David Bowie’s “All The Young Dudes”, recorded by Mott the Hoople, was widely received as an anthem for glam-rock youth, helped by its communal tone and immediate appeal to the band. Bowie, however, said the intended meaning was the reverse: the song was a bleak extension of his Ziggy Stardust apocalypse narrative rather than a celebration of young people.

Mott the Hoople singer Ian Hunter recalled recognising the song’s hit potential when Bowie first performed it acoustically. In a 1974 Rolling Stone interview, Bowie placed it within Ziggy Stardust’s five-year doomsday scenario, in which disconnected adults leave young people to fend for themselves and Ziggy sings news of an approaching apocalypse.