Hawkwind

Menacing and exhilarating in equal measure, Hawkwind’s songs are built for speed. That description applies whether the London band’s preferred mode of transportation was the motorcycles they celebrated on their burly and explosive 1972 hit, “Silver Machine”, or the interplanetary craft that filled the science-fiction-inspired lyrics on albums like 1975’s Warrior on the Edge of Time. Founded by guitarist Dave Brock in Ladbroke Grove in 1969, Hawkwind became heroes of the post-hippie underground by merging rock’s most experimental, aggressive and cosmic-minded strains to create a sound that soon became known as space rock. Their sprawling 1973 live album, Space Ritual, captured the band at their most progressive. Even more remarkable was the group’s resilience, with Brock leading his hard-driving crew through many incarnations long after the departure of members like bassist Lemmy Kilmister, author of the gnarly 1975 Hawkwind hit whose title became the name of his next band, Motörhead.