Credit: Far Out / YouTube Still
Sun 13 September 2026 15:15, UK
Something that David Bowie doesn’t often receive credit for is how generous he really was as an artist.
And that was in far more senses than just spotting talent, although he was good at that too. Regardless of whether it was an artist the same age or much younger than himself, he always allowed the space to nurture and foster new talent to grow, without any sense of competition or rivalry ever becoming apparent.
You could see that in any number of artists he worked and crossed paths with, from Mick Ronson to Lorde. But perhaps the greatest example could be found in Mott the Hoople, the band who were on the verge of destruction in the early 1970s before the Starman swooped in to unleash his unearthly powers on them.
The well-known result that was yielded from this was obviously ‘All The Young Dudes’, a song that was clearly so Bowie coded you could have believed it to be a cover. However, there was a very good reason for that, because as much as he had written the song, it was actually the second option he had given the band.
The other was a little-known ditty by the name of ‘Suffragette City’, which Mott the Hoople turned down as they preferred the sound of ‘All The Young Dudes’. It was a fair enough choice to make, as frankly any song written by Bowie at that time would have been on to a winner, but it does make you consider what could have been.
On one hand, Mott the Hoople could have blazed their way through ‘Suffragette City’ and gone on to create a string of similar hits all in the same vein, subsequently leaving Bowie for dust. At the same time, the Starman might never have been able to make ‘All The Young Dudes’ into a fully-fledged hit in the same way.
It was a swings and roundabouts affair, really, but equally an exchange that both parties could not have grumbled over. They all got what they wanted, in the end: Mott the Hoople stayed together and gained their breakout, signature tune. Bowie, meanwhile, continued on the trajectory of his Ziggy Stardust prime.
Further reading: From The Vault
‘Suffragette City’ was an absolutely integral part of that, where he and the Spiders from Mars blitzed through the streets with such a rebellious fire and wrath that it was impossible not to become enamoured in the thrill of it all. Here was this alien taking the world by storm and creating an army to follow him as he went.
Yet what it actually boiled down to, when you really think about it, was the fact that Bowie put himself in second position just so he could ensure that Mott the Hoople would succeed. He still landed with a great tune out of the equation, indeed, one of his best. But you wouldn’t catch many other artists selling themselves potentially so short to allow another band to take advantage. That, above all, was his ethereal mark.
