HW: Punkwind

[Bolts of Ungodly Vision]

At 08:55 PM 9/30/98 +0100, you wrote:
>> Quicker Hawkwind question:  Is Hawkwind punk?
>
>    I once read something (Trouser Press Guide?) which said that
>some people considered Hawkwind offensive merely for existing,
>and if that wasn't punk, they didn't know what was :)
>
Too true:)  Nonetheless, hawkwind is punk for some pretty obivous reasons:
1.  Music. It is a spit in the face of complexity (i.e. Yes,Gentle Giant,BOC)
  and the band abuses their intstruments for their own ends, as opposed to
treating them like cherished thingys.If I remember once on the list there
was a debate about HW songs  being divided into 1,2,or 3 chords being used
categories.  That adheres to the punk tradition.
2.  Stage show.  Although it is not bareknuckled simplicity, it DOES try to
bring the audience into te show/music via the dancers, lights and I'm sure
the usage of "extracurricualr substanes"  help that communal feel too.
3.  The band's image is that of the quintassential60's subversive musical
movement... Not groomed for cameras (or anyone for a good deal of their
history), "space rock"=escapist leaning rfom reality, or rather the
expansion of it, The Space Ritual format of improv/spoken word a la
beatnick poetry stereotypes prior to beatnick being swallowed by culture as
OK, doing those legendary free gigs outside the festivals to undermine
capitalism, the tratment of the marketplace as a stepping stone (aka
numerous labels but still consistent in product  production), the heavyness
of the sounds, easy to rock out to,... all the things punk be.
4. Urban Guerilla's lyrics are not Establishment friendly:)


More to come maybe,
Jason