Pet Shop Boys cover Mott the Hoople's classic 'All The Young Dudes'

7 November 2024, 11:42

Pet Shop Boys and Mott the Hoople. Picture: Getty Images

By Mayer Nissim

The Pets give the David Bowie-written classic their trademark orchestral electropop treatment.

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Pet Shop Boys have released a new cover of classic Mott the Hoople single 'All The Young Dudes'.

The track is the double-A-side of their own 'New London Boy', with that track from this year's Nonetheless album telling the story of Neil Tennant's move to the capital in 1972.

As well as being available digitally, both songs will be available as a CD single from November 15.

David Bowie wrote 'All The Young Dudes' and gave it to Ian Hunter's band to record, producing the song for them and also singing backing vocals.

Mott were on the verge of splitting up before the single, having released four studio albums without much commercial success.

Pet Shop Boys - All the young dudes (Official Audio)

Bowie had actually first offered the band 'Suffragette City', but they had rejected it for not fitting with their sound.

The success of 'All The Young Dudes' and the band's album of the same name, also produced by Bowie, convinced them to stay together.

Bowie then offered Mott the band 'Drive-In Saturday', but wary of being too associated with him they rejected the song.

Mott the Hoople - All The Young Dudes

He started playing 'All The Young Dudes' himself on the Ziggy Stardust Tour and it remained a fixture in his setlists over the years.

Hunter and Bowie collaborated on a version of the song in 1992 for the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, while Mott continued to play it at their live shows.

After Mott the Hoople split, Ian Hunter continued to perform the track solo and with his other projects.

David Bowie - All the Young Dudes (Live at the Isle of Wight)

Bowie's own studio version – recorded in December 1972 – was eventually released in 1995 on the Rarestonebowie collection and later appeared on a number of other compilations.

Pet Shop Boys and Bowie collaborated in his lifetime when Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe remixed his 'Hallo Spaceboy' 1996.

Despite Bowie's initial reservations with the idea, they turned the song into a hit single in part by mashing up snatches of 'Space Oddity' lyrics sung by Tennant into the track.