Exactly 45 years ago from today, we lost a true legend. On September 16th, 1977 T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan died in a car crash at the age of 29.

Marc Bolan was a glam rock pioneer with his band T. Rex as the genre began exploding throughout the early 1970s. Bolan started his career as a folk singer, but began experimenting with the electric guitar when he formed T. Rex in 1967. Throughout Bolan’s decade with the band, he would release a plethora of significant hits including 20th Century Boy, Jeepster, and Ride A White Swan.

Although his fame was short-lived due to his untimely death, Bolan would strongly influence megastars in multiple genres including glam rock, new-wave, and punk to name a few. His eccentric outfits even influenced Queen’s Freddie Mercury’s own funky style. Elton John once said of Marc Bolan, ” “I thought: ‘Where the f*** has this come from?’ Marc Bolan was something different. He was sitting there in a cloak covered in stars, writing songs that sounded like Chuck Berry. What?”

It is so tragic that we lost Marc Bolan so early and missed out on so much more he could have contributed to music. But even in his short years, Bolan made a long-lasting impression and gave us so much incredible music to listen to. To celebrate his life, watch Marc Bolan with T. Rex perform Bang A Gong (Get It On) live here: