In The 1970s Mott The Hoople

Dale Griffin, drummer for rock group Mott The Hoople, has died aged 67 in January 2016..

He was a founder member of the group, best known for classic tracks Roll Away The Stone and All The Young Dudes.

The latter was written and produced by David Bowie, who sang backing vocals on the track.

In the 1960s the main backbone of the group was called The Doc Thomas Group and toured in the UK and Europe. They toured under several names during that time.

Island manager Guy Stevens gave the group a new lead singer called Ian Hunter and Guy named the group Mott The Hoople after reading a book in prison. The group played from 1969 but did not have any major chart hits. It was thanks to David Bowie that the group was saved when he gave them the big hit of 1972 called All The Young Dudes.

The song written by Bowie referred in the lyrics to UK retailer Marks and Spencers and that had to be changed. Now both versions are played.

The song went to No. 3 in the UK charts in 1972 and in 1973 the group had several classic hits. The first of those was a strange titled song called Honaloochie Boogie and written and sung by Ian Hunter himself. The single reached No. 12 and came from the album Mott. The next hit also came from the album and reached No. 10 with All The Way From Memphis and again written by Ian Hunter. The song is about a guitar being delivered to the wrong place, which was all part of the frustration of the glam rock era.

The last single of the year would get as high as No.8  and would be  their last top ten single in the 1970s. The song was Roll Away The Stone from the album Hoople and features Lynsey De Paul on backing vocals and the lead singer was Mick Ralphs who left the group just after recording this track. 

1974 saw the last top twenty hit single with The Golden Age Of Rock N Roll and the lyrics refer to authorities trying to make the group perform at a lower volume. No chance of that.

Ian Hunter left the group in 1975 and had solo hits in the charts. Michael Ralphs went on to join Bad Company