Space rock

Space rock
Space rock
Stylistic origins	Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock, Electronic music
Cultural origins	Late 1960s, England
Typical instruments	Guitar, synthesizer, bass guitar, drums, vocals
Fusion genres
	Shoegazing, noise pop, post-rock, stoner rock, ambient music

Space rock is a style of music; the term originally referred to a group of early mostly British 1970s progressive rock and psychedelic bands like Hawkwind and Pink Floyd,^[1] characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by synthesisers, experimental guitar work and science fiction 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 melodic but still ambient form of pop music.^[2]

History

Precursors

The probable earliest example of something like space rock is a song written in the 1940s by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger for a BBC radio show called You're Only Young Once. The song is called "Space Girl" and parodies most of the major themes of 1940s science fiction. A version of the song was recorded on "The World of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger" volume 2: Songs from the radio ballads, released in 1971 on Argo Records. A much shorter version of the same song was recorded in the 1960s by Shirley Collins.

Emergence

Space rock emerged from the late 1960s psychedelic music scene in Britain and was closely associated with the progressive rock movement of the same time period.

Pink Floyd's early albums contain pioneering development of space rock on some tracks; for example "Astronomy Domine" ^[3] and "Interstellar Overdrive" ^[4] from their 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.

A major album in the history of space rock was Hawkwind's Space Ritual (1973),^[5] a two-disc live album advertised as "88 minutes of brain-damage" documenting Hawkwind's successful 1972 tour of their blow-out show complete with liquid lights 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 drugs users, science-fiction fans and motorcycle riders. The science fiction author Michael Moorcock collaborated with Hawkwind on many occasions: for example, he wrote the lyrics for many of the spoken-word sections on Space Ritual.

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 and noise pop genres emerged into the mainstream with the explosion of bands like Slowdive, The Verve, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Flaming Lips, Failure and Hum. The sonic experimentation and emphasis placed on texture by these bands led them to be dubbed "space rock". By 1991 (see 1991 in music), however, the original space rock bands had mostly fallen apart and the musicians had moved on to new bands or new styles.

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.

Examples of space rock

Notes

^ Richie Unterberger, Pink Floyd biography Allmusic
^ Space Rock, Allmusic
^ Bruce Eder, Astronomy Domine song review, Allmusic
^ Richie Unterberger, Interstellar Overdrive song review, Allmusic
^ Wilson Neate, Space Ritual review, Allmusic