T. Rex were an English glam rock band, formed in 1967 by singer-songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band was initially called Tyrannosaurus Rex, and released four folk albums under this banner. In 1969, Bolan began to make a shift from basing his band's sound around an acoustic guitar to basing it around an electric one and shortened their name to T. Rex. "Ride a White Swan" in 1970 coincided with the culmination of this change and instantly became a commercial success.

From 1970 until 1973, T. Rex encountered a popularity in the UK comparable to that of the Beatles, with a run of eleven singles in the UK top ten. Their hits included "Hot Love", "Get It On", "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru". The band's 1971 album Electric Warrior received critical acclaim as a pioneering glam rock album. It reached number 1 in the UK. The 1972 follow-up, The Slider, entered the top 20 in the US. At the end of 1973, T. Rex started to have less commercial success but kept on recording one album per year.

In 1977, Bolan died in a car accident several months after releasing their final studio album Dandy in the Underworld. Since then, T. Rex have continued to exert a vast influence on a variety of subsequent artists.