Early Musical Influences
As a child, Almond listened to his parent's record collection, which included his mother's "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez and "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, also his father's collection of jazz including Dave Brubeck and Eartha Kitt. As an adolescent, Almond listened to Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg. He listened at first to progressive music, blues and rock, Free, Jethro Tull, Van der Graaf Generator, The Who, and The Doors, and bought the first ever issue of Sounds, because it contained a free poster of Jimmy Page.
Almond became a great fan of Marc Bolan after hearing him on the John Peel Show, buying the T. Rex single "Ride a White Swan". From then on Almond "followed everything Marc Bolan did," and it was his obsession with Bolan that prompted Almond to adopt the 'Marc' spelling. He discovered the songs of Jacques Brel through Bowie as well as Alex Harvey and Dusty Springfield. Brel became a major influence.
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