Friday, August 8, 2008

Who Loves Hawkwind ? Space Rock Adventurers

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/H/hawkwind_hallf.jpg

Hawkwind, believe it or not were not named after some mythological Norse character, but after the bad habits of Nik Turner from his gross habit of clearing his throat (hawking) and excessive farting

They also sometimes played with another great band of the late 60's/early 70's, the Pink Fairies, combining at tomes as "Pinkwind"

On a serious note Hawkwind are celebrated as one of the first 'space rock' bands, a prog genre also sometimes inhabited by Pink Floyd and certainly by David Bowie

The philosophy of the band was really cemented with their second album, 1971's In Search of Space. Science fiction author Michael Moorcock served as a science fiction consultant to the band, hence "Silver Machine" and the constant references to the cosmos

The band was also famous, like the Grateful Dead, of encouraging the free taping of their concerts. This all stopped, however, in their recent 2008 reunion tour, a sore-point with many fans.


Check them out !

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um, his name is Nik Turner, not Taylor, and he played the sax and flute, not the guitar.

Paul Rhodes said...

thanks baron, mixed him up with dick taylor prety things guitarist; only just dscovered hawkind, appreciate the correction

paul

Anonymous said...

No Problem, I know because I've been a fan since 1974 when I saw the Space Ritual, and have seen them numerous times as well as seeing Nik solo with Simon House and Del Detmer. Del had his musical axe. It was amazing to say the least. Welcome Hawkfan.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I almost forget to mention, you have a great blog. Keep up the great work. There's lot's of good stuff in here.

Paul Rhodes said...

cheers I am actually just donwloading Space Ritual as we speak (legally) and keen to hear it; I was about 9 years old in 74

Anonymous said...

Since you're "down under", you might appreciate the song Flying Doctor.

Anonymous said...

So what were your impressions of Space Ritual?