“Flash-in-the-Pan” Glam: Silverhead & Mud

Silverhead were a British band led by singer Michael Des Barres, with Robbie Blunt on guitar, Rod Davies on guitar, percussion, and vocals, Nigel Harrison on bass guitar, and Pete Thompson on drums, keyboards, and vocals. (For this and the following information, see Wikipedia). Silverhead were part of the Glam Rock scene in Britain in the 1970s before the group disbanded in 1974. They recorded two albums: Silverhead (1972) and 16 and Savaged (1973). In April 2012, the band reunited in Tokyo, Japan for a set of concert dates much to the delight of their die-hard Glitter Rock fans. The global story of Silverhead is a bit of a mystery for true Glam Rock followers who have wondered, “what the heck happened?”- that this fantastic band simply disappeared off of the map in the mid-70s when they were headed for Glitter fame and fortune? The answer has finally come about this many decades later, as documented in classicrockmagazine.com: ”Silverhead were regarded at the start of the 70s as the British band that would follow T-Rex and David Bowie into the stratosphere of Glam Rockers who had it all.” The truly fascinating story follows and may indeed have you on the edge of your seat, as it did this rock blogger! Silverhead fans will definitely want to read the full-version on http://www.classicrockmagazine.com. According to that website, drummer Pete Thompson, who now lives in Texas, said, ”We had it all. The glam, the rock ‘n’roll, the sex appeal, the nastiness…Everything was going our way. And if you saw us live, then you’ll know we really could deliver.”  Again, read the full story by Malcolm Dome on the website, but what happened next is astonishing! Silverhead were set to tour the states on a six-week tour with Fleetwood Mac; only, it wasn’t the real Fleetwood Mac but a bogus group using the F.Mac name! The group Silverhead was sent to Los Angeles once this was discovered while their management company figured out what to do next. (Obviously Silverhead did not tour with the F. Mac imposters.) So get this: when the band returned to Britain, they walked into their manager’s office at the record label, about to embark on a tour of Japan, when they were told that they were all out of a job, and that they could no longer use the Silverhead name or record! What?! How bizarre! From Malcolm Dome’s report, it took ”Thompson a few years to recover” and drummer Thompson is quoted as saying, ”I was so angry I didn’t play drums for a long time.”

     The other short-lived Glam flash-in-the-pan rock group to be discussed here is Mud. Mud were an English Glitter rock band formed in 1968, best-known for their single ”Tiger Feet.” According to Wikipedia, Mud had 14 top 20 hits in the U.K. between 1973-1976. The band members of Mud were Les Gray (lead vocals), Rob Davis (lead guitarist), Ray Stiles (bass guitarist), and Dave Mount (drummer). They signed to Mickie Most’s RAK records and had their first hit with ”Crazy.” (For this and the following band history, see Wikipedia.)  The other hits by Mud include ”Tiger Feet” (1974), ”Lonely This Christmas” (1974), “Oh Boy” cover of Buddy Holly hit (1975), and ”Shake It Down” (1976). The final performance of the group Mud with original band members was in 1990 for Dave Mount’s wedding. Les Gray also toured with ”Les Gray’s Mud” from 1980-1985. Ray Stiles joined the Hollies; Rob Davis went on to write several dance hits. Dave Mount went into the insurance business. He also appeared in an episode of BBC TV’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks in November 2005 which type-cast Mount as a washed-up, has-been rock star. On 12.2.06, Mud drummer Dave Mount committed suicide.

     Although both these Glam Rock bands had a short history, they are still worth listening to, this many years later. Just ask any Silverhead or Mud fan. They’ll tell you.

