The 1970s band Brian May thought broke up far too soon: “They were our mentors”
Given their position as perhaps one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, Queen would have been afforded the opportunity to perform alongside some other exceptional acts over the course of their career.
At various points, the band embarked on tours with the likes of Thin Lizzy and Status Quo, two other notable rock acts of the era who, while not quite as revered overseas, were immensely popular in the UK and Ireland. Even for a band to be able to say that they performed alongside these two illustrious acts is impressive, but Queen’s claims don’t just stop there.
They also played at Live Aid in 1985, and while that’s quite a thing to be able to boast in itself, according to many testimonies of attendees, they wiped the floor with all of the other celebrated acts who appeared that day with a 20-minute set that showcased their supremacy as live performers. David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Phil Collins, to put it simply, could not compete with the brilliance that Freddie Mercury and co could offer.
However, despite going on to conquer the world, they had to have come from somewhere initially, and in the years prior to them experiencing these unbelievable highs, they themselves were industriously playing support slots for other acts, some of whom Queen had an immense respect for.
While Queen’s rapid improvement made it somewhat inevitable that they’d end up surpassing the bands they supported, what was upsetting for them was seeing bands who had given them early opportunities to go on tour fall by the wayside and quit before they were able to have any major success of their own.
As far as guitarist Brian May is concerned, Mott the Hoople are perhaps the most tragic example of this, and in a promotional clip for his 2022 solo album, Another World, which featured a cover of the band’s hit, ‘All The Way From Memphis’, he lamented the fact that they weren’t as successful as they deserved to be.
“They were our mentors in a way,” the guitarist claimed, before reflecting on the early experiences that they had shared. “We’re just starting off as a rock group. We have so many big ideas. We have songs, we have presentation ideas, etc. But we’ve never been on tour, so we go on tour, very luckily supporting Mott the Hoople, who are a big band in those days.”
May continued, making the bold claim that had they been taken seriously, they would have ended up reaching the same highs as some of the most notable acts of the era. “In fact, they should have been bigger if they hadn’t broken up,” he added. “I think they would have been like the Stones or whatever.”
Loved by many other artists but sorely overlooked from a commercial point of view, Mott the Hoople remain a cult band to this day, but ought to be talked about for much more than just the handful of hits they had in their home country, their brief association with the glam rock boom of the ‘70s and the fact that Bowie stopped them from breaking up even earlier. Mott the Hoople, frankly, had the potential to go all the way, and even though May acknowledged that, the world wasn’t willing to recognise their talents.
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