“Hilarious”: Queen were the best band Mott the Hoople ever toured with
All roads lead to Rome, but all the roads of British rock back in the 1970s invariably led back to the glam rock stylings of Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople. Beloved by everybody from David Bowie to The Clash, the Hoople were essential in driving the rock landscape forwards, and their journey through the airwaves saw them rub shoulders with a seemingly endless array of now-iconic artists.
Although the group was first thrust into the rock and roll limelight back in 1966, during the peak of Britain’s swinging sixties age of musical innovation, it wasn’t until the newfangled sounds of the 1970s rolled around that they really hit their stride. With Hunter at the helm, the group paved the way for the hard rock and glam sound that would dominate the early part of that decade, impacting the next generation of rock revolutionaries through their perfect balance of commercial success with a cult following.
With that commercial success came big-budget tours, as the group graduated from dingy dancehall stages to arenas and swish, purpose-built venues, with a plethora of support acts to fill out the billing. Mott the Hoople toured with various artists over the years, some of whom went on to become rock stalwarts in their own right, and some who quickly succumbed to obscurity. Looking back upon their touring history, though, you’d be hard-pressed to find a support band better than Queen.
In contrast to the globally-renowned, endlessly beloved outfit that the Freddie Mercury-fronted group eventually became, conducting the crowds of Live Aid with unparalleled ease, their early days back in the 1970s weren’t quite as universally enjoyed. After all, the group were attempting to popularise a sound that audiences hadn’t yet gotten used to, marked by an array of artistic innovations and the vast influences harboured by the band’s flamboyant frontman – to put it simply, the band were simply ahead of their time.
Although they did achieve a handful of hits during the mid-1970s, Queen didn’t embark upon a nationwide tour until 1974, as the opening act for Mott the Hoople. Despite being cooped up on a tour bus together, the two bands managed to forge something of a friendship on that tour. “Out of all of Mott’s support bands, we got on with Queen the best,” Ian Hunter once shared, per Classic Rock.
“They became part of us, we became part of them,” the songwriter continued. “It was just like being in a nine-piece band. Fred was a character right off the bat. He was hilarious. He would say things that were extremely funny but he didn’t realise they were funny. And he was impatient. Everything had to be immediate – he had to be a huge star right now.” Seemingly, though, the public acted as a barrier to those plans, particularly when Queen joined their glam comrades for the US leg of the tour.
“I remember him walking up and down in my room in Las Vegas, going: ‘When are these silly bastards going to get it?’” Hunter fondly recalled. Of course, the music-buying public of America did eventually catch on to the unique power of Queen, and Mercury as a frontman, but like all trailblazing architects of music and culture, the band weren’t immediately welcomed with open arms. Still, Mott the Hoople recognised the otherworldly power of the group from their very beginning.
