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Can someone kindly explain Hawkwind to me?

@Tony L cannabis never killed anyone

It does over long term use. It makes people paranoid, lazy, useless, non-productive, it saps all energy, ability or will to create, causes long-term depression and due to that mindset so often leads on to other drugs (e.g. heroin). It is as bad as alcoholism IMO, though without the same levels of violence. As I say I’ve seen several people just spiral downwards over decades, one good friend, a really talented drummer, ending up losing everything and being found dead in his beat-up and decaying car. It is a pattern I have seen many times. Beyond the slightest casual use cannabis just sends people downwards, it destroys potential. Horrible stuff. I’m really pleased it makes me sick as I’d no doubt have gone down too if I could physically tolerate the stuff!

Anyway, this is the wrong thread for this argument, and conversely I do believe in legalising drugs (which is a whole other argument), but basically habitual stoners are losers IME. Some may not have lost everything yet, but they will almost inevitably be on a trajectory downwards as that is what the drug does. It just sucks life.
 
We used to see them and the Pink Fairies under the Westway on Portobello Road. Much preferred the Pink Fairies. And preferred Gong to either.
 
I'm not arguing @Tony L and I have seen the negative effects of cannabis first hand that you described, though I've never heard of anyone passing away due to using cannabis and whether these individuals would have succumb to depression or other negative factors without cannabis remains unknown. I personally know quite a few habitual users that are hard working progressive people though the lazy stoner is the stereotype.
The tobacco smoked with cannabis is the far more dangerous substance, responsible for directly killing millions, though cannabis is more effective and less harmful when eaten or baked with.
Alcohol is vastly more dangerous often resulting in direct death due to abuse and causing violent behaviour, there really is no comparison to be made IME.
 
Then there's the whole drugs/music thing. Would popular music have developed as it did without massive drug intakes? (Obvs not) Were those developments worth the pain and premature deaths of those for whom the drugs proved too much?
 
We should also mention the Bob Calvert era, which was quite different from the kosmische early period. On/off member Calvert moved centre stage following Warrior On The Edge Of Time and took the band in a sharper, poppier, more new wave direction. Whilst I prefer the earlier Space Ritual era, newbies need to investigate Quark, Strangeness & Charm. Others may sing the praises of Levitation but imo Quark is probably the last truly essential Hawkwind album.
 
We should also mention the Bob Calvert era, which was quite different from the kosmische early period. On/off member Calvert moved centre stage following Warrior On The Edge Of Time and took the band in a sharper, poppier, more new wave direction. Whilst I prefer the earlier Space Ritual era, newbies need to investigate Quark, Strangeness & Charm. Others may sing the praises of Levitation but imo Quark is probably the last truly essential Hawkwind album.
The Hawklords album (which followed Quark) is just as good IMHO, and a Hawkwind album in all but name. I don't make any claims for anything they did after Calvert departed.
 
The Hawklords album (which followed Quark) is just as good IMHO, and a Hawkwind album in all but name. I don't make any claims for anything they did after Calvert departed.
I never really got into the Hawklords album. There’s bit and pieces on both Astounding Sounds and PXR5, but yeah, never really recovered their mojo after this period. Nik Turner’s Inner City Unit and Sphinx were much more interesting by comparison.
 
I liked the Calvert-era as a kid, but find it a bit naff now. Like so many bands of that early-70s era they never really made the transition from long jams to short pop songs, the latter sounding forced and formulaic to me now.
 
I liked the Calvert-era as a kid, but find it a bit naff now. Like so many bands of that early-70s era they never really made the transition from long jams to short pop songs, the latter sounding forced and formulaic to me now.

I am particularly fond of the Calvert era - particularly for his lyrics.
 
I am particularly fond of the Calvert era - particularly for his lyrics.

Fair enough, though for me most are just a straight burp-up of a Moorcock book or in the case of Uncle Sam’s On Mars a totally shameless rip-off of Gil Scott Heron:

 
I liked the Calvert-era as a kid, but find it a bit naff now. Like so many bands of that early-70s era they never really made the transition from long jams to short pop songs, the latter sounding forced and formulaic to me now.
Yeah his ‘poetry’ is pretty toe curling, although I find Damnation Alley and Spirit Of The Age quite witty, even if I do wince at the badly dated “still under age” line. Apparently he had a sizeable chip on his shoulder in relation to Bowie, believing himself more talented when he really, really wasn’t. That said, Brock & Co. dumping him in Paris when he was experiencing an acute episode of the mental illness that dogged him was a pretty abysmal thing to do to a supposed mate.
 
