With Ian Hunter at it's helm, Mott the Hoople fell apart just as it was reaching notoriety with Ian Hunter at the lead. Sweet Jane, All the Young Dudes and All the Way from Memphis were but a few of their great songs. Anyone else a fan?

Just so we're all clear that they wrote neither "Sweet Jane" nor "All the Young Dudes"...

Brain Capers and Mott are solid albums. Good band.

I am a fan.

We are clear, on that fact, but they created great music with those songs!!! David Bowie and Lou Reed (Velevet Underground) were contributors to their music.

One of Ian's solo albums "You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic" was quite popular, also.

I always liked "I Wish I Was Your Mother" as well. and their cover of Sonny Bono's "Laugh at Me" always makes me smile.

I like "I Wish I was your Mother" a lot, too.

(ian hunter)

I scream at you for sharing
n I curse you just for caring
I hate the clothes youre wearing, theyre so pretty
n I tell to not to see me
n I tell you not to feel me
n I make your life a drag, its such a pity

n I watch your warm glow palin
n I watch your sparkle fadin
As you realise youre failin, cos youre so good
Now I dont mean to upset you
But theres so much crime to get through
If only I could make it easier, then I would

Oh I wish I was your mother
I wish Id been your father
n then I would have seen you
Would have been you as a child
Played houses with your sisters
And wrestled with all your brothers
And then who knows
I might have felt a family for a while

Its no use me pretendin
You give and I do the spendin
Is there a happy ending, I dont think so
Cos even if we make it
Ill be too far out to take it
Youll have to try and shake it from my head

Oooooh I wish I was your mother
I wish Id been your father
n then I would have seen you
Would have been you as a child
Played houses with your sisters
And wrestled with all your brothers
And then who knows
I might have felt a family for a while

went on the road w/ these guys during the last jimmy chamberlin complex tour...holy shit mott the hoople were fucked up guys

the lead singer, forget his name, would invite tons of latino and black chicks into his dressing room before every show and piss and shit on all of them

then we would take the one with the biggest booty and have his way w/ her and cut her head off afterwards...

you guys get what im sayin? not a good band here...

It's true they imploded at success, but you could make a decent argument it was inevitable. Mott released 4 albums before All The Young Dudes hit in the UK, the highest charting of which was Wildlife, which limped to #44 on the UK chart in 1971. Its followup, Brain Capers, didnt chart at all. They were ready to call it a day when Bowie gave them "All the Young Dudes."

My point is, success may only have exacerbated problems already extant within the band.

I listen to their records, now, and I always try to figure out how Mick Ralphs could have thought Bad Company looked like a better idea.

Money, fame... aside from the music part, it was a better idea.

BTW, Mick Ralphs - is that name 'Spinal Tap' enough?


Little known fact: Bowie wrote "Drive In Saturday" for Mott The Hoople. It was supposed to be their follow-up to Dudes. The nasty falling out he had with MtH prompted him to keep it for himself.

Indeed, success, as you say, may have exacerbated problems already brewing within the band, and like a pimple, only pus shot through with their successes. All bands suffer from assorted and assundry problems, some fatal, some not. As Gerry Garcia said, "it's not how you play (so much), but how you get along with the members of the band, that counts."


Mick Ralphs?

i think they actually turned it down as they didn't want to be seen as existing in bowie's shadow

Big fan and huge in Cleveland back in the day. Obviously, Hunter went on to do Cleveland Rocks (originally London Rocks but he loved Cleveland and their support).

Mostly a pub rock band that went for the glam because it was the in thing at the time. Of course guitarist Mick Ralphs went on as a founding member of Bad Co. And those first few Bad Co. records are pretty great. They had a huge pre buzz being that it was somewhat a super group.

I used to get away with impersonating Hunter by wearing shades and walking around town when he was in town. (See avatar).

Also my first real rock concert on "The Hoople" tour in 1974.

Were they a glam act?
If so, point this lad in the proper direction to get himself lifted please.




In 1974 Cleveland, wearing sunglasses = Big Rock Star.

You tell me

Now, this is a glam band, IMO.

Nosir.
Them are some New Romanticals

Nope that's new romantic.

You'll learn.

Great minds right Senor

Sorry, here is the traditional glam band.

Again wrong. Glam started well before these guys and they are more a cross between glam and big hair metal.

The above Mott pic is a perfect example of original glam band.

That's more Glam Revival/Glam Metal.

This is more what we had in mind:



amirite?

Word.

"Only When You Leave" is the jam tho.

Witness....

Senor, do you get a check every time you post from YouTube?

Yeah, Sweet fell into that original glam scene.

I think glam band is more of a look, than the music itself, but that's just me. It's the music that counts and that is why I don't see MtH as a glam band.

You're contradicting there.

Mott had the glam look in spades. But as I say, were more from the pub style musically.

Well, as mentioned upthread, to a point you're correct. Mott were always more a traditional rock/pub rock outfit - Hunter was better known pre-Bowie as an interpreter and writer of Dylanesque lyrics. I think Glam did have something of a sound of its own, that being an update of early rock'n'roll, which punk coopted a few years later. Worth noting how many of the original punks had been pub and glam rockers before the seismic shift in '76.

