Hawkwind and The Pink Fairies – The History Of Punk
At first glance featuring Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies here may go counter to everything I’ve said earlier. They appear to feature a lot of the attributes that would make them boring hippies/prog but my friends that is to misunderstand the beauty of Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies. You won’t see them mentioned in rock histories, or perhaps just in passing, but Hawkwind are one of the forgotten greats. By now they will have released over a hundred million albums and will have been playing live for over 300 years.
Essentially a drug fuelled band, they have plied their trade through so many incarnations and styles of music that they have become timeless and in a genre of their own. Christ they even had a top 30 hit with Silver Machine. Their next single Urban Guerilla was released at the time of an IRA bombing campaign and was banned! Them’s the knocks for our space heroes.
The central point of Hawkwind has always been Dave Brock At their peak round about Space Ritual they featured Lemmy and played extended jams all based on a loose space theme featuring, saxophone, weird sonic instruments and a naked dancer called Stacia. It may not sound appetising but try it. Dave Brock’s proto punk guitar, Lemmy’s amphetamine driven bass, complete with double drummers.
Punkadelia is the best way to describe it. Constant free gigs at festivals, support for various causes, some more radical than others, and completely unpublicised and a complete anarchist lifestyle. They were different. They stayed different and perhaps unique in popular music they stayed true to their ideals an still do. Punk didn’t affect them at all it re-energised them. Listen to Death Trap off PXR5 for an all out punk sonic attack.
Johnny Rotten used to go and see them often and play their records. Pete Shelley (and Magazine) was influenced by Space Ritual, Shanne from The Nips wanted to play bass like them and Monster Magnet even sound like them now. In an era of stadium rock they went out and played for free to people at any place that would have them; they never conformed. I love Hawkwind. It’s as simple as that.
Check out any compilation essential tracks…Born To Go….Death Trap…Quark Strangeness & Charm…Urban Guerilla….High Rise (gives Magazine a run for the money)…Silver Machine….25 Years…the list is endless.
The Pink Fairies…the pigs of Uranus !
The Pink Fairies were the spiritual buddies of Hawkwind and even swapped various members as their careers evolved. Even more anarchic, but less inclined to the lengthy jams or for that matter lengthy career (1969-1973).
Train spotters will recognise the lead singer of The Rings as being Twink the drummer of the Fairies and bassist Duncan Sanderson as the bass player of the Lightning Raiders with Pistols Cook and Jones. Larry Wallis, later guitarist of the Pink Fairies and then original guitarist of Motorhead, produced The Adverts first single and was also responsible for the proto punk toon City Kids. For a taste of the real stuff try out The Snake at full volume. Blow your eyeballs out of their sockets.
Here are the words of Twink, though take them with pinch of salt, as he lays claim to influencing everything!
“In 1969 my world collided with the likes of Paul Rudolph, Duncan Sanderson and Russell Hunter, and for the next two years we felt like we could inherit the earth. Pretty large aspirations for four hippies from Ladbroke Grove. Remember, this was the dawn of stadium rock, with bands like Led Zeppelin rearing it’s ugly head. The era of rock gods, inflated ticket prices, and total inaccessibility for fans. We wanted to tear it all down. Pick by pick.
The thought of our fans PAYING to see us was incomprehensible. We played only for free, after all money was the root of all evil, right? We waved two fingers at corporate rock by setting up and playing OUTSIDE of huge rock events. Why pay? We’ll give it to you for free. We bewitched people from the entry gates at the Isle of Wight and Bath. We got naked at Phun City, played benefits for the underground press, rocked a gay pride rally, and helped organize the very first Glastonbury Festival. We shamelessly promoted ourselves by spray painting our name on the sides of express coaches that crossed country.
We influenced everyone, from Hawkwind to the Sex Pistols. We were the peoples’ band. Long live rocknroll.” -Twink
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