ON THIS DATE (42 YEARS AGO) August 11, 1972 - Mott The Hoople: All The Young Dudes b/w One Of The Boys (Columbia 4-45673) 45 single is released in the US. All the Young Dudes is a song written by David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by Mott the Hoople in 1972. NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described the track as one of that rare breed: rock songs which hymn the solidarity of the disaffected without distress or sentimentality. In 2004, Rolling Stone rated All the Young Dudes No. 253 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and on its 2010 update was ranked at number 256. It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fames 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Regarded as one of glam rocks anthems, the song originated after Bowie came into contact with Mott the Hooples bassist Peter Watts and learned that the band was ready to split due to continued lack of commercial success. When Mott rejected his first offer of a composition, Suffragette City (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars), Bowie wrote All the Young Dudes in short order specially for them, allegedly sitting cross-legged on the floor of a room in Regent Street, London, in front of the bands lead singer, Ian Hunter. With its dirge-like music, youth suicide references and calls to an imaginary audience, the song bore similarities to Bowies own Rock n Roll Suicide, the final track from Ziggy Stardust. Described as being to glam rock what All You Need Is Love was to the hippie era, the lyrics name-checked contemporary star T.Rex and contained references to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (My brothers back at home with his Beatles and his Stones/We never got it off on that revolution stuff) in a wearied swipe at the previous generation. Bowie himself once claimed that the song was not intended to be an anthem for glam, that it actually carried a darker message of apocalypse. According to an interview Bowie gave to Rolling Stone magazine in 1973, the boys are carrying the same news that the newscaster was carrying in the song Five Years from Ziggy Stardust; the news being the fact that the Earth had only five years left to live. Bowie explains: All the Young Dudes is a song about this news. Its no hymn to the youth, as people thought. It is completely the opposite. Mott the Hooples single was released in July 1972 and made No. 3 in the UK charts, No. 37 in the US (in November) and No. 31 in Canada, and appeared on their album of the same name in September of that year. In November 1972, Bowie introduced the band on stage at the Tower near Philadelphia and performed the song with Hunter (released on All the Way from Stockholm to Philadelphia in 1998 and the expanded version of All The Young Dudes in 2006). The original Mott the Hoople release had to be changed lyrically in order that it might be played on UK radio and TV. The line in the second verse: Wendys stealing clothes from Marks and Sparks was a reference to UK retailer Marks & Spencer, also known by the affectionate colloquialism Marks and Sparks. As such, air play of the song in its original form would have breached broadcasting regulations relating to advertising in force at the time. The line was replaced with: Wendys stealing clothes from unlocked cars. Today, both versions are freely aired. Mark Deming, allmusic Mott the Hoople was on the verge of breaking up in 1972 when longtime fan David Bowie volunteered to produce an album for the group and offered them one of his songs. From that moment on, All the Young Dudes belonged to Ian Hunter, even if he didnt write it; from the first time he recorded the song with Mott the Hoople, through the countless times he performed it afterward (either with the band or as a solo act), Hunters blend of rock-star swagger and street-kid heart always shone through, even if the material might have sounded a bit fey in other hands. In Bowies version, there seems to be a vague, under-the-radar suggestion that the dudes in question were rent boys or glammed-out fashion victims, but Hunters vocals (buoyed by Mick Ralphs soaring lead guitar and Verden Allens superbly sympathetic organ swells) turned the song into an anthem for the guys on the corner, sticking by each other through the ups and downs of their lives. Hunter was willing to suggest some of their habits might have been a bit odd, as evidenced by Hunters strange fade-out dialogue, as he bellows out (among other things), Bring him down here, because I want him!, Ive wanted to do this for years!, There you go!, and finally How do ya feel? (followed ever-so-faintly by Sick!). But the song was a solid hit for Mott the Hoople at a time when they needed one, and no one whos ever seen Hunter perform it for a crowd of loyal fans can doubt that it meant a lot to him -- and to his audience. Mott the Hoople
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:30:01 +0000
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