although he was a genius.

[Georgeskitchen]

These girls would be fighting to get into the hotel rooms of these rock stars. Some even managed to sneak in and wait for them. Girls who could be 14 or 15 dollied up to look much older . I watched a documentary a few years back and one star( can't remember who) said they didn't tend to ask for their birth certificates. Have these girls complained?
Age 14 I would have done anything to get into Les McKeowns hotel room and I wouldn't have been complaining about exploitation 50 years later!!!

[Pixiedust1234]

So you are happy to call someone a paedophile with no actual proof? Okay then....

[YouSirNeighMmmm]

@PointyFinger03

He said about (on film on the doc) them (the young girl fans) wanting his balls and filmed kissing very young girls backstage. I’m sickened

Based on this post you are accusing him of kissing very young girls on film (not sure saying that young girls fancy you is a crime). I'd love to know how old these "young girls" were (12 and 17 is obviously massively different).

I'd also suggest that people do need to be judged by the times to some extent... and the fact that he was happy to be filmed kissing "young girls" it does suggest it was no big deal then.

I think "sickened" is an over-reaction, but you have every right to be unimpressed.

[Georgeskitchen]

@IntentionalError

Different times, different social norms. Todays 15 & 16 year olds are viewed & treated as children. Half a century ago, the vast majority had left school and were working full time. If every pop star who ever slept with an enthusiastically willing teenager was cancelled, radio stations would have nothing to play.

This ^^

[PointyFinger03]

Can I record my TV to show here?

[PointyFinger03]

I was just shocked myself, having girls that age in my life

[PointyFinger03]

And it is girls, whether 70s or now

[Mentalpiece]

@IntentionalError

Different times, different social norms. Todays 15 & 16 year olds are viewed & treated as children. Half a century ago, the vast majority had left school and were working full time. If every pop star who ever slept with an enthusiastically willing teenager was cancelled, radio stations would have nothing to play.

I agree completely.
Besides, until he hit a tree while drugged up, he spent most of his time out of his tree drugged up.
He probably wouldn't have known the difference between a fifteen year old and a fifty year old in his drug and alcohol filled world.

[Westfacing]

@Kindofcrunchy

Does it bloody matter how old they were exactly? If they were under 18 then it's gross, end of story. The problem is that a lot of people from a certain generation get defensive about their idols and don't like to admit that things were dodgier back then.

How can it be gross if a girl is 16/17 and he was in his 20s?