When it was first published in 1974, Ian Hunter's Diary Of A Rock'n'Roll Star was acclaimed as one of the most outstanding and essential music books ever written. It wasn't that rock had found its Chekhov - Hunter's literary abilities are to put it politely, limited - it was more that someone had sat down and chronicled all the ins and outs and ups and downs of what it was like to be in a moderately successful band, in a shockingly honest voice. Hunter's naked prose stripped away the glittering facade of the immediate post-Woodstock era and spelt out in block capitals the sheer disillusionment of his trade.
Hunter was the singer with Mott The Hoople, a boogie band from the English midlands who were on the point of splitting up when David Bowie threw one of his cast-off songs their way. The song, All The Young Dudes, gave them a massive hit and they rapidly dovetailed into the then-nascent glam rock scene. Shortly after Dudes, in November 1972, the band went on a five-week American tour and Hunter kept a diary. His scribblings were supposed to be for an edition of his fan club fanzine, "a letter to a fan in the front row of The Rainbow . . . as a buzz for the people who dig us" but once in the hands of a publishing company, the tour diary turned into a still-celebrated tome.
It's the utter naivete that, 24 years on, still impresses - plus Hunter's add-water prose. Day One and he's packing for the tour: "I've decided to travel in jeans and afghan coat, and then change into black leather just before we reach LA. CBS will meet us and little ole poser me doesn't want to disappoint them. Pull the TV plug out, pull the fridge plug out, leave the keys in the car so Bill can spray it black and gold (a black and gold Anglia - too fuckin' much). Finally have a bottle of Medoc and a Mandy, which is a rock'n'roll sleeping pill". Shortly later he's on the plane and scribbling away on the back of napkins: "For those of you who have never flown, I can tell you it's a buzz if you can dig it. You get free meals, drinks and papers, duty-free gifts and fags. The seats recline and they even have movies - I'll be watching Steve McQueen in Junior Bonner any minute now. Over the window there are pull-down shades which a chick just asked me to close because of the film. Have to go now, the stewardess is coming around."
As the tour progresses ("soundcheck, gig, travel" basically) Hunter takes time out for some sociological musings. Here are his thoughts on the Northern Irish situation: "I'm anti-parents. Ireland is a typical case in hand. I really believe the only solution to Ireland's problems is to take a generation of kids away from their parents at birth. I know this sounds inhuman, but is it any more cruel than bombs left snidely in cars?"
Occasionally there's the odd, out-of-the-blue wondering about his contemporaries: "I wonder what Lennon's doing now; he's probably just having breakfast. Bacon and eggs Japanese style. Good luck, mate." And so it continues, as the band treks its way through the Mid-West and down to California. David Bowie, Frank Zappa and Roxy Music all make appearances alongside Hunter's musings on travel, Hereford United and "ladies of the lobby". Now all the more wonderful because it dated so quickly, Diary Of A Rock N'Roll Star is a massively entertaining read; not least because it's a totally bullshit-free zone, and you don't get too many of those in the PR-addled world of rock music. Such is its curiosity value, the book has just been reprinted and is available again for the first time in 20 years.
Coincidentally or not, a three-CD retrospective of Mott The Hoople's career has also just been released. Alongside the lumpen early work, there's plenty of the trademark boogie sound that first brought them to Bowie's attention. Strangely enough, Bowie initially offered the band Suffragette City - but they turned it down, saying "it's not good enough", and got Dudes instead. Very much on the up elevator, Hunter went on to write Honaloochie Boogie and All The Way To Memphis, but things began to fall apart shortly after Spider From Mars guitarist Mick Ronson joined the band in 1974.
A worthy but very patchy retrospective, the main selling point here is a never-heard-before version of Bowie singing Dudes, but you have to plough through an awful amount of dressed-up pub-rock to get to that point. Buy the book, borrow the CDs.
All The Young Dudes - The Mott The Hoople Anthology is on the Columbia label. Ian Hunter's Diary of a Rock'n'Roll Star is published by Independent Music Press, price £7.95
