September 16, 1977: Marc Bolan is killed in a car crash in Barnes, Southwest London. He was just short of turning 30.
Mark Feld (no middle name) was born on September 30, 1947 in Stoke Newington, East London. There are varying stories as to why he took on the stage name Marc Bolan, and his own was that Decca Records chose the name -- possibly as a contraction of "Bob Dylan."
He became the lead singer of the "glam rock" band T. Rex. His songs "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" and "20th Century Boy" became classics in the early 1970s. I still don't know what "Well, you're built like a car, you got a hubcap-diamond-star halo" means, but it sounds like a cool thing to say to a girl.
He had never learned to drive, and the Mini 1275GT he died in was driven by his girlfriend, American soul singer Gloria Jones, the mother of his son Rolan Bolan. In 1964, Gloria had a minor hit with the original version of "Tainted Love." Marc was posthumously elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
As for the other members of T. Rex: Bass guitarist Steve Currie also died in a car crash, in 1981 at 33; Ian McDonald, the saxophone player on "Get It On (Bang a Gong)," officially a member of King Crimson at the time and Foreigner later, died in 2022. As of September 16, 2022, keyboard player Rick Wakeman (later of Yes and Asia) and drummer Bill Legend are still alive at 78. So are Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, formerly the leaders of The Turtles, who sang backup on "Get It On (Bang a Gong)." So are Gloria Jones and Rolan Bolan. Rolan was practically raised by Marc's friend David Bowie along with Gloria, and is now a singe rand songwriter himself.
On the U.S. version of the TV series Life On Mars, New York detective Sam Tyler, an unwilling time traveler stuck in 1973, met Jim Croce and warned him about small planes. In the original British version, set in Manchester, Sam met Bolan and, forgetting that Gloria was the driver, said, "Drive carefully, especially in Minis."
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September 16, 1977 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Don Gullett outpitched Fernando Arroyo. Paul Blair hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with a walk. Rusty Staub hit a home run for the Tigers.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Dan Schatzeder (5 hits over 6 1/3rd innings) and Don Stanhouse combined for a 6-hit shutout. Tony Pérez and Gary Carter hit home runs. Willie Stargell did not play.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Lee May and soon-to-be American League Rookie of the Year Eddie Murray hit home runs. The Boston run came on a home run by Carl Yastrzemski.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mike Schmidt hit a home run.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-4.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-4.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers, 9-7 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Rod Carew entered the game as a pinch-hitter before moving to 1st base, and went 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs. This raised his batting average to .383, and he finished at .388.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Gene Richards singled Gene Tenace home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Dave Winfield went 1-for-5.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Johnny Bench went 1-for-2 before leaving the game.
* The Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Indians won the 1st game, 6-3. The Jays won the 2nd game, 6-5.
* And the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs were rained out at Shea Stadium. As the next day, Saturday, already had a rain-forced doubleheader scheduled, this game was made up as part of a doubleheader on the Sunday. The Mets won the opener, 5-4. The Cubs led, 4-2, going into the bottom of the 9th, but Ed Kranepool doubled home Mike Vail and Steve Henderson, and an error allowed John Stearns to score the winning run.
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