Remember a glam rock band called Mott the Hoople? “All the Young Dudes”, “All the Way from Memphis”? Remember the lead singer, Ian Hunter? Always wore black sunglasses, had long curly blond hair...
Don’t remember him, hunh. Well maybe you remember “The Drew Carey Show.” The opening theme, “Cleveland Rocks.” Ian Hunter wrote it, and remember the band Great White? “Once Bitten Twice Shy”? Hunter wrote that too.
He came into the world in 1939 as Ian Hunter Patterson; born in Oswestry, Shropshire, England, Hunter is best known for his years as the frontman for Mott the Hoople, and of course, for his ever-present shades.
I used to lie awake and wonder how he looked behind those shades.
Remember your first crush? Your first unrequited love?
I remember mine.
Ian Hunter remembered his in a song called “Irene Wilde”:
Her name was Irene Wilde,
oh such beauty for a child,
when she started dating boys
I nearly died,
for I could not barely stand
seeing someone hold her hand,
I felt I had to crawl away and hide…
for those looks they seemed to say
you ain’t nothing
go away
you’re just a face in the crowd…
There are a lot of Ian Hunter tunes, which, if I were to name, would probably make you say, oh yeah, I had forgotten about that song. I liked that song.
There are things I could tell you about Ian Hunter’s life, which, if you care to, you can find for yourself online.
So I won’t.
But I remember the Sansui turntable I had at thirteen, the JBL speakers. I remember Ian Hunter singing “Rest in Peace”:
Oh if my wheel
could take another turn
and if my life
replayed itself again
I wouldn’t want
a single thing to change…
I remember in Joyful Wisdom Nietzsche asked, how well disposed towards yourself and your life would you have to become, to want it all again, times without number.
I remember in “Stripes”, Bill Murray said, Tito Puente’s gonna be dead, and you’re gonna say, oh I’ve been listening to him for years.
He broke my heart. And he made me smile. He was, back then, my Irene Wilde; I'll wear shades in his honor the day that he passes. I will play “Rest in Peace”, times without number. I was and still am just a face in the crowd, but on June the third, he will be eighty-five. And I want Ian Hunter to know I remember.