Space rock

Stylistic
origins
Progressive rock,
psychedelic rock, electronic rock,
art rock, experimental rock,
ambient
Cultural
origins
Late 1960s, United Kingdom
Typical
instruments
Vocals, guitar, bass, mellotron,
synthesizer, keyboards, drums,
strings, sequencer
Subgenres
Neo-psychedelia, post-rock, shoegazing
(complete list)
Fusion genres
Dream pop, ambient music
Other topics
J am band Krautrock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally
referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive
and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind, Gong and
Pink Floyd,
[1]
characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental
passages dominated by electronic organs, synthesizers,
experimental guitar work and science fiction or outer space-
related lyrical themes, though it was later repurposed to refer
to a series of late 1980s British alternative rock bands that
drew from earlier influences to create a more ambient but
still melodic form of pop music.
[2]
The term was revived in
the 21st century to refer to a new crop of bands including The
Flowers of Hell,
[3]
Comets on Fire,
[4]
and Flotation Toy
Warning
[5]
who diversely draw upon the ideas and sounds of
both waves of the genre's founders.
1 History
1.1 Origins and emergence
1.2 1990s revival
1.3 Space rock in the 21st century
2 See also
3 Notes
Origins and emergence
Man's entry into outer space provided ample subject matter for rock and roll and R&B songs from the
mid-1950s through the early 1960s. It also inspired new sounds and sound effects to be used in the music itself.
A prominent early example of space rock is the 1959 concept album I Hear a New World by British producer
and song writer J oe Meek. The album was inspired by the space race and concerned man's first close encounter
with alien life forms.
[6]
Meek then went on to have a UK and US #1 success in 1961 with Telstar, named after
the newly launched communications satellite and thus intended to commemorate the new space age. Its main
instrument was a clavioline, an electronic forerunner of synthesizers.
Space rock emerged from the late 1960s psychedelic music scene in Britain, and was closely associated with the
progressive rock movement of the same era.
Space rock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_rock
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Ozric Tentacles live in Zagreb in
2004.
Pink Floyd's early albums contain pioneering examples of space rock:
"Lucifer Sam",
[7]
"Astronomy Domine",
[8]
"Pow R. Toc H."
[9]
and
"Interstellar Overdrive"
[10]
from their 1967 debut album The Piper at
the Gates of Dawn are examples. Their second album A Saucerful of
Secrets contained further examples: "Let There Be More Light" and "Set
the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" with explicit science fiction
themes, and their third, Soundtrack from the Film More (1969) had
"Cirrus Minor". In early 1971, Pink Floyd began writing the song that
would become known as "Echoes", from the 1971 album Meddle. The
song was performed from April until September 1971, with an alternate
set of lyrics, written about two planets meeting in space. Before the
Meddle album released, the lyrics were changed to an aquatic theme,
because of the band's concern that they were being labelled as a space
rock band.
The Beatles' song "Flying" (1967), originally titled "Aerial Tour Instrumental", was a psychedelic instrumental
about the sensation of flying, whether in a craft or in your own head space.
[11]
The Rolling Stones' song "2000
Light Years from Home" (1967), which drew heavily on some of the aforementioned Pink Floyd songs, is
another early form of space rock. J imi Hendrix is also an early innovator of the genre, with such tracks as
"Third Stone from the Sun", "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" and "The Stars That Play with Laughing
Sam's Dice". David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (1969) is, apart from Telstar, probably the best example of a space
rock song achieving mainstream recognition. The Steve Miller Band's Space Cowboy (1969) was also about
space. It has a very heavy back beat in the key of F Minor and space-like sound effects from Miller's guitar.
A major album in the history of space rock was Hawkwind's Space Ritual (1973),
[12]
a two-disc live album
advertised as "88 minutes of brain-damage" documenting Hawkwind's successful 1972 tour that included a
liquid light show and lasers, nude dancers (notably the earth-mother figure Stacia), wild costumes and
psychedelic imagery. This hard-edged concert experience attracted a motley but dedicated collection of
psychedelic drug users, science-fiction fans and motorcycle riders. The science fiction author Michael
Moorcock collaborated with Hawkwind on many occasions and wrote the lyrics for many of the spoken-word
sections on Space Ritual.
Other examples include Flaming Youth's only album Ark 2, Arzachel's Arzachel, Mournblade's Times Running
Out, and the collaborative concept album The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds.
1990s revival
By the early 1990s, the term "space rock" came to be used when describing numerous American and British
alternative rock bands of the time. Shoegazing, stoner rock/metal and noise pop genres emerged into the
mainstream with the explosion of bands such as Kyuss, Slowdive, The Verve, My Bloody Valentine, Flying
Saucer Attack, Loop, Ride, Shiner, The Flaming Lips, Failure, Year of the Rabbit, Cave In, Sun Dial, Hum,
Orange Goblin, Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, and Mercury Rev. The sonic experimentation and emphasis placed
on texture by these bands led them to be dubbed "space rock", although most would more readily be categorized
in other genres such as shoegazing or stoner metal.