Female Glam Rockers: Joan Jett, Girlschool, Lita Ford

This is part two of the original post on “Female Glam Rockers: Leathered-Up Queens of Noise”, and features more extensive look at three spectacular female Glamour Rockers in their own right: Joan Jett, Girlschool, and Lita Ford. As stated in the first post, these female rockers held their own with their male counterparts and as such are accepted as having “made their mark” in the fields of heavy metal and Glamour Rock acts, with astounding results musically and professionally.
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin) is an American-born rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter best known for her work with the Runaways -ground-breaking all-girl rock group in the 1970s- as well as with her solo career as rock musician with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. According to Wikipedia, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts had a string of hits in the 80s and 90s, including “I Love Rock N Roll”, which was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from March to May 1982. Other hits by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts include “Crimson and Clover”, “I Hate Myself for Lovin’ You”, “Bad Reputation” and “Light of Day”.
Joan Jett was born in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In her teens in the 1970s, Joan would sneak out at night with friends to attend rock concerts; she received her first guitar at age 13 from her parents at Christmas.(For this and subsequent info, see Wikipedia).Later, Joan’s family moved to West Covina, California (L.A. county) which gave Joan the opportunity to pursue her rock and roll dreams. Suzi Quatro was Joan’s idol, and Joan, as a teenage fan, would wait in the lobby after Quatro’s rock concert perfomances to try to meet the star. Legend has it that they did meet, but details on this encounter most likely would be found on Jett’s website http://www.joanjett.com which has many details about the writing of particular songs by the Runaways as well as with the Blackhearts. Jett adopted Suzi Quatro’s style of shag haircut, leather, and tough-girl rocker stance, musically and lyrically. Around age 16, Joan Jett began hanging out at the only Glamour Rock nightclub in the Los Angeles area called Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, where she met the man who would become the Runaways’ producer, the eccentric Kim Fowley. The rest is an astounding history, and see former post here for more information on The Runaways legendary musical sound and “mass hysteria” tours as the only all-teenage all-girl rock band then, and even to this day do they hold that distinction!
In Spring 1979, Joan Jett was in England pursuing a solo career and recorded several songs with Sex Pistols band members’ Paul Cook and Steve Jones. (Wikipedia) Jett then returned to L.A. to complete an obligation to finish a film about the Runaways called “We’re All Crazee Now” and during the shoots met Kenny Laguna who then was instrumental in helping Joan form the Blackhearts. She placed an advertisement looking for band members as “looking for three good men” and from these auditions recruited Gary Ryan on bass, Eric Ambel on guitar, and Danny “Furious” O’Brien. After recording demos, the band’s efforts were rejected by 23 major labels, so they decided to form an independent record label “Blackheart Records” and put the record out themselves. Watch the video post on this page to see this documented to the band’s great single “Bad Reputation”.
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band, originating out of the “New Wave British Heavy Metal Scene” in 1978, according to Wikipedia. Girlschool was also frequent collaborators with contemporaries, heavy metal rockers Motorhead. Formed from a school band called Painted Lady, Girlschool enjoyed success with three metal albums in the early 80s but soon lost momentum after that. The principle members of the band are Kim McAuliffe (rhythm guitar, vocals), Dinah Williams (bass guitar), Deidre Cartwright (lead guitar, vocals) and Tina Gayle on drums. Kim McAuliffe was famously quoted as saying “The reason we were all girls is we couldn’t find any blokes to play with us.” Girlschool’s first three albums were Demolition (1980), Hit and Run (1981), and Screaming Blue Murder (1982). Their first single “Take It All Away” was released in 1978, and “Please Don’t Touch” was released in 1981 with Motorhead.
Lita Ford was born Lita Rossana Ford to a British father and Italian mother in London, England. She moved with her family to the U.S. at the age of four and began playing guitar at age eleven. In 1975, she joined the all-girl band The Runaways as lead guitarist. Lita’s lead guitar skills are on par with her male counterparts in heavy metal, and thus, she has toured with Glam Rockers Poison, Motley Crue, Britny Fox, as well as heavy metal rockers Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Antrax and Iron Maiden. Lita Ford’s first album was released in 1983 entitled Out For Blood; however, Ford scored the most commercial success with her album entitled Lita which went Platinum in the U.S. and Gold in Canada with singles “Kiss Me Deadly”, “Back to the Cave”, and “Falling In & Out of Love”. You can see Lita Ford on tour in 2012 with Glam Rockers Def Leppard and Poison. See http://www.defleppard.com for concert dates!

