![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/David-Bowie-Rebel-Rebel-1974-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Sun 20 April 2025 19:30, UK <\/p>\n
It\u2019s tough to imagine David Bowie<\/a> being jealous of anyone. He\u2019s remembered as a truly singular artist, an utterly unique phenomenon, a rare alien who fell to earth as a complete one of a kind. As his career went on, he earned that cultural memory time and time again with each new iteration and persona. But in the early 1970s, he had a counterpart, a friend, an inspiration who quickly soured to a nemesis. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were just two nothing kids with huge ambitions<\/a>.\u201d That\u2019s what David Bowie said of the late 1960s and the early \u201870s. He was wandering about London, playing shows where he could, figuring out the next steps after the release of his debut, which had made him somewhat known but had yet to give him a name. His dreams were big, though, and so were his best friend\u2019s. In pubs in Soho, Bowie would be sitting with Marc Bolan, talking through ideas, sharing inspiration, getting into trouble.<\/p>\n They\u2019re not even two sides of the same coin; they simply were the same coin. At that point, both had had an incredibly similar trajectory. Bolan, just like Bowie, started out in an odd folk vein. Originally called Tyrannosaurus Rex, and originally just a duo, they\u2019d also just released their debut, a psychedelic folk album called My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair\u2026 But Now They\u2019re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows. The story was the same as Bowie\u2019s. The album fostered intrigue but not yet excitement, and excitement was the thing that both men wanted. <\/p>\n But they spent this odd time together. They toured together in 1969, they hung out a lot, they even fashioned themselves off each other, spending time shopping around London and digging through bins on Carnaby Street to find new styles to wear. By the time the \u201870s hit, they were like brothers<\/a>. \u201cDavid always adored him,\u201d Tony Visconti said of their relationship, and that was an understatement.<\/p>\n There was bound to be an issue, though. For two musicians that close, both working in the same genre, both clearly inspired by the same styles, sounds, and energies, given how closely their mutual interests tied them together, it was always going to cause a problem. Their careers couldn\u2019t move alongside each other at the same pace forever, and eventually, Bolan took the lead.<\/p>\n