ALL THE YOUNG DUDES

I don't know what year it was, sometime after Mott the Hoople broke up, when Ian Hunter was touring with Mick Ronson. I went to see Hunter with my younger brother (who was, and still is, a diehard Mott freak), and a couple other guys. Having never seen Mott the Hoople live, it was bittersweet, not because we weren't seeing the Mott (we were, after all, getting to see him with Mick Ronson) but because the show was being held in the gymnasium of a local college, hardly an optimum venue. The sound was not what you'd hope for, in fact it flat out sucked. Still, it was Ian Hunter with Mick Ronson. I kept trying to block out the negative aspects and just enjoy it for what it was.

It was about mid-show, when my friend, Larry, took the wind right outta the sails. You know how sometimes people, when they're under the influence, can say something that is so dead on, that you wonder if they could have come up with it if they were straight? Mid-song, my friend Larry, who had ingested something more potent than alcohol, leans over to me and says "he's got to feel pretty silly down there." It stung, because he was absolutely right. There was Ian Hunter, with a top hat on, all dolled up, trademark shades and all, surrounded by the smoke from a fog machine, in the middle of a gymnasium floor. The audience was on the bleachers. Ian Hunter had been reduced to a pep rally.

That sad image stuck with me for years. I tried to block out the memory the best I could, but it would still reoccur. It was as if the splendor had been ripped out of Ian Hunter's life, and I had a hard time imagining him the recipient of the respect that he deserved. That was until another friend posted a video of Hunter online. It's Hunter, David Bowie, and Mick Ronson, at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert held in a packed Wembley Stadium, in 1992. They're playing with the Mercury-less Queen. The song, "All the Young Dudes," was written by Bowie, and given to Mott the Hoople in the early seventies. To say that the three are in their element, and know it, is an understatement. They're absolutely relishing it. Bowie in particular. At about 1:33 he says something in Ronson's ear, and you can almost hear him saying, "Isn't this fuckin' great?" The dude is feeling it. If you were to ask me a month ago, if the sight of a blissed out David Bowie would be watchable, I'd tell you to get out of my house. But, this sucker made me temporarily drop my Bowie hatchet. (It's bliss time at 2:25 in the clip.) I have come to the stark, and adult, realization that I don't have to like much about Bowie. This and that is okay. He doesn't have to "touch my soul," he just has to make a few songs that make me move, or make me think. That he can do.

Anyway, here's some Hunter, Bowie and Ronson stuff. The video I just mentioned is the one above. You have to check out the Mott the Hoople video of the same song, below. It is worthy. And the music...I forgot that some of these songs had so much going on in them. If you haven't heard them in a while, take a minute. And check that Bowie/Booker T mash up too. It's interesting, and surprisingly good.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Music:
Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes mp3 at Plain or Pan
Mott the Hoople - The Golden Age of Rock n' Roll mp3 at Plain or Pan
Mott the Hoople - The Ballad of Mott the Hoople mp3 at Plain or Pan
Mott the Hoople - 6 more songs at Plain or Pan
David Bowie - All the Young Dudes mp3 at Plain or Pan
David Bowie - Moonage Daydream mp3 at Giant Panther
David Bowie - Diamond Dogs mp3 at Giant Panther
David Bowie - Suffragette City mp3 at High Five City
David Bowie - Live in 1974, 14 mp3s at Captain's Dead
Mick Ronson - Like A Rolling Stone mp3 at Mediafire
Oddball:
BRAT - Fame (Bowie/Booker T mash-up) mp3 at AudioPorn
Video:
Mott the Hoople - Roll Away the Stone video at YouTube
David Bowie with Mick Ronson - Starman video at YouTube
David Bowie with Mick Ronson - Five Years video at YouTube