Female Glam Rockers: Leathered Up & Queens of Noise

There are only a handful of all female Glam Rock bands, but these true rock innovators brought about more heavy metal sounds that astounded audiences in the 70s, because at that time, no one ever imagined that girls could rock as hard as boys when it came to rock music. Yet these Glamour Rock girl musicians held their own and earned respect from international audiences and the music community at large, for their heavy metal songs, their musicianship, their sexuality, and to this day there are no equals to: Suzi Quatro, The Runaways, Girlschool, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, and Lita Ford. This post will talk about Suzi Quatro and The Runaways. Please watch a later post for review of Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and the heavy metal female Glam Rock British band Girlschool.
Many people would agree that Suzi Quatro was the most ground-breaking of the female rockers. To put it succinctly, she was the first, and was the primary role model to The Runaways, an all-teenage girl group that then produced Joan Jett and Lita Ford in Glamour Rock solo careers.Suzi Quatro challenged social norms that “good girls don’t do that” by dressing all in leather, playing bass guitar and singing lead vocals in a hard rock band that produced a string of great hits, all while using sex as a come-on to the music.
Susan Kay “Suzi” Quatro is an American born rock artist from Detroit, who began her career in rock music at the age of 14, when she played bass guitar in the all-female band The Pleasure Seekers and Cradle with her sisters (Wikipedia) According to Quatro’s autobiography, her first bass guitar was a 1957 Fender Precision, given to her by her father. Suzi Quatro was born into a Catholic musical family, in that her father was a part-time jazz musician, and her sister was in another well-known girl group called Fanny. (For this and subsequent history, see Wikipedia)
Quatro moved to England in 1971 after she was discovered in Detroit by record producer Mickie Most; Most produced records by The Animals, Jeff Beck and Donovan. He started his own record label RAK records, which made famous another Glamour Rock group named Mud. Suzi Quatro had a number of blockbuster hits in the 1970s including “Can the Can” (1973), “48 Crash” (1973), “Devil Gate Drive” (1974), and “Your Mama Won’t Like Me” (1975). Quatro’s success waned in the late 70s but she came back with hits “If You Can’t Give Me Love” (1978) and “Stumblin’ In” (1978)–a duet with Chris Norman of Smokie—as well as “Rock Hard” (1980). Suzi Quatro continues to record and tour to this day. See the artist’s website http://www.suziquatro.com for further information. Most recently (2009) Suzi Quatro was selected as one of the “Twelve Queens of British Pop” by BBC TV. (See Wikipedia)
If Suzi Quatro was the Queen of British Pop, then The Runaways were the undisputed “Queens of Noise”. The remarkable story of this all female teenage band of Glam Rockers is well-known to many from the Indie Film The Runaways. The Runaways made less than 10 studio albums, their first two albums The Runaways and Queens of Noise are classic and unsurpassed Glam Rock albums. The Runaways were Cherie Currie (lead singer), Joan Jett (guitarist), Lita Ford (lead guitarist), and Sandy West (drums). It is an illustration of the power of this girl glam rock group that both Joan Jett and Lita Ford went on to form their own Glam Rock bands that achieved international fame on their own. The beginning of the Runaways is this: Guitarist Joan Jett and drummer Sandy West formed the band after being introduced to each other by West Coast (Los Angeles) record producer Kim Fowley. Singer/bassist Micki Steele initially joined the group, and then Lita Ford was added. Steele was fired from the group but later formed another successful female band The Bangles. Lead singer Cherie Currie was discovered at a teen nightclub called The Sugar Shack, followed by bassist Jackie Fox. (Wikipedia). After playing the club and party circuit around L.A., the group was signed to Mercury Records, releasing their debut album The Runaways, which had such great hits as “Cherry Bomb”, “Hollywood”, “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” (cover of a song by Slade), and “Rock and Roll” (cover of a song by The Velvet Underground). After achieving success in the U.S. and abroad, the group embarked on a tour of Japan in 1977 for a series of sold-out shows where they were greeted with mass hysteria everywhere, that Joan Jett later compared to “Beatlemania.” The Runaways at that time rivalled Led Zeppelin and Kiss in Japan for the biggest chart-makers. (See Wikipedia) The group, however, was never the same after an argument between Cherie Currie and Lita Ford in a photo session, famously documented in the film of the same name, which eventually led to Cherie leaving the band, and The Runaways’ fame leaving them soon after.

