S.O.D. "All the Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople

8/4/2015     The year was 1972 when David Bowie sat cross legged on the floor of a room on the famed Regent Street in London and wrote this tune in front of Mott the Hoople's lead vocalist Ian Hunter.  The group was about to call it quits from continued commercial failures when Bowie approached them with the offer of his recent composition "Suffragette City".  Bowie must be one peach of a guy and especially as a musician, for when Mott the  Hoople turned down his offer, Bowie wrote "All the Young Dudes" especially for them.  This is a rare gesture.

     The song has been covered by more than 40 artists including Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Cindy Lauper and Judas Priest. It is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.  Considered to be one of glam rock's great anthems, Bowie claims it was never meant to be an anthem but a message of apocalypse with the Earth having five years left to exist.  In a 1973 interview with rolling stone, Bowie explains that "All the Young Dudes" is about this news.  It is not a hymn to the youth, but completely the opposite".  Bowie himself has performed the tune many times on his tours and included it on his compilation albums.  

     Under the genres of glam rock and blues rock, Mott the Hoople was formed in Herefordshire, England in 1969 and were active until 1980 with reunions in 2009 and 2013.