I saw them at the Fillmore. Opening for Traffic on its reunion tour. Their debut with the Escher cover with the reptiles crawling had been released to a good amount of press and very little airplay, but what ever commotion there was about it had to do with the instrumental cover of “You Really Got Me,” recorded when David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen were still wet behind the ears. They played it. Ian Hunter wore his sunglasses. There was a lot of energy, but I didn’t buy the album, unlike with the middle act, Fairport Convention, who were out supporting “Full House.” And I didn’t buy any of the follow-ups either, despite their fourth, “Brain Capers,” getting good reviews. It appeared Mott The Hoople’s time had come and gone.

And then came “All The Young Dudes.”

Instead of breaking up, David Bowie gave them an unreleased song and produced their debut for Columbia and suddenly, Mott The Hoople had a radio hit, they were on everybody’s mind. And not long thereafter Mick Ralphs left the band for Bad Company, who knew he was a guitar hero?, Ariel Bender did a bad job of replacing him and Ian Hunter eventually went solo and after missing three times on Columbia, using up all his good will, he moved to Chrysalis and put out a near-masterpiece, “You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic.” The best track is the long forgotten “When The Daylight Comes,” but “Wild East” is infectious, “Just Another Night” is a great opener, “Bastard” is heavy and penetrates and Barry Manilow covered “Ships” and Ian finally had a true radio hit and some income, never mind “Cleveland Rocks,” which ultimately got its due when the Presidents of the United States covered it as the theme of Drew Carey’s eponymous TV show. So all’s well that ends well, both Mick Ralphs and Ian Hunter had their success, and Pete “Overend” Watts and Dale “Buffin” Griffin ultimately had some credits as producers.

Now there was one more album after Bowie’s involvement before Ralphs left, “Mott” had the rocking opening cut “All The Way From Memphis,” which is a semi-classic and was featured at the beginning of Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” but it was already downhill at that point. “All The Young Dudes” was the apotheosis, and it’s still my favorite, it’s as fresh to me as it was when it came out, back in ’72. The killer is “One Of The Boys.”

“One Of The Boys”

It starts with the dialing of a telephone, and then quiet introductory licks that almost sound like a band warming up, and then the drum kicks, the organ enters and the guitar starts to crunch.

One of the boys
One of the boys
I don’t say much but I make a big noise
And it’s growing

And that’s just what this track does. It keeps building in intensity. You nod your head, throw your fist in the air and totally meld with the sound, and what more can you ask for from rock and roll?

And then it gets quieter, and eventually seems to almost end before it’s resuscitated and all I can say is “One Of The Boys” is one of those vaunted album tracks everybody reminisces and testifies about. Rarely heard on the radio (except for XM’s Deep Tracks!), if you owned the album, you knew it by heart.

“Jerkin’ Crocus”

And since we’re rocking… It’s like Mick Ralphs is dancing on the fretboard, you can’t help but move your body.

I know what she want
Just a lick of your ice cream cone

Listen and decipher the sexual references yourself. But this is one of those tracks the Stones specialized in, little rockers with swinging, thin guitars. But in this case the axe is played by Mick Ralphs and it’s a little fuller and unlike Jagger, Ian Hunter is not banging you over the head, he’s just telling you his story. It all gels. “Jerkin’ Crocus” is perfect in its own little way. Back when bands lived for the alcohol and sexual shenanigans on the road, when the Fortune 500 didn’t come calling and the bands were not interested, couldn’t even name them.