Lou Reed Underground Glitter

Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed is an American rock musician out of New York City, who originated an alternative form of rock music with threads of Glam rock, Glitter rock, Avant Garde, German and French expressionism, Bohemian pop art, as well as punk rock/metal music. all integrated in a beautifully complicated mixture that is often mind-bending and surreal.

During the time that Lou Reed, and with the original group called The Velvet Underground made records, their music was (and still is) unlike anything anyone has ever heard. According to Wikipedia, the Velvet Underground were a “commercial failure” in the late 60s, but due to their dedicated cult-status and following, their albums are regarded as some of the most significant in modern rock music history.This enduring underground following continues to this day with the collaborative efforts in 2011 and 2012 between Lou Reed and the heavy metal group Metallica. Lou Reed was the Velvet Underground’s principal songwriter in the 1960s (until the band disbanded in 1970) and as a songwriter Reed incorporated subjects of “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” –a well-known mantra to heavy metal fans today, but was strictly taboo in that formative era (the 1960s). Rolling Stone magazine wrote, “Lou Reed helped invent punk rock music while writing about femme fatales, black angels, and heroin.”

Lou Reed was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn and grew up in Long Island. (For this and the following info, see Wikipedia.) Reed reportedly learned to play guitar by listening to the radio, and played in different bands in high school. His first recording was with a Doo Wop group called The Jades. In 1956, Reed received ECT (electro-convulsive therapy or “shock treatments”) as a teenager to try to “cure” his bisexuality. Reed wrote about the experience in his 1974 song, “Kill Your Sons.” Lou Reed began attending Syracuse University in 1960, studying journalism, film directing, and creative writing. In 1961, he hosted a late night radio program on WAE, featuring doo wop, rhythm and blues and jazz.

In 1964, Reed moved to New York City and began working as an inhouse songwriter for Pickwick Records. In 1964, Reed scored a minor hit with “The Ostrich”;

Pickwick assembled a band for Reed around this song, hoping to have a hit, called The Primitives, which included Welsh musician John Cale. (Wikipedia) Reed and Cale lived together on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and after inviting Reed’s college acquaintances guitarist Sterling Morris and drummer Maureen Tucker to join the group, The Velvet Underground was formed. Rolling Stone described The Velvet Underground’s sound as “dissonant, poignant art songs”. The group caught the attention of avant garde photographer, pop art visual artist Andy Warhol, who decided to became their benefactor and general manager, introducing them to high-art concepts and his Bohemian lifestyle. Lou Reed told Rolling Stone, ” Warhol was one of the greatest people I’ve met in my life,” Reed remarked. “It’s hard to conceive where we would be without him. If he had a gallery opening he took us with him. He fed us.”

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/velvet-underground-tell-tales-about-warhol-nico-at-ny-library-20091209#ixzz1kzMBDvuB

Lou Reed’s songs began to take on more of the reflection of Warhol’s artistic lifestyle to great success, but there was conflict in the group when Warhol stated the Underground should have a chanteuse (female singer), suggesting European model and singer Nico. Not all of the band members agreed with this, and their debut album was entitled The Velvet Underground and Nico, to note that Nico was not actually part of the group. Although the album did not initially do well, Rolling Stone has said it is one of the most influential albums of all time. Between 1966 and 1970, the Velvet Underground recorded four “classic, highly influential albums.” (Rolling Stone)

Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Lou Reed’s departure from the Velvet Underground was “bitter” (http://www.rollingstone.com) in August 1970. Reed briefly took a job as a typist at his father’s tax accounting firm (see Wikipedia) but a year later, however, he signed a recording contract with RCA, which included top session musicians from the rock group Yes. In 1972, Reed released Transformer, which David Bowie and Mick Ronson co-produced. It yielded Lou Reed’s only top 20 hit “Walk on the Wild Side” (1973), an ode to some of the flamboyant Bohemian artists surrounding Andy Warhol. With Bowie’s aid, Reed transformed into Glitter Rock, his signature camp style including bleach-blond hair and black fingernail polish. “Glam Rock was the rage and Lou Reed was a central figure,” according to Rolling Stone. Another single from the album was “A Perfect Day”. There was a falling-out between Reed and Bowie, but their friendship was reconciled in 1997 with a Madison Square Garden appearance by both, and Bowie’s collaboration on Lou Reed’s album Raven (2003).In the1970s, Lou Reed’s best-known albums were Berlin(1973), Sally Can’t Dance (1974), and Rock N Roll Animal (1975).Rock N Roll Animal became Reed’s biggest-selling record to date (Wikipedia).

