Monday 2 March 2015

PUNK ROCK, NUDITY, AND LEMMY (AND OTHER REASONS WHY WE SHOULD ALL LOVE HAWKWIND)

From Ladbroke Grove to the far reaches of the universe, Hawkwind are responsible for some of the most gloriously unhinged rock and roll to be put to tape. Featuring an ever shifting cast of characters aboard the mothership, they pioneered their own idiosyncratic brand of ramshackle space rock, proved a vital influence on both punk and electronic music and have long been die hard supporters of the underground counter culture that spawned them, playing countless grassroots festivals, grimy squats and benefit gigs over the years, often for free. Combining rawkus garage chops, hypnosis inducing chug, bizarre spoken word passages and noisy electronics, they sounded like nothing else in the early Seventies and remain a vital force to this day, still making music for the voyage.
Emerging from the fertile and radical late 60s West London underground counter culture that spawned alternative newspapers like Friends and the International Times alongside chaotic proto-punk outfits such as the Pink Fairies, Hawkwind were formed in 1969 by Dave Brock. Their self titled debut LP was released in 1970 but it was the essential run of albums from 1971-1976 that saw Hawkwind solidify their idiosyncratic sound; driving, incessant repetitive freak music, a wall of glorious noise.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Space Ritual Live 
2CD1DVD - £19.99

Space Ritual Live
DCD - £11.99

Space Ritual Live - Special Edition
2DVD/2CD - £29.99

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What happens when you mix what is - arguably - the world's most interesting record company, with an anarchist manic-depressive rock music historian polymath, and a method of dissemination which means that a daily rock-music magazine can be almost instantaneous?

Most of this blog is related in some way to the music, books and films produced by Gonzo Multimedia, but the editor has a grasshopper mind and so also writes about all sorts of cultural issues which interest him, and which he hopes will interest you as well.