“Momma’s Little Jewel”

And while we’re still rocking…
It starts off slow, but it’s still rock and roll. The combo of the piano and the guitar, the simplicity, hooks you. This is the sound the Faces made famous. And Mott The Hoople was every bit as good. Billy Joel wasn’t the only one to sing about Catholic girls…

“Sweet Jane”

Still my favorite cover. Lou Reed wouldn’t ease into public consciousness for a few more months, with his David Bowie produced hit “Walk On The Wild Side.” This was before the Velvet Underground was legendary, this was before all the shoegazers testified they were inspired to start up a band by listening to the Velvets. 1970’s “Loaded” had been almost completely ignored. Yes, the legendary album with the original version of this song and “Rock & Roll.” “Loaded” was seen as their commercial sell-out album. It was on Cotillion, a division of Atlantic, as opposed to Polydor or Verve. “Rock & Roll” was resuscitated later by Lou on his “Rock N Roll Animal” album, but one must give Mott The Hoople credit for resuscitating “Sweet Jane,” with a wink to producer David Bowie.

Mott’s cover is simple and direct. Just like the original. And there’s nothing wrong with that!

“Ready For Love/After Lights”

And most people have no clue this initial version exists, a Mick Ralphs original that’s even heavier than the ultimately famous recut on Bad Company’s debut. It’s not a dirge, but a statement. With emphasis. Sometimes the best voice doesn’t do justice to the material. Paul Rodgers is one of the best singers of all time, but to hear Mick Ralphs sing his composition is to believe every word. No one sings a song quite like the composer…they believe it, and so do you!

But the best part of the track is when it breaks down and gets quiet four and a half minutes in, when you get the ethereal vocals and the firework guitar licks, as if someone’s setting off bottle rockets in the front yard. This is the opposite of club music. It’s made just for you, lying on your bedroom floor, listening on headphones, going on your own aural adventure.

Some tracks never make the hit parade, but they move you even more than the hits. “Ready For Love/After Lights” is one of them.

And Verden Allen got his moment with “Soft Ground,” and then promptly left the band, sick of having his material ignored.

And “Sea Diver” is classic emotive Hunter. And “Sucker” fits right in with the mood of the album, albeit not at quite as high a quality as some other cuts, but then we’ve got the elephant in the room, the title track, “All The Young Dudes.”

“All The Young Dudes”

It’s the guitar intro and the way Ian jumps right into the lyrics and the anthemic chorus and really it’s the song more than the production, as Bowie’s subsequent renditions make clear, still this was a perfect single from a band that could only seem to make album cuts.

And the lyrics are classic Bowie fantasy, these young dudes didn’t really exist, but if you were just a bit left of center, you identified. Scratch a rock fan and underneath you’ll find a loser. The one who knows all the credits, all the licks, all the players…they filled their world with hope from this music since in reality their social lives were nearly a complete vacuum.

And yes, it was a time of change, from the Beatles and the Stones to a second generation, Bowie was just breaking through, and punk’s burgeoning was around the corner. And give Bowie credit for seeing the future, he was always good at that, but forgetting all the prescience and meaning “All The Young Dudes” just sounds right!

And maybe you know this album and are grinning from ear to ear.

Maybe you’ve never heard it before and it will become one of your new favorites.

Or maybe you think it’s an antique best avoided.

But if you want a glimpse of the rock world from an English perspective in 1972, listen to this album, it nails it.

P.S. The album on Spotify is the extended one, with the demo versions and live takes, worth checking out even if you know this album by heart.

Rhinofy-Mott The Hoople

Previous Rhinofy playlists

“We got young people interested in sound quality once again.”

It’s a funny rule of thumb. Be nice to people and you never hear from them. Be nasty or get it wrong and they light up your inbox!

Jimmy wanted to set the record straight.

What he said was they do no discounting. That there’s one Costco in Canada that gives a few bucks off, that they can’t seem to stop, but other than that everyone pays retail. They’ve got authorized distributors, if someone makes a deal, they lose the right to sell. Jimmy’s not sure whether the KSL offer was of legit headphones or not. But if they’re real, Beats is gonna find out who the distributor is and they’re gonna lose their license.

As for the Chinese sites… It’s a full time job, they’ve got a stack of lawyers fighting counterfeiters. Just like Nike. As for the existence of these sites, Beats doesn’t have the cash of Apple, they’re doing the best they can.

