The Ballad of Mott the Hoople, a documentary about the band, is a movie that I'm looking forward to seeing. It's playing at various festivals and things at the moment, as far as I can tell, so I'm hopeful it'll have some form of general release soon. We'll see.

Mostly because of the presence of Ian Hunter, who wrote Diary of a Rock and Roll Star (1974) and many songs about the band's adventures, Mott obtained the reputation of a band that was self-aware, clever, literary. And many have noticed the apparent contradictions that they embodied - the rock star attitude combined with self-deprecating irony - they gave people a lot to think about. Here's a link to a great video of the band (but without Mick Ralphs, unfortunately) doing their wonderful hit, "Roll Away the Stone", on Top of the Pops (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFUuN__7tE) in late '73. The expression on Hunter's face right before the vocal says it all: Rock and roll is both serious and fun. Then he sings right over his lip-sync. (I have no idea what the intro before the song is about, though).