In the mid-1990s, a number of bands built on the space rock styles of Hawkwind and Gong appeared in
America. Some of these bands (such as Pressurehed and Melting Euphoria) were signed to Cleopatra records,
which then proceeded to release numerous space rock compilations. Starting in 1997, Daevid Allen of Gong,
along with members of Hawkwind and other space rock bands, started to perform with Spirits Burning, a studio
Space rock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_rock
2 of 4 7/29/2014 1:32 PM
project created to celebrate space rock.
The Strange Daze festivals from 1997-2001 showcased the American space rock scene in 3 day outdoor
festivals. The shows were headlined by Hawkwind and Nik Turner in 1997 and featured major players of
American space rock: F/i, Alien Planetscapes, Architectural Metaphor, Quarkspace, Melting Euphoria,
Pressurehed, Nucleon, Bionaut, Born to Go and others. Mr. Quimby's Beard (UK) headlined Strangedaze 2001
and were supported whilst on their American tour by Hawkwind's Harvey Bainbridge as well as Nik Turner. A
Michigan-based space rock scene included Burnt Hair Records, Darla Records, and bands such as Windy &
Carl, Mahogany, Sweet Trip, Tomorrowland, Delta Waves, Starphase 23, Fxa, Auburn Lull, Monaural, and
Asha Vida. This was a modern movement of the traditional "space rock" sound and was pinned Detroit Space
Rock.
Space rock in the 21st century
Space rock bands like Hawkwind, Gong, Mr. Quimby's Beard and Nektar continue to perform live in the 2000s.
Hawkwind has produced numerous offshoots with former members (such as Hawklords, Space Ritual, and
Lastwind). Beside the Spirits Burning space rock collective, new collectives have appeared (such as resund
Space Collective and Secret Saucer).
Influences from space rock can be heard in UK bands Radiohead, Amplifier, Oceansize, Porcupine Tree,
Kasabian, and Mugstar as well as American bands Autolux, Hopesfall, Success & Sorrow, Lumerians,
[13]
Plastic Overlords,The Secret Machines, The Mars Volta, The Boxing Lesson, Cloudland Canyon, Angels &
Airwaves, Tool, Thirty Seconds to Mars and Zombi.
Star One's 2002 Space Metal album mixes space rock and progressive metal, and many of the songs are linked
conceptually by having cult science fiction movies or TV series as their subjects.
In the past decade a space rock theme has swept through the indie music scene Hongdae of South Korea. Bands
such as Rock and Roll Radio, Galaxy Express, Apollo 18, Magna Fall, among many others, have 'spacey'
elements in their music. In South Korea such bands with a spacey sound & theme - are referred to in the media
and among fans as 'Space Rock' or '' in Korean.
The first reported involvement of NASA and space rock came in 2009 when an off-duty worker from the shuttle
program synchronised footage of a Discovery launch with the Flowers Of Hell's 'Sympathy For Vengeance' in
an online video which became popular amongst staff at the Kennedy Space Center.
[3][14]
In May 2013,
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield created the first music video filmed entirely in outer space, with his YouTube
video of himself singing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on board the International Space Station".
[15]
Nu Gaze
^ Richie Unterberger, Pink Floyd biography
(http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p76669) Allmusic
1. ^ Space Rock (http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style
/d2784), Allmusic
2.
Space rock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_rock
3 of 4 7/29/2014 1:32 PM
^
a

b
The Flowers of Hell blast off
(http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/streetspirit/article
/55902)
3.
^ Comets On Fire: Field Recordings from the Sun
(http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1561-field-
recordings-from-the-sun/)
4.
^ Flotation Toy Warning Biography at Allmusic
(http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p729598)
5.
^ J oe Meek: The RGM Legacy
(http://www.musicomh.com/music/features
/joe-meek_0805.htm)
6.
^ A.Robbins "The Trouser Press record guide"
(Collier Books, 1991), ISBN 0-02-036361-3
7.
^ Bruce Eder, Astronomy Domine song review
(http://www.allmusic.com/song/t1530785), Allmusic
8.
^ Nicholas Schaffner, "Saucerful of secrets: the Pink
Floyd odyssey", (Dell, 1992), ISBN 0-385-30684-9,
p.66.
9.
^ Richie Unterberger, Interstellar Overdrive song
review (http://www.allmusic.com/song/t1530791),
Allmusic
10.
^ Allmusic Review by Richie Unterberger 11.
^ Wilson Neate, Space Ritual review
(http://www.allmusic.com/album/r40140), Allmusic
12.
^ Ian S. Port (Apr 22, 2011). "Lumerians Talk Video
Projections, Recording in a Church, and "Space-
Rock" " (http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown
/2011/04/lumerians_talk_video_projectio.php). SF
Weekly. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
13.
^ Archive of Sympathy for Vengeance +Space
Shuttle Discovery mashup
(http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v173/star17abby
/?action=view&current=119Launch4.flv)
14.
^ Chris Hadfield (12 May 2013). "Space Oddity"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo).
Retrieved 12 May 2013.
15.
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Categories: Progressive rock Space rock Psychedelic rock English styles of music
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