You Are One of Us – The Ballad of Mott the Hoople (By the Fans, For the Fans)
Published by Hit The North | Introduction by Kris Needs**
Hi, Phil Aston here from Now Spinning Magazine, and this time I’m looking at a book that absolutely took my breath away. As many of you know, Mott the Hoople are one of my favourite bands of all time. Their music is woven into the very fabric of my life, from being a 13-year-old lad hearing All the Young Dudes in 1972 to rediscovering their deeper cuts again and again over the decades.
But nothing prepared me for just how moving, joyful, and downright human this book is.
This is You Are One of Us: The Ballad of Mott the Hoople – By the Fans, For the Fans, published by Hit The North with an introduction by legendary journalist and lifelong Mott fan Kris Needs. And it is, without exaggeration, one of the most wonderful tributes to a band I’ve ever held in my hands.
A Book Crafted With Love (And It Shows)
Before I even talk about the content, I have to mention the physical quality of the book. The pages are silky, glossy, and weighty—it feels like a truly premium labour of love. This is a heavy book not just physically, but emotionally. Everything about it has been crafted with care.
Inside, what you get is not an academic history or a deep-dive discography. Instead, you’re invited into the world of the fans—the people whose lives have been shaped, changed, and uplifted by Mott the Hoople.
In the summer of 2023, Hit The North put out a call for submissions. What came back was a global outpouring of memories, photographs, ticket stubs, friendships, anecdotes, life-changing gigs, personal encounters, and intimate reflections from devoted Mott followers across the world.
And that’s the magic of this book.
Each page you turn feels like meeting another old friend.
Fans’ Stories That Will Stay With You
Every contributor shares a little about who they are, how they discovered the band, and their favourite Mott the Hoople moments. Some stories are funny, some are nostalgic, and some are deeply emotional. You truly get a sense of a global family stitched together by this band.
One story that hit me right in the heart is from John Harris in Somerset, who shares how his autistic young son became a massive Ian Hunter fan from the age of three. Too young to attend an Ian Hunter show, John sent an optimistic email asking whether his son might be allowed to listen in from the soundcheck.
Not only was he welcomed in—Ian Hunter played Once Bitten, Twice Shy just for him.
That story alone shows the humanity not only of the fans, but of Ian Hunter and the band themselves. And the whole book is filled with stories like this: friendships formed, lives changed, kids discovering the music through their parents, personal hardships softened by these songs, and Mott becoming the soundtrack to marriages, breakups, moves, milestones, grief, hope, and everything in between.
You really feel the heartbeat of the band still echoing through its fans.
The Spirit of Now Spinning Magazine – Captured in One Book
As I was reading, something became very clear: this book embodies the spirit of what we try to do here at Now Spinning Magazine.
It’s about connection.
It’s about community.
It’s about music as the healer and the doctor.
It’s about the bonds formed around shared passion.
People from England, Spain, America and beyond, of all ages, all backgrounds, all united through the music of Mott the Hoople—exactly as our own Now Spinning community is brought together by our love of physical media and the stories behind the music.
This is why the book hit me so deeply. It felt familiar. It felt like home.
A Book That Sends You Straight Back to the Music
The biggest compliment I can give this book is this:
It made me want to put a Mott the Hoople album on immediately.
And I did.
Before I’d even finished it, I was pulling out Wildlife, Brain Capers, Mott, and the Ian Hunter albums. I even went back to the documentary. The book reignited everything I love about this band.
It reminded me that there is so much new music to discover—but also so much “new old music” waiting to be rediscovered.
I get sent a lot of books in this line of work—but this one is something special.
If you’re a Mott the Hoople fan, or an Ian Hunter fan…
If you were there in the ’70s or discovered them last week…
If their music is woven into your life as deeply as it is into mine…
Then please, put this book on your Christmas list.
Tell Santa.
Tell your family.
Treat yourself.
You will treasure it.
And as always—remember:
Music is the healer and the doctor.
If you’d like to be part of a community of music lovers just like the fans in this book, come and join our Now Spinning Magazine family on Patreon or YouTube membership. We even meet every month in our virtual pub, The Now Spinning Arms.
All the links are on the website at nowspinning.co.uk.
Take care everyone,
and I’ll speak to you all again very soon.
