Song · T. Rex
“Get It On” by T. Rex
From the album Electric Warrior (1971)
“Get It On” by T. Rex appears on 7 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1997 and 2024. It was first released in 1971 on the album Electric Warrior. Its best result is #34 on the Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,291 alternative song of all time.
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"Get It On" was the second UK number one for T. Rex, from their 1971 album Electric Warrior, and Marc Bolan wrote it after the band had a hit with "Hot Love" and headed off to tour the States. In New York that March he worked out drum patterns for the idea with Bill Legend, and he admitted the riff came from wanting to record Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie"; he even slipped a bit of Berry's lyric into the fade as an unplanned ad-lib, according to producer Tony Visconti.
Bolan sings and plays guitar over Steve Currie's bass, with Rick Wakeman on keyboards and Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman on backing vocals. In North America it became "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" to dodge a song of the same name by Chase. It also cost Bolan a friend: John Peel's cool reaction on air all but ended their friendship.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 837 | 102.3 WBAB | WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) | 1023 |
| 2004 | 76 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2006 | 34 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
| 2009 | 444 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2016 | 258 | 103.5 The Fox | The Fox Memorial Day 500 (2016) | 299 |
| 2022 | 194 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2024 | 353 | KQRS | KQRS KQ 500 (2024) | 499 |
Also listed as: Get It On (Bang a Gong); Get It on (bang a Gong); Get It On (Bang A Gong).
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