"I Could've Been A Contender" SEASON THREE

[Pete70s]

After a summer hiatus I've decided to bring back "I Could've Been A Contender " for yet another season. For Click newbies, here's the premise: Each edition features a profile of an artist who has gotten tremendous acclaim at one time or another. May have been a one-hit-wonder, may have had a string of hits. However, time has not remembered these artists well, and as a result, you may not see them in the Hall of Fame.

Here's a few examples of previous "Contender" inductees:

Sweet
Blue Cheer
Jr. Walker & The All-Stars
Big Country
Boyce & Hart
Billy Squier
Lee Micheals
Johnny & Edgar Winter
Joe Jackson
Love
Nazareth
The Chambers Brothers

You get the idea..


So, without further ado, Season three of "I Could've Been A Contender" kicks of with:



Mott The Hoople

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard considers them his all-time favorite band. Drew Carey even used one of their songs as the opening theme to his TV show. But most Americans will give a collective "Who?" when you mention them today.

Originally formed in 1968 in Hereford England, the band took their name from a novel. They brought in singer Ian Hunter and recorded three poor-selling albums by 1971. The band was on the verge of breaking up when David Bowie gave them a song he'd written, "All The Young Dudes". It became their biggest hit (and only hit in America).

Many line-up changes transpired over the years, and the band name was shortened to Mott in 1975, after the departure of Ian Hunter. They would later call it quits.

Many bands have covered Mott The Hoople songs over the years. The "Hair Band-Supergroup" Contraband scored a rock radio hit in 1991 with a cover of "All The Way From Memphis", Def Leppard paid hommage to their heroes with a remake of "The Golden Age of Rock & Roll" on their covers album. And artists ranging from Ozzy Osbourne to World Party have covered "Dudes".

And even though "Cleveland Rocks", I don't think the Hall will come a-calling...

[heyabbott]

Wow - I loved "All the Young Dudes", both versions. Never knew that they did "Cleveland Rocks"!

An interesting band indeed.

[Ken]

A great band. I have a copy of the remastered All The Young Dudes CD and it's a very good album.


I also recall hearing Paul Shaffer and the David Letterman band playing "All The Way From Memphis" quite a few times on the show over the years.

[Railyn]

That's one instance where I prefer the remake. I don't care for Ian Hunter's version of "Cleveland Rocks". The Presidents do that song better IMO.

[Dawn]

Glad to see this feature back, Pete.

I must admit that even though I used to watch Drew Carey's show regularly, I never knew that Mott the Hoople had recorded that song, or that it dated back that far. That's interesting.

All the Young Dudes is definitely a classic. I remember the first time I heard it, on a '70s various-artists cassette Mark had when we were dating. I'm not familiar with much of their material, but I'd like to delve deeper into their catalog sometime.

[Laura--I wuv u all :)]

railyn said:

That's one instance where I prefer the remake. I don't care for Ian Hunter's version of "Cleveland Rocks". The Presidents do that song better IMO.

*grin* And I'm the same way about Contraband's version of "All the Way from Memphis". I like that a lot better than the original.