To his credit, Ian Hunter delivers the song as well as Bowie (he sings it live from time to time), even adding his own stamp to the song. Specifically, I like the way Hunter kind of cheers on the “crowd” during the chorus, addressing them in a series of jubilant spoken fragments. Even if Bowie set him up to succeed, Hunter and his band made the most of their opportunity.
(I snipped some stuff from Brian’s entry, go read it)
“Dudes” is my favourite Bowie song from his ‘early years’, mostly because of the Mott rendition. Like on the other amazing Mott singles - “Honaloochie Boogie”, “All The Way From Memphis”, “Saturday Gigs” - Ian Hunter believes in rock and roll in a way that Bowie basically doesn’t.
Actually, no, that’s not quite right, after all any idiot can believe in rock and roll. What I mean is that Ian Hunter has something in his voice that desperately wishes rock and roll was true. As a non-believer myself, I appreciate that.
