Hawkwind – Quark, Strangeness and Charm (Charisma)
Me and science fiction have never been the closest of buddies. Yes, I have enjoyed a number of sci-fi films over the years from Metropolis through to Blade Runner 2049 (a Hollywood sequel definitely worth seeing, whatever next?) If I ever had to appear on Mastermind, though, sci-fi would not be my specialist subject, believe me. In fact, I only finally got round to watching Star Wars for the first time a few months ago, aged 55.
As 1977 dawned and punk increasingly made an impact on British music, Hawkwind seemed pretty much irrelevant to me. Past their sell by date psychedelic crusaders whose following consisted mainly of acid casualties and the kind of space cadets who might have seriously struggled to distinguish between New Year and New York.
Lemmy had been sacked and their dancer Stacia left to settle down to family life.
‘What did you do before you got married, Mummy?’
‘Well darling, I used to paint my body with luminescent blue paint and dance naked with Hawkwind.’
According to Ian Abrahams in his book Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins, Robert Calvert wasn’t making any effort to get the new generation on his side despite privately appreciating some of the music. He dismissed The Clash as ‘The most orthodox band I’ve ever heard. They just play three-minute pop songs and throw in a few slogans’ and he slagged them off for not playing enough benefits.
Which is ironic as Joe Strummer’s initial thoughts on the idea of covering Police and Thieves was to do it like Hawkwind. Famously, the pre-Pistols John Lydon had been a big Hawkwind fan and Robert Calvert was by this point on friendly terms with the younger man and surely, while I’m at it, the single Quark, Strangeness and Charm betrays a definite punk/new wave influence?
Calvert really seems to have missed a trick by declining to publically embrace punk. Doing so certainly hadn’t harmed Marc Bolan’s career.
And – speaking of Bolan – one afternoon, just over forty years ago, I came home from school and switched on the TV to watch Marc where the great man introduced the band as ‘The group that should’ve written Star Wars and didn’t.’
Doesn’t Marc look very relaxed in that clip? I suspect a few glasses of champers may have been quaffed on the day. Funnily enough, I only discovered a few years ago that when he called Hawkwind ‘my best friends’ he was totally fibbing but, hey, this is showbiz and they shared the same management.
The truth is that guitarist Dave Brock didn’t even bother turning up at the Granada studios for the recording as he’d maintained a grudge against Bolan since the early 1970s after they’d taken a dislike to one another at a party. He wasn’t very keen on miming the song either.
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‘Even this doggerel that flows from my pen has just been written by another twenty telepathic men…’
No, that’s not me (and any telepathic twins). This is a lyric from Spirit of the Age, a chilling Robert Calvert poem set to music and the longest – and possibly best – track on the Quark album.
Here it is.
And if you’re wondering about my thoughts on Star Wars and why I’d never seen it until this year. Well, when it came out I was sixteen and very adult in my own head at least and didn’t remotely fancy paying good money to see a blockbuster featuring badly designed robots and furry animal thingies in lead roles. Nope, that money was instead likely spent on buying records by the likes of XTC, The Stranglers and Wire.
A few months ago, though, I watched a documentary Elstree 1976 which focussed on a number of the minor actors and extras who’d appeared in the movie. The main reason for seeking this out being that I’d did a number of stints as an extra myself decades ago. Not on anything as grand as Star Wars mind you.
Anyway, seeing Elstree 1976 did persuade me to finally give Star Wars a go. Even if I didn’t rate the movie myself I could at least maybe gain an insight into the mindset of the kind of uber-fan who turns up at a convention and voluntarily queues for half an hour to get their mitts on a signed photo of someone who’d only ever been briefly glimpsed in a couple of scenes. Maybe even behind a mask or helmet.
Perhaps inevitably, the film bored me at times and I truly cannot begin to understand why it ever became such a global phenomenon. The plot was predictable, the acting and dialogue often mediocre at best and I suspect if Ed Wood had still been making movies at the time, even he might have been slightly embarrassed by the scene in the intergalactic boozer.
Star Wars? It might actually have been better if Hawkwind had written it.
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Oct 12, 2017 @ 13:46:49
I wish I’d gotten to this page in time to make a difference! Whenever I meet run across people who have not seen “Star Wars” I beseech them not to do it. It came out when I was 13, so I liked the design and art direction [I wanted to be a graphic designer a that age – I still am 44 years later], and for a few years it was a thing among my friends, but by 1983 and the truly execrable “Return Of The Jedi” it all tanked for me, and because I was slightly older when first encountering it, it was pretty easy to walk away from it. After all, at 13 I was too old to be playing with Star Wars toys and the like. I’ve noticed if you encounter Star Wars at a younger, more impressionable age, it can maintain a hold that won’t let go. Sort of like religion. Ugh!
I had friends take my wife and I to the first “new” “Star Wars” movie that George Lucas made in the late 90s. Two of the longest hours I’ve ever spent in the theater! It made “Return Of The Jedi” seem like Tarkovsky!
So Swede, it’s not to late to never see “Star Wars!” Do it for The Monk! You’ll thank me on your deathbed. It’s not good at all and it had a massively deleterious effect on both cinema and science-fiction as a whole. It also has contributed to the infantilization of our culture as a whole.
Oct 07, 2017 @ 14:37:26
Oh, and I’ve never seen Star Wars either.
Oct 07, 2017 @ 14:36:22
I’m very fond of the four records Hawkwind put out on Charisma between 1976 and 1979 and saw the band several times, ahem, back in the day, including once just a few days after Bolan’s death in 1977. I clearly remember the guys on the merch stand that night raising a glass to Marc’s memory.
There is also another loose Bolan/Calvert connection, in that Marc’s old Tyrannosaurus Rex sparring partner Steve Peregrin Took became fast friends with Robert in the mid-1970’s, they even appeared on stage together a number of times.