Mott the hoople

Mott the Hoople is a British glam rock band from Herefordshire, England. It is active between 1969 and 1976. Their greatest success is a song written by David Bowie, All the Young Dudes, Since its separation, the band plays sporadically, meeting in 2009, 2013, and, as announced in summer 2018.

The guitarist Mick Ralphs, leader of Silence, Welsh band Hereford, left in 1969 for London, where he hires Ian Hunter as a singer. The group is renamed Mott the Hoople by its producer, Guy Stevens, after the title of a 1966 Willard Manus novel.

The album of the same name comes out in 1969, very marked by the nascent hard rock. The second is more oriented to ballads and rhythm and blues, while the third is inspired by country rock. The influence of Bob Dylan is clearly felt in Hunter's compositions. On stage, the group impresses, but the first records do not sell. Their repertoire includes covers of Laugh at Me (Sonny Bono) and At the Crossroads (Sir Douglas Quintet), and an instrumental rehearsal of You Really Got Me (The Kinks)>.

Their second album, Mad Shadows (1970), is weakly selling and does not attract criticism. Wildlife (1971) is no better. On October 10, 1970, Mott the Hoople and Bridget St John played Disco 2 on the BBC Two>. The band does not become popular as it wishes, and Brain Capers (1971) does not sell better. The members are about to separate after a depressing concert in Switzerland.