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Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early mostly British 1970s progressive rock and psychedelic bands such as 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 earliest example of something like space rock is probably 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. The Rolling Stones' 1967 song "2000 Light Years from Home", which drew heavily on some of the aforementioned Pink Floyd songs, is another early example. Jimi 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 Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice.
The Byrds also played a crucial part in the evolution of the genre. Although 1966 songs like "5D (Fifth Dimension)" and "Mr. Spaceman" weren't exactly space rock (rather pop rock or folk rock), their obvious sci-fi theme may have had an influence on groups like Pink Floyd. The Byrds themselves would later delve into psychedelia and, occasionally, "true" space rock, for example on their 1968 LP The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
David Bowie's, "Space Oddity" (1969) is probably the best example of a space rock song achieving mainstream recognition. 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 such as Slowdive, The Verve, My Bloody Valentine, Loop, Ride, The Flaming Lips, Failure, Monster Magnet, Hum and Spacemen 3. 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. The Strange Daze festivals from 1997-2000 showcased the American space rock scene in 3 day outdoor festivals. Headlined by Hawkwind and Nik Turner in 1997, the festivals featured major players of American space rock: F/i, Alien Planetscapes, Architectural Metaphor, Quarkspace, Melting Euphoria, Pressurehed, Nucleon, Bionaut, Born to Go and others.
Space rock in the 21st century
Space themes continue to influence and play a part in modern rock music. In the United Kingdom, Radiohead have utilized the genre in recent years. Muse's album Origin of Symmetry contains several examples of space rock, such as "Space Dementia", "Bliss" and "Citizen Erased". In the USA, The Mars Volta and Coheed & Cambria also show an interest in galactic themes.
Star One's 2002 Space Metal The 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.
Examples of Space Rock
Notes
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