Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter explained why he and David Bowie were never friends, despite working well together.

Bowie made Mott’s name when he gave the band his song “All the Young Dudes,” reputedly because he was a fan and had heard they were thinking of breaking up due to lack of success. In a new interview with Classic Rock, Hunter recalled the experience of making it big in 1972.

“The fortnight I was in the first division, it got on my nerves,” he admitted. “I didn’t like it. First of all, you’ve got to plan years ahead, and all the rest of it. It stops becoming music, it stops becoming rock ’n’ roll and starts becoming business. David knew he wanted to be a monster. In a good way. When you want it that bad, you get it. If you’ve got the talent, which he did.”

Hunter noted that Bowie “was a different kettle of fish. You know how people are. You go to a party, you get on with some people, you don’t get on with other people. Not because you don’t like them or they don’t like you; just because they’re accountants or they’re lawyers – they’re in a different neck of the woods to you.

“David was great all the time I knew him, but he wasn’t a guy I would have hung out with. Nothing personal. We got on fine in the studio. I went out with him a couple of times, but I don’t make mates easy. I never did. And when I do make a mate, it’s for life. He was a friend like lots of people you meet along the way. David was extremely ambitious. He’d been around.”

Hunter insisted he was never as determined as Bowie. "I just wanted to play rock ’n’ roll because it excited me," he explained. "But David saw a whole lot more and was going for it, 24 hours a day. He just wasn’t the type I would hang out with. But generous to a tee, lovely with the band. I mean, he gave us ‘Dudes.’ I’ve got nothing but praise for David."

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