Mott the Hoople recalls their experience creating All the Young Dudes with David Bowie, mentioning that Bowie’s teeth were bleeding during the process.

, guitar

Ian Hunter is responsible for lead vocals, piano, and guitar.

We were experiencing financial losses and Island Records was becoming increasingly impatient with our band. They scheduled us to perform at the Gaskessel in Berne, Switzerland, which is essentially a gas tank. Feeling frustrated, we ultimately decided to disband. However, on our journey back home, we unexpectedly had a great time as all the tension had dissipated and our journey was complete.

The bassist of our band, Pete Overend Watts, reached out to David Bowie in hopes of securing a bass-playing job as David was forming his own band. After speaking with Pete, David contacted me with the news that he did not want our band to disband and had a song for us to perform. Dressed extravagantly, David came to visit us in Guildford and we all rode together in a luxurious limousine. During the ride, I was sandwiched between David and his wife, Angie, who revealed that it took him four hours to get ready for our meeting.

I declined when David initially suggested Suffragette City, but I later joined him in a room on Regent Street where he played All the Young Dudes while sitting on the floor. It gave me chills and I immediately recognized its greatness and my ability to sing it.

Tony Defries, who was David’s manager at the time, was able to secure a deal with CBS/Columbia for us. David was able to produce the song in just a few days at Olympic Studios. I believe I recorded three vocal takes. The first lines of the song are about a young person who wants to live until they are 25 and then end their life, but I never delved too deeply into the meaning of the song. “Dude” was a term commonly used in America. We had to change the line “Wendy’s stealing clothes from Marks and Sparks” to “…stealing clothes from unlocked cars” to comply with advertising regulations, but it seems that the version with “Marks and Sparks” is the one played on the radio today.

I previously performed the final rap at a show in New York. As part of our comedic routine, we had the audience shout obscenities at us. During the performance, I singled out someone wearing glasses and stated, “I’ve been wanting to do this for years,” before pouring a bottle of beer over their head. It was all in good fun. Later that night, as we left the party at 4am, the same person approached me for an autograph. It was the 70s!

Verden Allen played the Hammond organ and provided backing vocals.

We were a band from Hereford called Silence. However, before we were scheduled to travel to London to meet with potential new manager Guy Stevens, there was a physical altercation in Hereford. Our lead singer Stan Tippins intervened to stop it, but unfortunately was struck in the face and suffered a broken jaw. As a result, when we met with Guy, he suggested finding a new singer and changing our band name. Ian auditioned for the role and proved to be the ideal frontman for Mott the Hoople, and we were the perfect fit for him. I recall thinking, “How can we disband when we haven’t achieved what we wanted – a hit record?”

After being a fan of our album Brain Capers, Bowie visited us and later sent us a telegram claiming he had written our next hit single. He had already reserved studio time without Island’s knowledge. Interestingly, we ended up signing with CBS even though they had rejected Bowie. However, his manager questioned them, “Are you going to pass up on Mott the Hoople as well?” The combination of Bowie’s name and our devoted fan base created a buzz around our band.

During the recording of All the Young Dudes, Bowie requested that I play the organ in sync with the guitar. I found this to be a challenging task, so I proposed playing sustained chords instead, allowing Mick Ralphs to focus on the guitar part. This approach was successful. Bowie aimed for a more mainstream sound, but there were some issues with the initial mix. As a result, David took it to Trident Studios and remixed it. When the representative from CBS heard the new version, he exclaimed, “Boys, you’ve got yourselves a hit single.”

During the heyday of glam rock, Pete acquired a pair of 8-inch platform boots that were so tall that the weight of his bass would cause him to fall into the audience. One evening, I joined Bowie for a pizza outing, where he was sporting his iconic blue Ziggy Stardust jumpsuit. He was visibly malnourished and had bleeding teeth due to his lack of eating. As we listened to his hit song, Starman, on the jukebox, he remarked that our own hit would soon be playing. I expressed to him our desire to have written our first hit ourselves, which he understood. However, All the Young Dudes opened the door for all of our subsequent hits. We were grateful to have the opportunity to thank him for writing it for us. It was truly a remarkable gesture.

Source: theguardian.com