VIDEO'S OF THE WEEK - MOTT THE HOOPLE Special

[Niels (Mod)]

VOTW - MOTT THE HOOPLE Special

It really wasn't my intention to post a Mott The Hoople-special, well at least not for a while, that is, but I think it's very appropriate now, only because of their biggest hit was written by David Bowie, and I've heard that songe a few times lately. The band is Joe Elliott's favorite-band, and he even plays in some kind of Mott The Hoople-tributeband, as far as I know. My own "MTH-history" starts way back, when I heard the song "The golden Days Of Rock'n'roll" way back in 1974. I don't think, I noticed what the band was called, and it wasn't until way later, that I found out, who played the song, one of my favorites back then. I've never bought an album by them, but a few years back, I bought a DVD "The ballad of Mott The Hoople", telling their history. Let's see/hear some video's:

AT THE CROSSROADS

From their debut-album from 1970, a coverversion of a song, I don't really recall hearing before. To my ears it sound a bit like Dylan. This is recorded at Beat-club. Beat-Club was a German music program that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, Germany on Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its members, Radio Bremen, later co-produced by WDR following the 38th episode. It is notable for being the first German show to be based around popular music, and featured artists such as The Equals, Grateful Dead, Zager and Evans, Cream, Frank Zappa, The Rolling Stones, Gene Pitney, Ten Years After, Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Ike & Tina Turner, The Who, Black Sabbath, Harry Nilsson, David Bowie, The Bee Gees, The Beach Boys, Chicago, The Doors, Kraftwerk and Robin Gibb in its seven-year run. In 1972, it was replaced by Musikladen.

ROCK'N'ROLL QUEEN

Nice riff!! This is also a song from their debut-album. Actually, initial copies of the album were wrongly pressed with the song "The Road to Birmingham," the B-side of their debut single, replacing "Rock and Roll Queen.", so now you know that.

ALL THE YOUNG DUDES

One of the finest songs, Bowie's ever written (imo). I remember the song from back then (I think), but I don't remember when I heard, that it was a Bowie-song, probably also in the 70's, my guess would be. I also clearly remember the live-version of this song, from Wembley Stadion in 1992, The tribute to Freddie Mercury-concert, where Bowie was on saxophone, Mick Ronson on guitar (as was Brian May), Deacon on bass, Taylor on drums, Ian Hunter on vocals and Joe Elliott/Phil Colleen on backing-vocals. Legen.....wait for it....dary!!!! From wiki: "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 Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

ALL THE WAY FROM MEMPHIS

"All the Way from Memphis" is a single released by Mott the Hoople. The song tells a story about a rock 'n' roller whose guitar is shipped to "Oriole" (Baltimore) instead of Memphis. The musician gets half-way there before he realizes his instrument is missing and takes a month to track it down. When he gets the guitar back, he is scolded by a stranger for being neglectful and self-centered. In the original version of the song, the stranger is referred to as a "spade", in later versions the word "dude" is substituted.The song reflects a weariness with the rock and roll life-style, including the strain of constant touring and the low public opinion of rock 'n' roll singers. This theme appears in the chorus, which is repeated with minor variations: "you look like a star, but you're still on the dole," "you look like a star, but you're really out on parole."It was covered by Brian May on his 1998 album Another World; Hunter guested on this cover. The event was one of the many times Queen have connected with Mott the Hoople. It was also covered by supergroup Contraband on their 1991 debut and last album. The British rock band Thunder also performed a live version appearing on multiple compilation albums. The British punk band Abdoujaparov cover the track on their 2002 album Air Odeon Disco Pub.The song was probably based on an actual event involving guitarist Mick Ralphs. This loss of Mick's guitar is also mentioned on "The Ballad of Mott the Hoople".The song was used in the films Breaking the Waves and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The song was also featured on the 16 October 2008 broadcast of the ABC series Life On Mars.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ROCK'N'ROLL

Now, if I'm not 100% sure, if I remember ATYD from back then, I AM 100% sure, I remember this one. I loved it back then. My kind of music, when I was 9 years old. Heavy Rocker in the making, as I was. "The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll" is from their 1974 album The Hoople. It reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. The lyrics of the song makes reference to Mott being hounded by "96 decibel freaks," a reference to efforts by British politicians of the time to limit the volume of live musical performances to that level.[citation needed]When performed live by Mott the Hoople, "The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll" would usually follow a piano take on the first verse of Don McLean's "American Pie", so that following the latter's statement; "the day the music died", Ian Hunter could declare: "Or did it? Ladies and gentlemen, The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll!", with the whole band then launching into the song. This can be heard both on the 2006 bonus tracks on the The Hoople album and on the Broadway disc of the 2004 remastered and expanded 30th Anniversary Edition of Live. The band Def Leppard did a cover of the song for their 2006 cover album Yeah!

DOWN'N'OUTZ (JOE ELLIOTT) - CAREER (THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS ROCK'N'ROLL)

Let's end this with a cover of a Mott-song (as they were called later on) by Joe Elliott's Down'N'Outz. It was my meaning to post the original, but I really prefer this version. Not a video, though, but I remember I really, really liked this one back in 2010.

[Scott]

I've always known of this band but knew their music, but because of all the influence talk by Def Leppard I wish listed and then purchased their "All the Young Dudes (Legacy Edition)" when it showed up as on sale form iTunes. I've enjoyed it a lot but haven't checked out any other releases from them yet. So this is a coo, post for me...


AT THE CROSSROADS.... Maybe it's the mix, but it's very drummy, and I like that sometimes! Kinda like Free. I like the. Style and feel as well, and though I would usually pull out my monotone argument for the vocals, it doesn't seem to be appropriate for some reason. It just works on this. Off to a cool start!


ROCK N ROLL QUEEN... fun riff indeed. Another drummy tune, but not as much. I like the barroom feel. The 60skeyboards paired with up to date distortions work nicely as a bridge into the 70s.


ALL THE YOUNG DUDES... Great tune. They really took the tune to the best it could be


ALL THE WAY FROM MEMPHIS... My least favorite so far, it's still good though


THE GOLDEN AGEOF ROCK N ROLL... ok, never mind, this is my least favorite. I like the guitar uniqueness though.


DOWN N OUTZ ... I Like this as well.

Any recommendations for the next albums look into?

[RJhog (Admin)]

This has been one heck of a week.  I listened to this today, but I really couldn't watch the video because I was at work. 

I've just got to say that I'm not at all familiar with Mott The Hoople.  It's a strange name.  But I'll have to tell you that this one's just not gonna win me over.  I just don't really see the draw here.  Don't get me wrong, it's not terrible, but there's just not anything here that makes me want to hear more. 

Believe it or not, I actually own both of the Joe Elliott fronted Down N Outz albums.  I got the first one on an issue of Classic Rock Magazine.  I thought it was decent.  The song you posted here is one that I thought was pretty good on that album.  The new me (2016 version) would have not bought the second one, but the old me had to pick it up, mostly for the Elliott factor.  

So, in summary, although it's a unique listening experience, there's nothing here that makes me want to explore Mott The Hoople.