The band Mott The Hoople once explained in more detail how the collaboration with David Bowie came about – at a time when the band actually wanted to break up and was just looking for a job with the glam rocker. But he ultimately gave them the piece that would stick in everyone’s ears and ensure the survival of the group.
Not a Bowie commitment, but a song by him
In 1972, British band Mott The Hoople were on the verge of breaking up and their label Island Records was slowly losing patience with them. “We were booked to play at the Gaskessel in Bern. “We got so fed up we decided to break up and then had a great time on the drive home because all the tension was gone and we were done,” singer Ian Hunter told The Guardian.
Peter Overend Watts, the band’s bassist, then asked David Bowie for a job. But Watts didn’t get the answer he expected and finally called Hunter and said, “Bowie doesn’t want us to break up. He has a song for us.” So instead of breaking up, the singer offered the band to produce a piece he had written with him as producer.
“I knew it was great and that I could sing it”
First he presented the rock band with the hit “Suffragette City“, which she initially rejected. The group then accepted the offer to first record the single “All the Young Dudes” and then record a full album based on it. When Ian Hunter heard the track he was thrilled: “It sent shivers down my spine. I knew it was great and that I could sing it.” Another plus point: Bowie’s management even wanted to cover the costs of the recordings. The five young men were signed to CBS/Columbia by David Bowie’s manager Tony Defries and produced the song within a few days.
Verden Allen, who was responsible for organ and guitar, described via The Guardian how Bowie asked him to play the organ in sync with the guitar: “I thought that would be quite difficult, so I suggested holding down the chords , so Mick Ralphs could concentrate on the guitar part.” It ultimately worked, and after a few attempts at mixing to a more commercial sound, the CBS executive said, “Guys, you’ve got your hit single.”
The hit that paved the way for the next ones
Bowie encouraged his colleagues, as Allen suggested: “One night I went out for pizza with Bowie, who was wearing his blue Ziggy Stardust jumpsuit. He was suffering from malnutrition at the time and his teeth were bleeding from not eating. His hit ‘Starman’ was playing on the jukebox and he said, ‘Yours will be on soon too.'” The guitarist replied to the singer that he wished “we had written our first hit ourselves,” but “All the Young Dudes” paved the way for all the hits that came from the band. He is now happy that Mott the Hoople has now managed to thank him for it.