Hawkwindforum

OOps, this was meant ot be a positive thread, but I may have had a tired ramble.

#I think Hawkwind are on the up once again, have been to a few gigs over the last 12 months, but the audience was predominantly older...few younguns.

It may be because the travelling younger generation are more into their free parties now days.

Anyway, I love them , can't imagine life without them for that matter.



Bed now before I RAMBLE AGAIN -)

how many of the new bands around nowadays who appeal to a younger audience do you think will still be going in 40 years time? My guess is none of them.

Appetites have changed radically with the advent of itunes, youtube, myspace e.t.c., e.t.c., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. It is now very old fashioned to listen to a c.d., let alone vinyl album from start to finish. Now tracks are downloaded individually from new releases, say two tracks that managed to make it into the charts, and the rest of the album is forgotten about.

Add to this the huge amount of films, games and videos, available at the click of a mouse, that are jockeying for a position in the minds of the young consumer today, it helps create an appetite that demands instant gratification and is soon bored.

On the whole, younger audiences have a much shorter attention span thanks to this remorseless "media" saturation.
Check out the latest films and games. All action and spectacular visual effects, little in the way of characters, plot; just a constant barrage of sensation to hold the attention for a few moments until the next fad.

Brilliant post Mullethead, well and truly hit the nail on the head

technical advances are mostly part for the best, take myspace, even 5 years ago the chance for a band like hawkwind to have a sample of their material available for all to listen to, with no cost to the band would have been unthinkable, and that has to be a positive thing.

however this "pick and choose" culture we now live in is for me and i'm sure many others here totally at odds with how we did things in the "good old days", it's strange really when you think about it, because of gambling laws being relaxed in the UK we are now awash with online bingo, poker, bookies offering you odds on how many times David Beckhams hairstyle will change during a match, it's seems we are a nation that loves a flutter, that is until it comes to music - right i'll buy the 2 tracks i already know from itunes from band ***** and thats it, not going to waste my money on the rest of the album in case i dont like it, not that i'll give it much of a chance far too busy with me online bingo etc , etc

oh well, how times have changed

regards

dave

apart from possibly neil young,anybody else still going strong after all these years(don't mention robert zimmerman)

p.s. when was the last time the stones made a good record

"like totally, dudes..."

my experience is that my girlfriend's cool 19 yr old son originally thought the hawks were just some 80's heavy metal portention... you know, very Spinal Tap... but i hope to get him to see the up-coming tour which I know after his going to Bestival will just fry his mind....

... but then again, as a previous writer intimated: we've never been merely "leftfield", the whole point is this the left spiral-arm of the galaxy... even at their "popular" height they were always The Underground... power from below! all hail the omega men!

time is on our side because only the hawks dared to truly launch themselves on the winds of change rather than the tides of fashion....

It seems to me that Hawkwind have successfully captured the youthfull imagination in every decade except this one (I was a 1990's recruit). I used to have a burning belief that the flame could be passed down. I really though this process was happening, and that the whole movement could potentially survive far beyond the lifespans of all the original members. However, after reading both of the recent books about the band, my bubble has burst.

Hawkwind in the 2000's have pursued a path of cementing their status as one of the great 'classic rock' bands. This, of course is something they rightly deserve, but it's not the vision of the band that I had. On the other hand, this group does have an amazing legacy that is guarenteed to last for a very long time. And I guess that's the point.

behave ,the middle bit out of assassins at porchester was amazing, even mrs. maddog was dancing, release that as a single and watch new people coming in

Really? I thought it was awful. Have to admit I'm thoroughly fed up with hearing 'Assassins' and think it could do with a rest. But I know others on here who thinks its the best. Each to their eh?!

Life would be boring if we were all the same.

what some maybe missing: "cementing their position as a 'classic rock' act" might not only suit the band's own profile, age etc and its established fan base but be a rather canny way of situating themselves in the present to possible new fans... i've seen a young retro-metal head lad outside my local in a "doremi" t-shirt... next are selling moterhead ones for blinking sake... they'll just get a surprise, like my companion at Porchester Hall who had heard them in ages and walked in on a Take To Your Leader tune spluttering: "... but... but that's drum & bass!" (pleasantly exicted)

on the current wave of rocker chic, who are the true bikerdelic warlords? who can still re-appear from a puff of smoke? i want a theramin, its just so back to the futurists....

What, IMHO, would garner the attention of more youngsters and 'trendies' these days would be an appearance at one of the more 'popular' and larger festivals (eg Glastonbury) where people who hadn't necessarily turned up at the festival to see Hawkwind would get to see them in concert - which, let's face it, is where their greatness really comes across ....... They'll always have a great loyal fan base as this forum proves and Matthew Wright (whether fans like it or not !) has done a bit to spread the word too but there are too many people who view them as a bit 'weird' and non-mainstream (purely on hearsay) and would hopefully change their minds if they saw them in action on a big stage. Us Hawkfans do our bit to spread the word but without the kudos of their name in the press too much the uninitiated sadly tend to think of them as a 'minority-interest' anomaly only ..........

DaveMod - out of interest, do you know if HW do ever get invites to appear at some of these larger fests ?!
Cheers .........

I just dont think they"de feel comfatable playing there, just as much as we wouldn"t be standing there in amongst it all. I "m talking about Glastonbery [or whatever its called] of course. There seems so many lettuce brained upper class none festival type people there. It"d probably be a better atmosphere down the local boozer.

I always wanted to go to Glastonbury but didn't get round to it for one reason or another. Now I can get there I wouldn't bother. The larger festies now aretoo mainstream with a festival following that are not really the type.
I now aim for the smaller ones and that is really where I see Hawkwind sitting. If they got too involved with the mainstream stuff there is the danger of getting drawn into the whole circus and the band as we love them could change.
I would rather see them at Hawkfest and other such festies as that fits thier culture and following. IMHO.

Good point. Well put.

Whhoooooops! Sorry chaps, for leaving this one dead.
Have been to Cornwall with the wifey for a week of sun n sand.

Interesting viewpoints from everyone, and all of relevance

Any of the "repliers" going to the Bristol gig in December?