from the LP All the Young Dudes, Columbia Records, 1972
Taste in music is neither purely cyclical or purely linear, and thus, it sometimes seems as if there is no explaining for the revolving door of popular trends and tastes which can come to define a band’s rise and/or fall; case in point, Mott the Hoople. These guys were indisputable cult heroes across the pond back in the ‘70s, scoring top ten UK hits with both singles and albums, but here in the USA they never had one recording breach the top 20; in all honesty, previous to the last couple of years, Mott’s legacy in the States has primarily consisted of classic rock radio’s infinite spinning of their quasi-hit “All the Young Dudes”, and even that is often wrongly presumed by Americans to be the work of it’s writer, David Bowie. Now that I think about it, perhaps it was their connection to Bowie which doomed them in the US, because the nature of their hard rocking boogie should have made them huge over here. That being said, it seems as if Mott may finally breakthrough, thanks to some crack music journalists and the glam-sound revival, Ian Hunter’s face has been all over the place here of late, and I for one think that that’s just peachy! This celebration of all things testosterone related comes across with only the slightest of a wink & nudge, “…well I grow my hair just to scare the teacher, my goodness gracious me ain't little Johnny a creature, and I lost count of the times when I never bathed; I'm one of the boys, one of the boys, I don't say much but I make a big noise…” So what does it mean if the teacher is the one growing his hair long…?
