"The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll" is a single released by Mott the Hoople, from their 1974 album The Hoople. It reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. The lyrics of the song makes reference to Mott being hounded by "96 decibel freaks," a reference to efforts by British politicians of the time to limit the volume of live musical performances to that level.
When performed live by Mott the Hoople, "The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll" would usually follow a piano take on the first verse of Don McLean's "American Pie", so that following the latters statement; "the day the music died", Ian Hunter could declare: "Or did it? Ladies and gentlemen, The Golden Age Of Rock'n'Roll!", with the whole band then launching into the song. This can be heard both on the 2006 bonus tracks on the The Hoople album and on the Broadway disc of the 2004 remastered and expanded 30th Anniversary Edition of Live.
Famous quotes containing the words golden, age, rock and/or roll:
“But wishes breed not, neither
Can we fend off rock arrival,
Lie watching yellow until the golden weather
Breaks, O my heart’s blood, like a heart and hill.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“A man’s interest in the world is only the overflow from his interest in himself. When you are a child your vessel is not yet full; so you care for nothing but your own affairs. When you grow up, your vessel overflows; and you are a politician, a philosopher, or an explorer and adventurer. In old age the vessel dries up: there is no overflow: you are a child again.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Nobody dast blame this man.... For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
“Rock & roll doesn’t necessarily mean a band. It doesn’t mean a singer, and it doesn’t mean a lyric, really.... It’s that question of trying to be immortal.”
—Malcolm McLaren (b. 1946)