Ian Hunter

Yeah it’s a might long way down rock n roll

From the Liverpool docks to the Hollywood Bowl

And you climb up the mountains and you fall down the holes

(All the way from Memphis)

Welcome to another Musical Tree! In this edition we are going to take a look at an English rocker who has had a surprisingly large influence. Get ready to rock to the sounds of the man behind the shades, Mr. Ian Hunter!

Ian Hunter Patterson was born on June 3, 1939 in Oswestry, England. Like so many other English rock musicians of the 1960s, Hunter was impacted by World War II when his family fled England for Scotland to avoid the London Blitzkrieg. Hunter first discovered music when, as part of a trio, he won a talent show competition performing the song ‘Blue Moon’ on acoustic guitars. By the late 1950’s Ian Hunter (he dropped Patterson for his stage name) was playing in various bands, but kept having to drop out in order to find jobs to pay the bills, or as Hunter would later recall, to avoid “getting smacked”. 

In 1964 Hunter was in a band called The Shreikers and, at a friend’s suggestion, the band decided to follow the Beatles’ path and go play in the same clubs in Hamburg, Germany that the Fab Four had played in a few years earlier. This was a major turning point, as for the first time he felt that “maybe I could do this instead of working in factories”. In 1966 Ian moved to London, where he quickly became part of the London music scene. He continued to play with various bands without achieving commercial success and continued to perform other odd jobs to make ends meet, including reporting for a local newspaper and digging roads.

By 1969 Hunter was married with two children, but was still hoping to make music his full-time profession. His fortunes began to change. Members of reggae musician Jimmy Cliff’s band decided to form a new band but they lacked a credible singer. On a whim Hunter auditioned for the band and was immediately hired. The band had been going by the name Silence, but shortly before Hunter joined they had changed their name and, with the addition of Ian Hunter, Mott The Hoople was born!

Mott The Hoople were critically acclaimed in England where they built up a loyal following, including future members of the punk band The Clash. However, they were unable to generate any commercial success, especially in America, and after a 1972 concert in Switzerland they announced that they were calling it quits. Unknown to the band at that time they had a very big fan who heard that they were disbanding and decided to offer his help. 

David Bowie, upon hearing the news of Mott The Hoople’s demise, offered them a song he had been working on. Hunter listened to the song, titled ‘Suffragette City’, and thought that it wasn’t that good and passed on it. Bowie, undeterred, sat on the floor in a publishers office on Regent Street in London, and on an acoustic guitar played Hunter the song ‘All The Young Dudes’. Mott The Hoople would record this song and it would become their biggest hit ever, reaching number 3 in the UK and the top 40 in the US. Suddenly Mott The Hoople wasn’t going to disband after all.

‘All The Young Dudes’ has been called the glam-rock anthem for a generation. Along with Bowie and T-Rex, Mott The Hoople led what music critics were calling glam-rock – a short lived musical subgenre where the artists wore outrageous costumes on stage along with makeup and wild hairstyles.

Mott The Hoople’s next three albums, titled ‘All The Young Dudes’, ‘Mott’ and finally ‘The Hoople’ were all commercially successful. They had a number of successful singles, including the songs ‘Hoonaloochie Boogie’, ‘The Golden Age Of Rock n Roll’, and my personal favorite, ‘All The Way From Memphis’. ‘All The Way From Memphis’ tells the story of a musician heading to Memphis to perform only to discover that his guitar had been shipped to Oriole, Kentucky. I love the nod to Memphis – the birthplace of rock n roll at Sun Studios, and home to Elvis and Stax Records. This rocker is a fun song that once you hear is hard to get out of your head.

During this time the group Queen opened for Mott The Hoople on tour. It was the only time in their career that Queen would be an opening act, and they credit Ian and Mott The Hoople in being huge influences and contributing to their success. Despite their new-found fame, Mott’s guitar player Mick Ralphs left in 1973 to form the band Bad Company. Meanwhile Hunter was being pressured to write more hits and in 1974 left Mott The Hoople and decided to pursue a solo career. The band tried to continue on but without Hunter at the helm soon disbanded.

In 1975 Hunter paired up with former David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson and the two of them collaborated on Hunter’s solo albums up until Ronson’s death in 1993. Hunter’s solo albums, including ‘All American Alien Boy’, Overnight Angels’, and ‘You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic’ (my personal favorite title) found Hunter playing with a wide variety of musicians, including the band Queen, members of The Clash, Jaco Pastorius, and The E Street Band. Hunter had some minor hits along the way, including the song ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’, made famous a few years later by the band Whitesnake.

Many artists have cited Ian Hunter as an influence. I’ve already mentioned Queen and The Clash. The Sex Pistols are another major punk band that mention Hunter as having been instrumental in shaping their music. Others include Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters. Even Barry Manilow had a hit covering one of Hunter’s songs when he released the song ‘Ships’. 

Hunter’s influence even made it to American TV, when his song ‘England Rocks’ was modified to ‘Cleveland Rocks’ and performed by the band The Presidents of the United States of America and used as the theme song for ‘The Drew Carey Show’. Hunter’s version of ‘Cleveland Rocks’ was played every Friday at 5:00 PM by a local radio station and became a victory song for Cleveland’s sports teams. Hunter was given a key to the city by the mayor of Cleveland. 

Around 10 years ago Mott The Hoople reunited for a brief tour. If there needed to be any evidence of Ian Hunter and Mott The Hoople’s influence it could be found in their dressing room after their final show in London. There they were joined by the likes of Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Mick Jones of The Clash, and John Squire of The Stone Roses. 

Happily, Ian Hunter still performs today and celebrated his 80^th birthday with an all-star gig. I think this Ian Hunter quote aptly summarizes his life:

“To me, music is holy. For the first fifteen years of my life, I had no idea what I was here for. But then Elvis came out and it was, “Oh, that’s what I am here for”. Rock ‘n’ roll got me out and gave me a great life and I don’t know what I would have done without it. It’s all I know and my identity is all tied up with it”. To paraphrase Mr. Hunter, it might be a long way down rock n roll, from Scotland to the Hollywood Bowl, filled with climbs and falling down holes, but for Ian Hunter he made it all the way from Memphis and then some.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Musical Tree! Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this article or suggestions for future articles.

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