So here’s how it goes, Dre says:

“It’s one thing to steal it, it’s another thing to destroy it.”

Yup, there was nothing Dre could do about online theft, but it bugged him that the files kids were listening to were so awful. That was the inspiration for Beats. (Another source also told me that Dre was constantly pitched endorsements but wouldn’t do them because they were not in his wheelhouse, sound was.)

So Jimmy and Dre hired Robert Brunner, who used to work at Apple, before Jonny Ive, to design the headphones. Once they were done, they approached Noel Lee at Monster for help, primarily in distribution. Jimmy says Noel did help a bit with design, but the termination deal is signed, sealed and delivered. Monster is in a sell-off period, but Beats has now established its own distribution network and the pipeline has been filled.

You see everything’s manufactured in China. Which is how Apple does it. How so many high tech companies do it.

There are multiple sets of Beats headphones, and they all sound a bit different, they’ve got ten producers around the world who tweak the sound as to their liking. As for the sound curve, Jimmy emphasized that Beats headphones were made for modern music, the music of today.

Jimmy said I’M AN AUDIO FREAK! He said he’s got five sets of Tannoys, he shows up in the studio with Brystons. He took six weeks to get the sound right on a single track on “Damn The Torpedoes.” And Dre puts in the same effort.

“When we started this, they said no one will pay for sound again.”

Jimmy’s right about that. And like a true rock and roller, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Our goal is to get kids to go from earbuds to headphones.”

And he’s done a good job of that.

“It’s our version of studio sound.”

As for HP… That’s a licensing deal. And Jimmy pointed out how interesting it was that Dell is advertising upgraded sound now. Computers were tuned for voice, Jimmy wanted them tuned for music.

As for Chrysler… Jimmy and Dre sit in the car with a geek in the back, tuning the sound.

As for HTC, they had half, now they’ve got 25%. (A source told me this reduction was made because Jimmy, et al, had an option, kind of like Jive with BMG, that would force HTC to buy them out, and with HTC’s sinking fortunes, the deal had to be redone, so HTC wasn’t on the potential hook for so much cash.)

Can two guys who spent their lives in the studio make better headphones than the traditional players?

I’ll leave that for you to decide.

But I wanted to set the record straight. Jimmy says there’s no discounting of Beats headphones. I believe him.

Deals – Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones

Ironically, on the same day Trent Reznor announced he was working with the company:

Trent Reznor – facebook

This is the beginning of the end. This is how you kill a brand.

You absolutely cannot get Bose headphones at a discount. They came out with the QuietComfort 3, they still sold the QuietComfort 2 at full price.

In other words, Beats is a fad. In it for the short money as opposed to the long. No different from Atari entering the computer market…and you know how that turned out.

Maybe they’ve just got too much inventory…

That’s how Tim Cook got the top job at Apple. He may not have avoided the maps fiasco, which seems to be a press story only, but he’s an expert in supply chain economics.

Maybe there’s a new model!

But earbuds are not like cars, redesigned every year (although most major changes are on a 5-7 year cycle in the automobile business at this point.) And they never give discounts that deep on cars. Period.

Then there’s the ankling of Monster. As for future products… It’s like selling a car that looks like a Mercedes-Benz on the outside but has Suzuki inside.

This is typical of the music business. A giant fire sale. Nothing’s built to last. Everybody’s planning to get out tomorrow. Take the money and run.

Beats Electronics Is Breaking Up with Monster

iPhone 5 Buyers, iOS 6 Users Don’t Care About Maps Fiasco

P.S. These discounts may be part of the disconnection from Monster, but it still hurts the brand. It trains people to wait for the deal. The same way papering trains people to wait for the free tickets.

Streaming won.

That’s right. While you were lauding the sonic quality of CDs, bitching about Spotify payments and repeating endlessly that no one wanted to rent music, technologists, not married to the past, enmeshed in a sphere of creative destruction, necessary in order to win, saw what the people wanted before they knew it and delivered it.