Interesting stuff.

All in all a bit of a good news/bad news thing for me as far as my ever becoming a hardcore fan, seeing as the likelihood of me dropping acid is about as likely as my 20s coming around again.

On the plus side, I’m steeped in old skool sci-fi, and I have a Native American friend who cultivates certain mushrooms for medicinal and spiritual purposes. I guess I shouldn’t rule anything out yet.

Still holding off on Space Ritual, but I listened to Warrior twice yesterday. Taken at face value, I think I’d like them quite a bit more if they just played instrumentals.

I’ll set aside an evening and a double scotch for Space Ritual and see where that gets me.
 
Yeah his ‘poetry’ is pretty toe curling, although I find Damnation Alley and Spirit Of The Age quite witty, even if I do wince at the badly dated “still under age” line. Apparently he had a sizeable chip on his shoulder in relation to Bowie, believing himself more talented when he really, really wasn’t. That said, Brock & Co. dumping him in Paris when he was experiencing an acute episode of the mental illness that dogged him was a pretty abysmal thing to do to a supposed mate.

I really liked the Calvert era. Maybe not quite as good as the earlier stuff but very much a reinvention of the Hawkwind shtick and perfectly valid. They of course dumped Lemmy as well... at a hotel in Canada IIRC.

Personally I wince at aspects of the present day "revisionist", almost censorship of the past, in which mankind has the temerity to suppose we have advanced as a species to such a great degree in say 40 - 50 years as to be able to unequivocally say "this or that" was wrong... or more precisely, even if it was "wrong" that it was SO wrong that it cannot be mentioned in lyrics even! I reckon "PC" has removed some of the "edginess" that could be expressed back then maybe!? Would "Hey Joe" by Hendrix or the novel and play "Lolita" even be allowed to happen today?? It would be a very interesting topic to discuss more generally in "off topic" but one I'm sure we would not be allowed to debate... the last bit kinda proving my point!
 
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I really liked the Calvert era. Maybe not quite as good as the earlier stuff but very much a reinvention of the Hawkwind shtick and perfectly valid. They of course dumped Lemmy as well... at a hotel in Canada IIRC.

Personally I wince at aspects of the present day "revisionist", almost censorship of the past, in which mankind has the temerity to suppose we have advanced as a species to such a great degree in say 40 - 50 years as to be able to unequivocally say "this or that" was wrong... or more precisely, even if it was "wrong" that it was SO wrong that it cannot be mentioned in lyrics even! I reckon "PC" has removed some of the "edginess" that could be expressed back then maybe!? Would "Hey Joe" by Hendrix or the novel and play "Lolita" even be allowed to happen today?? It would be a very interesting topic to discuss more generally in "off topic" but one I'm sure we would not be allowed to debate... the last bit kinda proving my point!
Or conversely you could say that what was wrongly tolerated in the past is no longer acceptable. I don’t think it’s revisionist to welcome the gains of the last fifty or sixty years while waving unambiguously goodbye to past prejudice. They left Lemmy behind in jail on the Canadian/ US border btw.
 
Interesting stuff.

All in all a bit of a good news/bad news thing for me as far as my ever becoming a hardcore fan, seeing as the likelihood of me dropping acid is about as likely as my 20s coming around again.

On the plus side, I’m steeped in old skool sci-fi, and I have a Native American friend who cultivates certain mushrooms for medicinal and spiritual purposes. I guess I shouldn’t rule anything out yet.

Still holding off on Space Ritual, but I listened to Warrior twice yesterday. Taken at face value, I think I’d like them quite a bit more if they just played instrumentals.

I’ll set aside an evening and a double scotch for Space Ritual and see where that gets me.

If you are considering taking a hallucinogen shrooms would be a better choice than LSD, at least you'd KNOW what your getting and it's easily measured, taking an LSD tab is a bit of a gamble, you don't know what your getting or how strong its going to be. Though I couldn't or wouldn't recommend either to anyone, too much at risk, I always had a good time but not everyone does and some unfortunate individuals never really come down again or can end up with a serious debilitating mental illness. A very close friend of mine got spiked and never really came back.
 


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