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Absolutely in agreement there!!! There was just that...a seismic shift for sure, around 1976!!!

Hmm. I was just going by my fuzzy recollection of an interview I read in Hit Parader, back in '73. I swear Ian Hunter described the song, and that it was planned to be their next single. Following that was when Bowie started accusing all the people he was associated with (MotH, Lou Reed, Iggy, others) of ripping off his image, followed by everybody hating Bowie's guts. Shortly after that, Aladdin Sane came out, containing that song that Ian Hunter talked about.


edit/ google turned up this bit from Ian himself:

http://www.ianhunter.com/mouth029.shtml

I always thought they would have done a great version. I can hear them in that song.

It would be worthwhile to check out Mott & Friends, which includes side projects from various members of Mott the Hoople. The best part of the recording, however, is the the two tracks by the Rats, the pre-David Bowie band of Mick Ronson.

I just saw Mott the Hoople last night on the first of five nights of their reunion shows (all original members) at the Hammersmith Apollo in London (having a great time here, btw). Buffin, the original, drummer, is in poor health, so Martin Chambers of the Pretenders sat in on drums for all of the show, with Buffin coming out and joining him for most of the encore.

Set list (in approximate order):

Hymn for the Dudes
Rock'n'roll Queen
Sweet Jane
One of the Boys
Sucker
The Moon Upstairs
The Original Mixed Up Kid
I Wish I Was Your Mother
Ready For Love/After Lights
Born Late 58
Ballad Of Mott
Sweet Angeline
Walking With a Mountain
Like a Rolling Stone
The Journey (ending into a little of Laugh at Me)
Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll
Honaloochie Boogie
All The Way From Memphis
Roll Away The Stone
All The Young Dudes
Keep a knocking
Saturday Gigs

I loved hearing Mick Ralphs playing the guitar parts he wrote for All the Young Dudes (which had Joe Elliot joining in for vocals) and hearing Ralphs play and sing on Ready for Love. Saturday Gigs closed the show with band members waving goodbye, there was an acoustic mini-set mid-show (Original Mixed-Up Kid, I Wish I Was Your Mother, Ballad of Mott the Hoople), and Ian Hunter was looking/playing like he was in his twenties (at a young 70 now).

Great show, and I can't wait for the next four!

------------------------------
Additional reviews:

http://www.last.fm/user/DavidMaile/journal/2009/10/02/31xp8t_roll_away_the_years\
://http://www.last.fm/user/DavidMaile/...e_years\

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/first-night-mott-t\
he-hoople-the-apollo-hammersmith-1796457.html://http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...th-1796457.html

An interview with Ian Hunter and Joe Elliot:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...le-1795986.html

You're living my dream man.
Thanks for the review. Damn, nice set. And Chambers filling in on drums ain't too shabby.
If anyone spots a boot let me know. Really would love to hear the acoustic I Wish I Was Your Mother.

BTW, Ian's new album is one of my favorites this year.

Hey, Rob,

No need to wait for a boot -- instant recordings (in really nice packaging) were available after the and some might still be available.
Concerts Live

There should also be boot videos showing up pretty soon on You Tube. The group did two "warm up" gigs already and those are fully available.

Yep. Checked out some vids on youtube and the audio snips on the live site sound good.

Thanks.

I just saw the US debut of The Ballad of Mott the Hoople at the Chicago International Movie and Music festival this past weekend. Lots of interviews with the band (minus Pete "Overend" Watts) and behind-the-scenes reflections on each phase of the band proper (but ending with "Saturday Gigs" and before Mott or British Lions).

Mick Ralphs is surprisingly funny throughout and has a great attitude. Ian Hunter is very genuine. Buffin, who is dealing with Alzheimers, is also insightful about those times.

More info. on the film here: http://www.avclub.com/chicago/articles/the...ris-hall,54282/

Just a belated addendum to my comments from the London reunion shows. There were many highlights, but one was the crowd standing up and chanting "Buffin! Buffin! Buffin!" as he entered one of the nights, and how emotional it was on the final night with the band singing the "Good bye" line repeatedly from "Saturday Gigs." Another highlight was Joe Elliot's offshoot band Down 'n' Outz (consisting of Joe and members of the Quireboys), which had been intended to be a one-off thing but now has continued, opening for the band on the final night. The band only plays songs from the post-Mott-the-Hoople era of Mott-the-Hoople band members. How cool is that? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaX4G1lLqxs

I also went to a Mick Ronson tribute experience on one of the days I was in London for the Hoople reunion, meeting Mick's wife and daughter, who both turned out to be really cool, and Lisa Ronson and I exchanged some nice emails around my birthday last summer. While there, I also met John Fiddler, lead singer for the post-Mott band British Lions and Medicine Head, who was really gracious and a great performer.

After that, I attended a couple of "Meet the Mott the Hoople Keyboard Players" events at a fairly small pub put together by Morgan Fisher, also featuring Blue Weaver and Mick Bolton, as well as John Fiddler that were fun and intimate. I was able to talk to all of them quite a bit. All in all, pretty great! Videos here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...morgan&aq=f

I hope this isn't like that Dr. Feelgood documentary that came out last year, and that I'll probably never get to see (until I shell out for a region-free DVD player, anyway).