The number one music service today is YouTube. Can a dedicated music service supersede it?

The iTunes Store has peaked. It’s just a matter of when Apple goes into streaming. The Cupertino company has a long history of following the innovation of others with a more highly refined product. And if you don’t think they can do this, you haven’t employed Spotify search. In a world where Google delivers exactly what you want instantly, yes, usually the first hit is the desired one, it’s frequently impossible to find what you want on Spotify. You think it’s not there, then you change search terms and voila! It’s as simple as the lack of a single play repeat button in the app… Apple gets the little things right. They provide all the solutions we need right up front. At least this was all true before Steve Jobs’s unfortunate demise. If Apple gets beaten on streaming music, if it fails to corner this market, you know the company is past its peak.

Yes, it’s not about Microsoft triumphing in the music sphere. Good luck to them. Let the best man win. But it is about bringing subscription services front and center. Just like all Blu-Ray players come with Netflix apps, music apps will be part of future operating systems. Will third party delivery services survive? Jimmy Iovine tied in with HP for Beats, he’d better do so soon with MOG. Then again, HP’s in trouble, when the PC business is cratering and they’ve got no viable tablet strategy.

Spotify was the pioneer.

Oops, Rhapsody was the pioneer. But Rhapsody could not see that a free tier was necessary to adoption. Dope would have a small percentage of its penetration if the first hit was not free. A lousy interface and a lack of experience by the public held back Rhapsody. Then again, maybe Rhapsody was just too early. (I.e. see Apple above re timing.)

With Xbox Music the old world has been put to bed. People expect the history of recorded music at their fingertips. If your business model is based on scarcity, you’re screwed.

And there are cultural issues too. If you’re not insanely great, despite your music being available, it will probably be ignored. Because why listen to crap when excellence is right next door, a click away?

Xbox Music is like Netflix streaming. They had it for years before everybody caught on. And what sold Netflix streaming? Word of mouth! Yup, advertising does not sell new technology and services, only early adopters spreading the word. In other words, you’d be better off reading “The Tipping Point” than getting a job at an advertising firm.

I’m not saying subscription streaming services will triumph overnight. But just like digital photography, something that was heralded for a decade before it peaked, in seemingly a day, streaming will take over. Sales will not fade that same day, but will diminish quickly. And just like with digital photography kids now take thousands of pictures a year, more people will listen to more music.

Will they listen to your music?

Mm…

You think it’s still about getting signed, getting on the radio, as if old media is gonna be king forever. That’s like saying people will use MS DOS forever. Like saying no one needs a smartphone. Like saying desktops will not be impacted by tablets. Radio ceased long ago being anything but a delivery method, there’s no soul except on talk radio. You can get the hits elsewhere.

Record stores have already disappeared. Those that still exist sell tchotchkes.

Apple’s hottest laptops come without disk drives. So if you think there’s a future for CDs…

And the newest laptops have less storage than before. Because what you need lives in the cloud.

We’re in an era of access.

You’re in the business of creating demand. In a world where everything is available essentially for free at people’s fingertips. How can you motivate people to check you out and continue to listen?

If you hype something bad, you’ve lost credibility. If something’s not great, it won’t be listened to again. It’s not like buying an album and playing it ad infinitum because you can’t afford new music.

And if Apple can break up iLife, allowing you to buy only the components you need, via digital download, what makes you sure people still want the album, especially its weaker tracks?

You can follow the horse race. You can bet on whether Microsoft ends up owning music or not.

You can marvel that music is now a feature as opposed to a stand-alone item.

You can complain that you’re making less initially from a stream than you did from the sale of an album.

Or you can recognize that the future is here, creative destruction is a way of life, and you’re best to learn how to play by the new rules and anticipate future changes.

Sure, people are going to lose their jobs. Winners and losers will be realigned.

But if you don’t think this is a heyday for listeners, you don’t have ears.