John's Children

John's Children earned outsized respect among '60s collectors largely because Marc Bolan, the future T. Rex frontman, spent a short period in their ranks. From 1965 to 1968 the band occupied a modest niche within Britain's mod and psychedelic circles, yet their reputation rested more on theatrical posturing and off-stage exploits than on recorded output. Yardbirds manager Simon Napier-Bell first encountered them in France in 1966 and later remembered them as “positively the worst group I'd ever seen,” but he nevertheless agreed to represent the act. Because the musicians lacked sufficient skill, their debut single “Smashed Blocked”/“Strange Affair,” cut with hired session players in late 1966, relied on outside help. The resulting track, introduced by a swelling organ crescendo and drenched in heavily reverberated vocals, ranks among the earliest openly psychedelic 45s. Against all expectations it grazed the lower reaches of the U.S. Top 100 and climbed inside the Top Ten in selected Florida and California markets. White Whale, the group's American label, commissioned an album; upon delivery the company rejected the set, which bore the then-provocative title Orgasm. The shelved record mixed undistinguished studio takes with dubbed-in crowd noise taken from the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack and surfaced only in 1971, receiving a further reissue ten years afterward. The follow-up single “Just What You Want – Just What You'll Get”/“But You're Mine” entered the British Top 40; its B-side featured a guitar solo by recently departed Yardbird Jeff Beck. On a brief German tour the group managed to eclipse headliners the Who through stage antics rather than musical prowess. Bolan then joined as principal vocalist and songwriter, contributing at minimum the single “Desdemona,” banned by the BBC over the lyric “lift up your skirt and fly,” plus several tracks that later appeared on reissues. He left after a dispute with Napier-Bell, after which the band issued two more unsuccessful singles before dissolving in 1968. Their six 45s have since become prized artifacts of British '60s rock, and historians have retrospectively hailed the group as early forerunners of glam. Lead singer Andy Ellison, who fronted the band except during Bolan's stint, released several pop singles of his own at the close of the decade, while other members later participated in the lesser-known British outfits Jook, Jet, and Radio Stars.