David Bowie Wrote This Song to Save One of His Favorite Bands — It Didn’t Work
You may not have heard of the band Mott the Hoople, but you’ve likely listened to their biggest hit, written by a music idol. David Bowie wrote a song for the band to prevent them from breaking up. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
David Bowie helped Mott the Hoople find success
Mott the Hoople was an English rock band that released several albums throughout the ’70s. Since the band was unable to find success and on the verge of splitting up, David Bowie offered them his song “Suffragette City.” The song later appeared on his Ziggy Stardust album titled The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
The band initially rejected Bowie’s offer, which led to him writing the song “All The Young Dudes” for them. Verden Allen, Mott the Hoople’s classically trained keyboard player, reflected on meeting the rock star while talking to Wales Online.
“He liked our image and sent us a telegram inviting us to his agent’s office in London,” Allen recalled. “He had on a blue catsuit and played Dudes to us on a blue acoustic guitar. We’d never met him before, but he just had this unmistakable star quality about him.”
Knowing the song would be a hit, they recorded it in 1972 with Bowie producing. The song became a commercial success. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, and is considered one of the best glam rock songs ever. Even though they reached this impressive goal, the band still fell apart.
Mott the Hoople’s Morale was low
Before Bowie lent them a hand, Mott the Hoople had a rough few years on the road. Their label, fed up with their lack of success, sent them to play horrendous gigs that were clearly meant to discourage them.
Allen shared a story about one of those gigs with Wales Online. “The label booked us on a tour called The Rock and Roll Circus which turned out to be us, Max Wall, some jugglers, a knife thrower, and a performing dog — it really was something else, and not in a good way.”
At this point, the band’s morale was too low, and the success of “All the Young Dudes” only acted as a temporary bandaid. Additionally, Bowie’s involvement caused conflict over what direction the band would take.
Success couldn’t keep Mott the Hoople together
Without Bowie around to write songs for them, Mott the Hoople couldn’t agree on what kind of music to make.
“I think we all got rather confused at the time,” Allen said, “because we’d all assumed David would come back to help us out again with another song … As a result, we were left puzzling over which direction the band should take, and [singer] Ian [Hunter] was taking things more and more in the direction he wanted them to go.”
When the band stopped considering the songs he wrote, Allen decided to walk away.
“It’s a ridiculous thing to do when you think about it, but [when] I’d finally found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I realized I didn’t want it anymore.”
Allen dodged a bullet, though. The lead singer left shortly after, and musicians quickly rotated in and out of the band over the following years. Mott the Hoople ultimately broke up in 1980.
