It's a prime bit of dramatic irony that glam rock's first defining statement came from one of the former biggest hippie weirdos there ever was - Marc Bolan. In the beginning, it was Tyrannosaurus Rex with Steve Peregrin Took, and the material was roughly a bargain-basement turn on busker-hippie folk centered on Bolan's mystical Tolkien-inspired tales and Took's appropriately bizarre presence. At the dawn of the 70's Bolan's thoughts pivoted from communes and the Classics to tried and true stripped down rock 'n' roll, but filtered through his oh-so-bizarre lens, and the end result was a great run of flash-and-dash records that continue to either thrill or confuse listeners to this very day. Somehow, Bowie, Lou Reed, and even Iggy Pop ended up with the lion's share of the spoils, while Bolan's legacy has been downgraded in comparison….Which is a shame, because if there's any pop album in existence that successfully put style over substance it's Electric Warrior. Furthermore, the vibe is extremely heavy - not like on a metal or punk record, but in the sense that this is pop music being played and sung by people larger than life. Pretty much like Bolan pictured on the cover! Of course, more irony here as a contemporary review called him "the heaviest rocker in the world under 5'4" in the world today." Talk about a corny line, but as with all legends there's a kernel of truth. From a strict track-by-track standpoint the record has flaws but that is not its' strength, either. It's that awesome light-and-heavy vibe - which has never really been replicated - and Bolan's strength of will which makes it an all-time classic.

The sordid, coke-snorting, club-thumping, soaking-wet nadir of what could be considered Marvin's "blackout" phase. Still, his seemingly low-rent talbloid-ish battle with ego remains endlessly fascinating.

Now regarded as just another footnote from the acid-soaked folk-rock era - despite playing a major role in making said era even possible - the Incredible String Band (or ISB) were too goddamn weird for their own fanbase, never mind the mainstream. Despite this, a few of their albums made the charts in Britain, and they had a reasonably longer-than-expected run in general. Shortly after their peak this documentary was filmed - a real potluck of spaced-out interviews, live performances, and look-in at their communal lifestyle. But the real treat (or torture, depending on your point of view) is the second half of the show, which is a bizarre performance of something called "The Pirate and The Crystal Ball". On many levels it's blatantly amateur, but there's something very compelling about it that goes far beyond mere description, and just the pan-across shot of the 3 women as Fates alone is fascinating. Not everyone is going to like this but…those of us with open minds are definitely going to appreciate the 50 minutes of Anything Goes the ISB gave us here.

This was essentially the husband/wife team of Marv and Rindy Ross from Portland, Oregon, whose earlier bands morphed into what was presented as a street-smart/grass-roots version of Pat Benetar. Or Rush? It's really hard to tell by the mysterious but confusing cover art which renders the band abysmally anonymous. 2 timeless, completely unassailable prime pop songs shamelessly denim pleathered-over by a sad rack of vague-to-retching new wave and soft rock compositions. I'll leave it to you to guess which two songs, but I can give you a hint - "Find Another Fool" isn't one of them.

This odd reality TV precursor was a surprise hit at the turn of the 80's spawning a small list of imitation shows, including a couple of spinoffs on NBC itself. Having recently viewed the first 2 episodes on Amazon (I vaguely remember watching it first-run), the stories were infinitely more interesting than the rest of the program, which was usually overstuffed with a heaping, bland mix of Laugh-In style humor and SNL-live bloopers. In other words, it was a show for real people.