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“Our music is derived from all the trips we’ve had. There’s horror, beauty, paranoia, ecstasy, even randiness; every sort of human mood”: The birth of psychedelic warlords Hawkwind
Prog magazine marks the release of an expanded edition of Hawkwind's self-titled debut album by revisiting the band's formative first year, tracing their evolution from a west London community project into pioneers of space rock. The feature situates Hawkwind against their contemporaries at the turn of the 1970s, noting that while King Crimson had defined progressive rock and early Led Zeppelin albums set the template for hard rock, Hawkwind instead pursued the experimental spirit of the psychedelic era even as it fell out of wider fashion.
The band emerged from Ladbroke Grove's countercultural underground, initially playing blues in pubs before rapidly transforming into a defining act of the era's alternative scene. The piece draws on band members' own reflections on their music as an expression of shared experiences, described as encompassing horror, beauty, paranoia, ecstasy and every other facet of human mood, underlining the breadth of ambition behind their debut recording.
In short
- Prog revisits Hawkwind's origins to mark expanded debut album reissue
- Band grew from a Ladbroke Grove community project into space rock pioneers
- Hawkwind pursued psychedelia's experimental spirit as others moved to prog/hard rock
Explained simply
Hawkwind were a British rock band that emerged from west London's countercultural underground in the late 1960s. They started by playing blues in pubs before developing a psychedelic and space rock sound. Whilst King Crimson were establishing progressive rock and Led Zeppelin were establishing hard rock in the early 1970s, Hawkwind pursued the experimental approach of psychedelic music instead.
The band's music drew from shared experiences within their community and the broader countercultural scene. Their intention was to express a full range of human moods and experiences—from horror to beauty, paranoia to ecstasy—an approach evident in their 1970 self-titled debut album.
Hawkwind represented one strand of the rock scene in the early 1970s, different from the dominant progressive and hard rock movements of the time. Unlike most other major rock bands, they continued to explore psychedelic influences as the style fell out of mainstream favour. This distinction formed part of the alternative rock landscape that developed during this period.