Lou Reed’s music recording, performance, and artistic career is extremely prolific. Please visit Wikipedia, RollingStone.com, or LouReed.com for more extensive history. Currently, Lou Reed and Metallica have a musical collaboration called “LULU”; the website http://www.loureedmetallica.com describes it as “inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wiedekind’s plays”.

KISS Glitter Rock Party

Kiss (often written as KISS) is an American rock band that brought about their own unique form of Glitter Rock and Metal Rock music; they were formed in New York City in 1973. What characterizes their brand of American Glam Rock is their facepaint -often looking like real-life comicbook heroes- the constant themes of sex and seduction in their song lyrics, their catchy, iconic guitar riffs, and their astounding stage theatrics such as rockets, firebreathing, and fake blood consumed/vomited by Gene Simmons. According to Wikipedia, KISS has been awarded 28 gold albums, the most for any American band. The original classic lineup for KISS consisted of Paul Stanley (guitar, vocals), Ace Frehley (lead guitar, vocals), Gene Simmons (bass guitar, vocals), and Peter Criss (drums, vocals).
What has captivated worldwide audiences for over 35 years now by KISS has been the elaborate stage makeup that the band members, up until their famous 1983 “unmasking”, were rarely seen without. Indeed, some fans would have preferred that the comic book illusion continued, while others thought it just added to the reality of the group. Not everyone is a fan of Gene Simmons in the cable reality TV series “Family Jewels”, and some thought Gene has come across as almost obnoxious. Anyway, the makeup, according to Kiss themselves, were from fan suggestions. Paul Stanley has the star on his face (Starchild), Gene Simmons has the garish Halloween-type makeup (Demon), Ace Frehley’s makeup and costuming suggested Alien worlds (Spaceman), and Peter Criss looked like a cat (Catman). KISS continues to tour and record to this day, but with only Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons from the original lineup. Ace Frehley and Peter Criss left in 1982 over creative differences, rejoined the group in 1996 and 1997 for high grossing worldwide tours, then left the band again shortly thereafter.
KISS began with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in New York City in 1972 forming a group called Wicked Lester (see Wikipedia for this and the following information). They came across an ad in Rolling Stone placed by Peter Criss, and with Criss as an addition to the group shortly thereafter began experimenting with various costumes and stage theatrics, drawing upon American Glitter acts such as The New York Dolls and Alice Cooper. In 1973, the band added guitarist Ace Frehley; reportedly, the band came up with the name “Kiss” while driving around New York City. Criss mentioned that he had been in a band called “Lips” and Simmons suggested “What about ‘Kiss’?”, while Frehley drew the iconic logo, with the double “S” looking like lightning bolts. Because the double “S” also possibly connotated Nazism to some, the logo had to be modified in Germany. The first KISS performance, according to the band’s website, http://www.kissonline.com, was in a venue called “The Popcorn Club” in Queens 1973 to an audience of three people.
On March 13, 1973, the band recorded a five song demo tape and Bill Aucoin (former TV director) offered to become the band’s manager. The band entered Bell Sound Studios in New York City in October 1973 to begin recording their first album, and performed as an opening act for Blue Oyster Cult. It was during this concert when Simmons first set his hair ablaze in his firebreathing stunt onstage.
Kiss’ first album was entitled KISS and released Feb. 18, 1974 with hits “Nothin’ to Lose”, “Firehouse”, and “Black Diamond”. In 1974, the band performed “Firehouse” on the Mike Douglas Show, which featured an interview with Gene Simmons that made the studio audience fairly uncomfortable. The next album, Hotter than Hell, fared better (KISS initially only sold 75,000 copies) with the band’s now trademark song “Rock and Roll All Nite”. By 1975, the record label Casablanca was almost bankrupt, and the group needed a smash…which came in the form of their next release -a double live album set called Alive! which went to gold status, and almost every teenager in the 1970s would own.
The band’s history is quite extensive; for the most detailed timeline, see KISS’ website, http://www.kissonline.com. The group continued to gain more and more exposure, and worldwide fame, with the success of albums Destroyer (1976), Rock and Roll Over (1976), Love Gun (1977), and a second live album Alive II (1977). Between 1976 and 1978, KISS earned $17.7 million from recording royaties and publishing. In Japan, KISS performed five sold out shows breaking the Beatles record at the same venue.
KISS will embark on a 100 city worldwide tour following the release of their next album, Monster, due out June 2012.

