Listening to drive time radio on the commute home tonight, I heard Social Distortion and Led Zep (no Christmas music for me ) and then ‘All the Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople (written by David Bowie of course).
OK, you classic rock fans know the ending - the chorus ‘All the Young Dudes, Carry the News, Boogaloo Dudes’ is repeatedly sung while the lead signer (Ian Hunter?) goes off on a rant about bringing some guy w/ glasses down to the front (apparently the guy’s friends drag him down against his will) and then do something that he wanted to do for years… OK, what?
The Wiki on the song glosses over this with the statement “and calls to an imaginary audience” and no further mention - so what is the backstory?
(I understand it was a studio recording, so there was no real audience, and hence no guy in glasses to drag to the front).
I wanted to know this for years…OK, that was a groaner
Well, why does anyone ask a question on the Straight Dope? To tap into the collective wisdom of the golden horde.
That, and the fact that I didn’t know that site existed, nor did it occur to me in the first place (instead I was randomly googling on Mott the Hoople and Young dudes, and obviously doing a poor job of it).
Quite true - BTW, I wasn’t being snide - it simply didn’t occur to me.
Since you mentioned the site, I now checking their messageboards to see if this question has been answered there…
Ian: “We were doing the Rainbow, at Finsbury Park. And we had this thing where we’d always go quiet for ten seconds, and it always gave some areshole at the back an opportunity to shout: “You suck’ or equivalent thereof. Then It’d be: “Yeah, you’re his mates, bring him down the front.” They’d bring him down front and I’d pour a bottle of beer over him. That particular night, we came out of the Rainbow after the party at four a.m., and he’s outside waiting for an autograph in his sodden suit. Fast-forward a couple of weeks, we’re down at Olympic in Barnes doing All The Young Dudes, David’s sitting there going: “This is boring, “One of The Boys” is the hit.” And we’re looking at him thinking: “Are you out of your mind?” He said” “The back end just keeps going round, nothing’s happening.” So all I did was take the Rainbow chat and apply it to the back end of Dudes.” – Ian Hunter , Loudersound.com – February 2017
) and then ‘All the Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople (written by David Bowie of course).