HW: Damn hippies: Nik vs. Dave (was: HW: Domain Names - Short Sharp Shock)

[christmu@eunet.no]

root wrote:
  > Dave Brock also said something to the effect "Hawkwind were never a
  > bunch of hippies the closest we came to that was Nik Turner"

  > I'm kinda of the opinion that Hawkwind at their best ARE just a bunch of
  > trippers/hippies, possibly why I really like 'Bring Me The Head' and
  > 'Text Of Festival' so much, be that as it may.

Hawkwind always struck me as the essential prototype punks and
'blitzers'  - hippies maybe, but not the kind to sit around with love
beads, gurus and Beatles records. They've held out for over 30 years and
have been just as happy playing outside the fence of major events like Isle
of Wight in their early days, to playing Stonehenge or other unsanctioned
or protest festivals during the 80's and 90's when illegal raves still were
in vogue. And you can still get away with calling them "heavy metal": they
were the streetmetal of the '70's and 80's.

  > There is a presidence here.  When the Sex Pistols split up Malcom
  > Maclaren tried to stop John Lydon using the name Johnny Rotten....  And
  > lost.   Nik's nickname (before Hawkwind Zoo) was Hawkwind.  Nik does
  > have a legitimate claim to that name and all credit to him for not using
  > it except as a means of publicizing his work.  I don't see him as in any
  > way trying to dupe people into thinking he IS Hawkwind in the sense that
  > Brock IS Hawkwind, but to remind people of the part he played and that
  > like it or not he is part of the Family.  I mentioned Gong above.  Gong
  > have no problem with ex/present members using the name Gong to promote
  > non Gong albums (Paris Gong, New York Gong, Mother Gong, Pierre Moulons
  > Gong etc) so why should Hawkwind have such a problem?

Its a tradition with Hawkwind that probably could be ressurected abit,
seeing there's been bands playing live under different lineups and
Hawk-related names since the 70's, however the Brock camp always made the
most "legitimate" use of the "Hawk" name it seems, and I think Nik should
be allowed a little bit of leeway, though I don't think it has anything to
do with the official side of Hawkwind's real output.

  > All the Hawkwind fans I know (many) are just as interested in what Nik
  > is doing as in what Hawkwind/Brock are doing so it seems to me that
  > there should be no problem so long as there is no deliberate
  > mis-representation.    As far as the flyers I've seen go there has been
  > no mis-representation so like wheres the problem?

The root of the problem may be Nik's sudden "return" to the spotlight
after  many years absent from the Hawkwind camp, seemingly trying to cash
in on the Hawkwind name in the US in the early 90's, which branded him as
something of a "rougue"... After all, Hawkwind continued on releasing
records and touring under the Hawkwind name for many years with or without
Nik, and him suddenly jumping in with a bunch of other guys, making a claim
to the name is abit off... IMO.  Though I have to say his latter day
releases are well worth the money, and having interviewed him with Scott
Heller in Hamburg in 98, he came off as a very honest fellow, so who knows,
he may have been misrepresented abit by his management more than anything
else...

Chr.

ObCD: Black Sabbath - Live Evil
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