was HW: Emperors, now Monster Magnet

Keith Henderson henderson.120 at OSU.EDU
Tue Feb 9 15:35:06 EST 1999


Carl spake thusly...

>     Monster Magnet are fairly drenched in HW influence, swooshy
>noises and all, and have top bloody 40 hits!  When I watched them
>doing "Bummer" (which is a straight lift of the "Time We Left"
>riff, after all) at the London Astoria and the crowd was going
>nuts, I had to think "This *ought* to be Hawkwind!  Why am I not
>seeing this and hearing this with Admiral Brock on stage?".

Yeah, it really seems like it might be a missed opportunity if true space
rock bands, not only HW, but all the other American, Scandinavian, etc.
bands can't suck in some of the audience primed on MM, Fu Manchu, and the
like.  Presonally, I think it's a better fit than the techno/electronic set
(which seems to be their current m.o.), and now perhaps holds as much
potential.  I mean, I've seen Monster Magnet on the 'Friday Night' jukebox
(something that usually sticks to Jewel, the Spice Girls...or Dave Matthews
for 'rock'.  Of course, it was soundly defeated, gathering something like
10% of the vote vs. two competitors.  But then, teenage girls are probably
the main demographic for that show.)

And then, on Jan. 27th, Dave Wyndorf appeared on Politically Incorrect,
which is a completely inane show IMHO (but quite popular), despite the fact
that Bill Maher is quite humorous and often has interesting people on his
show.  (For those who are unfamiliar with this show, the premise is...get
four people who are famous, usually 2 politicians or pundits (who
regurgitate either conservative or liberal drivel incessantly) and 2
actors/musicians/models who blab on about things they know nothing about
(and why should they?), and "discuss" socio-political topics in the news.
It really makes me sick most of the time.)  Anyway, the transcript is
available at:   http://abc.go.com/pi/forum/word_index.html  click on (1/27)

Anyway, I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if Hawkwind
was part of one of these shed-style mega-rock tours of No. America (like
Ozz-fest or whatever) at the invitation of Monster Magnet (as headliner or
perhaps second billing).  Yeah, of course, it wouldn't get me so thrilled to
see them play a 40-minute set in daylight (hence no lights) in a
Budweiser-sponsored Buffett Hut, but I'd just go to see what today's
alterna-kids would say.  You know, like, 'Man, those old geezers ripped off
the Bummer riff!!'  :)

Keith H. (FAA)



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