Mott The Hoople - "Ballad Of Mott" (1973)

You might remember them as a one hit wonder, but "All The Young Dudes" defined its short-lived era of glam-rock teenage rebellion and still gets airplay thirty years later. And though "Dudes" was presented to the band by David Bowie, with "Ballad Of Mott", Mott head honcho Ian Hunter proved he could write an anthem just as good - and from my tunnel-visioned eyes, even better. And what's more, according to the album credits, he probably wrote it before Mott The Hoople even recorded "All The Young Dudes".

There is a sort of a history of self-referential songs in rock and roll. I guess the Beatles started it with John Lennon quoting his own lyrics on "I Am The Walrus" and "Glass Onion" but these pale beside other ancendents such as the Rolling Stones' "Jigsaw Puzzle" and "Torn And Frayed". Though my favorite moment in this obscure genre is the Mekons' Rock 'N' Roll, which included not only an obvious candidate like "Club Mekon" but lines like "the battles we fought were long and hard - not to be consumed by rock and roll". But "Ballad Of Mott" is the best because it cuts to the bone while retaining a sense of rock grandeur only the early seventies Stones could have matched.

Musically, it's just a rock ballad with a few touches that date it, f'rinstance that fat, dramatic guitar. But what's behind the surface embellishment is Ian Hunter picking at every scab the band had ever picked up during its ever-stalling career. He's bitter and pissed off and embellishes his failures with every verbal taunt and dramatic flair he can think of. And it works because his bitterness and sense of resigned loss have a way of cutting through his literary pretensions. Not to mention, it helps that his pretensions have sense of poetic rhythm to them and that the music has a lolling, dramatic beat that captivates and lives up to his scathing flatullence.