Jeff's Staff Pick: March 16, 2023

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Maybe it’s cuz Dom’s playing Richard Hell at the store as I’m writing this, but my brain is feeling extra blank at the moment. This week has just kinda breezed by. What even happened? I guess I’ve been nose-deep in mountains of boxes trying to price a bunch of jazz records for all you people. Mailorder has also been nuts, so thanks to all you Sorry Staters for buying up all those Zorn records. Before I know it, St. Patty’s Day is gonna whack me over the head. I’m sure I’ll be diving headfirst into a green beer by this time tomorrow (maybe not haha).

Yeah, I know, there’s been a bunch of cool new records coming through the shop. I’m sure Daniel will be covering it heavily, but I probably should just gush endlessly about how much I love that new Personal Damage LP. Not to mention the new releases on the Sorry State label. There’s tons of cool stuff. But what have I been doing over the last few days this week? Drinking red wine and listening to David Bowie… Typical. Slight change of topic (or is it?)… Funny enough, I stumbled across this YouTube video where this guy is breaking down the structure of the song “All The Young Dudes”. The chorus is strange, but oddly perfect at the same time. The chords kinda change key midway through, flipping from major to minor. And then there’s this oddly timed turnaround to start the chorus over. Anyway, nerd shit.

Now of course, this song has most notably gone down in history for being a classic tune by the Mott The Hoople. But even listening to Ian Hunter singing lead vocal on the track, you can hear Bowie’s DNA all over it. It’s one of those songs where even before I discovered that David Bowie wrote it, I totally knew that David Bowie wrote it haha. It’s so obvious. Being released in 1972, which was around the same time Bowie was in the Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust era, “All The Young Dudes” is basically like a cousin to some of his other moody, slower tunes from that period. It’s not too far off from “Oh! You Pretty Things” or “Moonage Daydream.” And it’s such a great song. Such a great song that Mott The Hoople made it the title of the album. And SUCH a great song, in fact, that Bowie must have realized he couldn’t let Mott totally claim ownership of the track. He couldn’t totally let it go, and shiiit, I don’t blame him. What I didn’t realize is that Bowie would perform the song in the early 70s. Sometimes, he’d even do a medley where “Moonage Daydream” would transition into “All The Young Dudes”. And guess what? It rules. I’m sure all the dudes in Mott were like “ooooh shit.” I only discovered the other night while a bit tipsy that there are studio recordings out there of Bowie doing a rendition of the song, even though I don’t think it ever properly appeared on one his albums. No diss to Mott The Hoople, but the song sounds pretty perfect with David at the helm. Not “better” exactly, it’s just kind of an “A-HA!” moment when you first hear it. “Oh, there it is.”

What are ya gonna do? I didn’t kick it in the head when I was 25, but man, I sure do need TV when I’ve got T. Rex. I guess I’m a dude, dad. Enough already. That’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff