“Heroes” performed live on Marc Bolan’s TV show

David Bowie performs "Heroes" on the TV show Marc on 28th September 1977

David Bowie performs “Heroes” on the TV show Marc on 28 September 1977.

Marc is a British television series presented by T. Rex’s lead singer Marc Bolan. It was produced in Manchester by Granada Television for the ITV network. A second series was planned had Bolan not died before it could be produced.

Produced by Muriel Young and directed by Nicholas Ferguson, it ran for six weekly episodes in the autumn of 1977, before its host died in a car crash on 16 September that year. A pop music show, it gave Bolan a chance to showcase punk bands such as Generation X, the Jam, Radio Stars and Eddie and the Hot Rods. T. Rex performed at least three songs each week, a mixture of new versions of their old hits, and fresh tracks, while the guests were slotted in between. They were also joined by a dance troupe called Heart Throb.

The last episode featured Bolan duetting with his friend David Bowie. Before the song had reached its end, Bolan tripped over a microphone cable and fell off the stage. Bowie is said to have called out “Could we have a wooden box for Marc [to stand on]?”. Following the show Bolan and Bowie co-wrote and recorded a rough outline of a new song, ‘Madman’. The new wave band Cuddly Toys found a bootleg tape and recorded it, which became a UK Indie Chart single and featured on their ‘Guillotine Theatre’ album.

The final show was recorded on 7 September 1977, but not broadcast until after Bolan’s funeral on 20 September 1977, which was also attended by David Bowie and Rod Stewart, among others.

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