Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXXXVII--Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes

My introduction to this week's tune, oddly enough, came when Queen had success with the David Bowie penned "Under Pressure."  I was about six months into my career with Camelot Music when the song was released, and a co-worker noted upon it reaching hit status that Bowie had bailed out another band whose career was headed into oblivion (might have been a slight exaggeration for Queen).  I nodded like I understood what he meant (actually had no clue) and went home that night and found some old rock and roll books and was able to deduce that he was speaking of this week's tune....

Mott the Hoople (named for a character in a novel of the same name who earned his living as a circus freak) formed in 1969 in England and had a couple of incarnations before settling in as a band.  They had some moderate success with their first four albums, but were ready to disband when David Bowie, a fan of the group, heard and offered them his song "Suffragette City."  The band said no thanks (who the fuck turns down a song from David Bowie?), so Bowie offered them this week's tune in 1972 and the rest, as they say, is history.  The single gave them enough credibility that they were able to continue as a band until 1980.  They've had four reunions since then, and as of this year are officially a group once again.  For their career, Mott the Hoople released 7 studio albums (and two more as just Mott), nine live albums, and 12 compilations.  They also released 15 singles, seven of which charted in the U.K., and three of which charted here in the states.  Sadly, two of the band's original members have gone to The Great Rock Concert in the Sky, but as noted above, Mott the Hoople continues to trudge along the oldies circuit.

"All the Young Dudes" was released as a single in 1972 from their album entitled, appropriately enough, All the Young Dudes.  The song would go on to become the biggest hit of their career, reaching #3 in their native U.K. and #37 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  It was also #253 on Rolling Stone's original list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.

Fun Fact:  The song is often considered a glam rock anthem and/or a gay anthem, but Bowie staunchly insisted it was neither.  He said it was about the end of life as we know it on earth and the young men having to deliver that news to the rest us.

While Bowie may not have considered the song to be an anthem, that is certainly what it became.  I've seen (on film) Bowie perform it live (remarkably similar to Mott the Hoople's version), and I can guarantee you it's one of those songs that not one person in the audience isn't singing and swaying along.  Vocally, Ian Hunter delivers the performance of a lifetime, replete with an urgency reflected again and again in the impromptu shouts of the chorus that gives the song a life of its own.  All the more is that Bowie wrote what may be the best lyrics of his career (I'm sure many would disagree) and Hunter and the band do not waste a one of them--from the poignant guitar that opens to the rousing backing vocals through the chorus there is never a doubt in this one that you are listening to one of the truly great songs in the annals of rock and roll.

Lyric Sheet:   "Television man is crazy/Saying we're juvenile delinquent wrecks/Oh, man, I need TV when I got T-Rex..."

Enjoy:

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