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Mott The Hoople “Young Dudes” Glam Rock

The advertisement to the 2010 documentary on the band, entitled “The Ballad of Mott the Hoople” (see http://www.music-news.com for details) leads off with this statement, “The ballad begins with four lads from Herefordshire [England] who, in the 1960s, fell under the spell of musicians like Little Richard. So impressed were they that they set off for the big city of London to indulge in their newly found passion.” Essentially, Mott the Hoople were an English rock band who came to prominence in the Glam Rock era of the early 1970s, primarily after they were discovered by David Bowie, who gave them the song “All the Young Dudes”, which became their vehicle to fame. According to Wikipedia, Mott the Hoople began as two separate “beat” bands in the 1960s, which featured Pete Overend Watts on bass guitar, Verden Allen on organ/piano, Mick Ralphs on guitar, Dale “Buffin” Griffin on drums, and Stan Tippens on vocals, eventually forming a rock’n'roll group they called “Doc Thomas”, then “Shakedown Sound” , and then finally “The Silence”. Silence recorded demos at Rockfield studios in Wales and were submitted to record labels EMI, Polydor, and Apple with no success. (See Wikipedia). One record label did notice them, which was Island records, who agreed to sign the band, but not with Tippens as lead singer. Guy Stevens at Island wanted them to replace the lead singer, so ads were placed, according to Wikipedia, which read “Singer wanted, must be image-minded and hungry”; Ian Hunter was selected as lead singer and piano player, and Tippens became the band’s road manager.
Island records’ manager Stevens had read a book while in prison (for drug charges) by one Willard Manus called Mott the Hoople, and he decided he had to find a band to match the name. The book is about a circus freak show. The band reluctantly agreed to the name change upon Stevens’ urging. Mott the Hoople’s debut album of the same name, Mott the Hoople (1969) became a cult success and now is regarded as one of the top ten Glamour Rock music albums of all time. The rock band’s next three albums did not achieve the same level of success; they were Mad Shadows (1970), Wildfire (1971), and Brain Capers (1971). According to Wikipedia, after a dismal show at a former gas holder [gas containment industrial area] in Switzerland, the band was close to breaking up.
David Bowie had been a long-time fan of the rock group, and upon hearing that they were going to disband, persuaded them to record one of his songs, to break into the top selling UK music charts. They turned down “Suffragete City” but accepted “All the Young Dudes” and it became their biggest hit, released in 1972. In an element of some confusion, David Bowie also produced an album of his own, also called All the Young Dudes. Mott the Hoople was going to record another Bowie song “Drive-In Saturday” but their arrangement did not satisfy Bowie, and their professional relationship ended in 1972. (Wikipedia). The next album during those Glam years was Mott, which climbed to the top 10 in the UK Albums chart, and this was also the bands biggest US seller.
The band went through several changes in line-up, and although it seems incredible now, there was an expose in a rock magazine at the time called New Musical Express that said Tippens had sung back-up on the bands’ albums and this caused a furor! By today’s standards, this seems quaint, but it led to a group shakeup. Mick Ralphs left in 1973 to form Bad Company. Mick Ronson, David Bowie’s guitarist, replaced Ariel Bender. When Mick Ronson and Ian Hunter left to pursue solo efforts in 1974, this was the beginning of the end for Mott the Hoople. However, in 1974, their tour of America was supported by Queen, and this tour provided inspiration for Queen’s 1975 single “Now I’m Here” with the lyrics “Down in the city, just Hoople and me”, as well as the inspiration for Ian Hunter’s book about the tour Diary of a Rock’N'Roll Star. It also resulted in lifelong friendships between Hunter, Ronson, and Bowie, who performed together for the Freddie Mercury concert tribute in 1992.
Ian Hunter began a successful solo career while joining forces with Mick Ronson. Ian Hunter had actually met Ronson pre-Bowie years and had noticed his elegance as a sensational guitarist. Ian Hunter’s best known solo album was Once Bitten, Twice Shy (later covered by Great White) as well as Cleveland Rocks. See Wikipedia for complete discography of Ian Hunter’s solo albums from 1975 with Ian Hunter, to 2009 with Man Overboard.
After lead singer Ian Hunter left Mott the Hoople, the band had little success with albums Drive On (1975) and Shouting and Pointing (1976). In 1990 some former members of The Silence recorded songs from earlier days resulting in 1998 The Italian Job. In 1996, K-Tel released a CD purported to be the best of Mott the Hoople, but was actually a tribute band, and K-Tel was subsequently fined. (See Wikipedia). In 2005, it was reported in Classic Rock that Hunter was offered a seven-figure sum to reunite the band, and on January 16, 2009, it was announced the band would reunite for two concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo in London October 2009, where all five original members of the band participated. Please see both Ian Hunter’s website and Mott the Hoople’s website for latest updates and tune back in for an exclusive podcast featuring Mott the Hoople, Guns N Roses, and Nazareth!

