Mud – Dyna-Mite

11th January 2021 · 1970s, 1973, Glam, Music
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There was always a strong panto element to Glam – the dressing-up, the make-up, the gender-bending –  with style overtaking content. 

As 1973 drew to a close the first wave of Glam bands was running out of steam. That seemingly never-ending string of hits by T. Rex and Slade that began at the turn of the new decade was on the wane and The Sweet would soon start to decline. The second wave began with Suzi Quatro and it continued with Alvin Stardust – and Mud.

They had formed back in 1967 and got a deal with CBS and got as far as appearing on The Basil Brush Show, Crackerjack! and Opportunity Knocks – they came second – but failed to trouble the charts with the cringey psychedelia-lite of songs like Flower Power (sample lyric: “Flower power stays on your mind / Flower power makes you kind all the time”), Shangri-La and Jumping Jehosaphat.

That all changed as soon as they teamed up with Mickey Most at Rak Records and his in-house songwriters Chinn & Chapman, the hit-making team behind The Sweet and Suzi Quatro. It was the same four band members – singer Les Gray, guitarist Rob Davis, bassist Ray Stiles and drummer Dave Mount – but in every other sense a completely different group, unsurprisingly a cross between Slade and Sweet.

This was their third hit of the year, following Crazy and Hypnosis, but the first to crack the Top Ten, thanks to a radical style makeover: glammed-up matching Teddy-boy outfits in primary colours, synchronised dance moves and, in the case of Rob Davis – clearly taking a leaf out of Dave Hill’s book – dangling earrings and puff sleeves.

Having not heard Dyna-Mite for half a century, I find it’s simultaneously better than I remembered and yet remains less than essential for the imaginary Now That’s What I Call Glam compilation album in my head.

I also learn that it was rejected by The Sweet before being offered to Mud – a good move for both, since it gave Mud their first top ten hit, while The Sweet would go on to record what to my mind is their best single, Teenage Rampage.