“Rock & roll’s a loser’s game / It mesmerizes and I can’t explain / The reasons for the sights and for the sounds” - Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter wrote those lyrics in 1973, in a tune called “The Ballad of Mott The Hoople” released on arguably that bands’ best album, Mott.
That album was released on July 20th, 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago. Ian Hunter turns 84 years old today, and I’m betting - with a newly-released, critically-acclaimed album, Defiance pt.1 - he would disagree with that sentiment he put forth at 34.
One of the things that has always fascinated me about Ian Hunter is that he didn’t join what would become Mott The Hoople until he was 30 years old. That was in 1969, when he replaced Stan Tippins as lead vocalist in a band called Silence. And then Mott The Hoople was finalized when producer Guy Stevens re-named the band and Svengali-ed them into a recording contract with Island Records.
Hunter had already lived an entire normal English life by 1969; working in a succession of factories, marrying at 21, having two children by 25, while playing in bands at night and trying to hustle his original songs to English publishers. (Sound familiar to any musicians out there?)
I think that’s why Ian Hunter’s songs have always struck a chord with me. Growing up lower-middle class on the West Side of Columbus, Ohio, I think I might have somehow discerned the “We’ve gotta get out of this place” mindset in Hunter’s lyrics; this was Ian’s last chance, if he didn’t make it with Mott The Hoople it was back to the factory and a life of quiet English desperation.
Enough already with the amateur rock & roll blogger psychoanalysis, though, let’s get to rockin’. I wrote pretty extensively about Mott The Hoople and Hunter’s solo career in my 2012-2013 blog Growing Old With Rock & Roll. Following are links to some of those blogs and a number of informative live & otherwise videos to illustrate why - at 84 - Ian Hunter is one of my Top 3 favorite living rockers.
Growing Old With Rock & Roll / Mott The Hoople “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, 1973”
MOTT THE HOOPLE LIVE, 1971 / “Rock & Roll Queen” (originally released 1969)
MOTT THE HOOPLE LIVE, 1973 / “All The Young Dudes,” “Sweet Angeline,” “All The Way From Memphis”
Mott The Hoople broke up in 1974, after only 5 years as a band. (I sometimes wonder if it bothers Ian Hunter that so many people associate him only with Mott, when he spent 5 years as a band member and 48 years as a solo act.) Hunter teamed with ex-David Bowie lead guitarist Mick Ronson for his first, truly masterful solo record - the self-titled Ian Hunter - and Hunter & Ronson worked together on & off until Ronson’s death in 1993, of liver cancer.
THE HUNTER-RONSON BAND LIVE 1980 / “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” & “Irene Wilde” (originally released 1975 & 1976)
(for a full set from this band on German T.V. show Rockpalast, check further down in this blog)
Growing Old With Rock & Roll / Ian Hunter (w/ The Rant Band) “Michael Picasso”
21st CENTURY IAN HUNTER TRACKS
(And let’s face facts, kids; how many great NEW tunes have whippersnappers Mick Jagger (79) and Paul McCartney (80) come up with lately?)
IAN HUNTER / “WASH US AWAY” / released 2001
IAN HUNTER / “SOUL OF AMERICA” / released 2007
IAN HUNTER / “THE GIRL FROM THE OFFICE” / released 2009
IAN HUNTER / “WHEN I’M PRESIDENT” / released 2012
IAN HUNTER / “BED OF ROSES” / from DEFIANCE PT. 1 (released April 21st, 2023)
Closing thoughts/words: I first laid eyes on Ian Hunter in Mott The Hoople on Saturday afternoon, June 13th, 1970, exactly one week after I graduated from high school. I was 17. By my reckoning Hunter had turned 31 just 9 days earlier. (And he was still three years shy of having a hit single in Mott with David Bowie’s “All The Young Dudes” in 1972.) That was just short of 53 years ago. Mr. Hunter; thank you for all of the music, all of the memories, all of the records, all of the live shows, all of the T.V. appearances and all of the YouTube videos from that day to this. From there to here in an instant; thank you. And happy birthday, Ian. - Ricki C. / June 1st, 2023.
Ricki C. turned 70 years old in the summer of 2022. His first favorite rock & roll song was Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” when he was five years old, riding in his sainted Italian father’s Oldsmobile. He figures his last favorite rock & roll song will be by either Elliott Murphy or Ian Hunter, sometime in the future.
BONUS VIDEO / ROCKPALAST FULL SET / THE HUNTER-RONSON BAND, 1980