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Nazareth Glam Metal

Nazareth was a Scottish hard rock (and Glam Rock) band that had several hits in the UK and USA in the early 1970s, garnering international fame with the release of their hard-rocking, unforgettable album Hair of the Dog. Nazareth’s most famous hits from this record album were “Love Hurts” and “Hair of the Dog”, made well-known by the guitar hooks and lyrics of “Now You’re Messin’ with a Son of a Bitch!” Nazareth was formed in 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland from a local group named The Shadettes (see Wikipedia) by vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton, bass guitarist Pete Agnew, and drummer Darrell Sweet.  According to Wikipedia, the fledgling band took their name from the city of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Nazareth as a band still records and tours today, and there is a complete history of the band on their website http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk. On this website, Nazareth writes that in the early days the “Scottish promoters and ballroom managers insisted on [Scottish] groups limiting their music set-list to strictly cover singles in the UK Top 30″ and that the band decided that if they were going to make it in the music business,that they would need to move to London. Nazareth writes this they did and in doing so “quitting good day jobs and moving to a grotty communal flat in London” in 1970.

The band released their debut album Nazareth in 1971, but it was not until their third album Razamanaz (produced by Roger Glover of Deep Purple) that the band began to receive recognition, with two U.K. hits, “Broken Down Angel”, and “Bad Bad Boy”. Following this came the album,

Loud N Proud (1973) which contained a cover of a song by folksinger Joni Mitchell “This Flight Tonight.” Nazareth’s fifth album was Rampant (1974) with the single “Shanghai’ed in Shanghai”. The website for Nazareth (often referred to as “Naz” by the band themselves) states this: “Musically, 1974′s Rampant was a move towards metal and it was also the last of three albums produced by Deep Purple’s Roger Glover before Naz’ Manny Charlton took over.” (http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk). In 1975, Nazareth catapulted to international stardom with the release of Hair of the Dog with monster hits “Love Hurts” and “Hair of the Dog”. The Nazareth website states that their label “Mooncrest” “still badly wanted another hit so Naz recorded the Everly Brothers’ hit “Love Hurts.” This went nowhere in England but was Top 10 in America, and then in Norway, it reached #1 and stayed there for 40 weeks.” The Wikipedia reference described this as “60 weeks” on the Norweigen/European charts! You can decide which is correct! Also according to Wikipedia, a second guitarist Zal Cleminson was added in 1979 for Nazareth’s album No Mean City and Malice in Wonderland.  Wiki also said that in 1981 Nazareth contributed the song “Crazy (Suitable for Treatment)” to the soundtrack for the film Heavy Metal.  Nazareth continued to tour and record in the 80s and 90s as their popularity began to wane, although they remained popular in Europe, particularly Germany.

The most recent updates on the band come from their website http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk: “2004 saw the band head out to the USA, Russia, Israel and Europe with a welcome return to the UK.” and “2008 marks the 40th anniversary (of the original band’s formation in 1968)”

Nazareth’s newest album, just released, is called Big Dogz, released for 2012.

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