"Space Rock" -- has it lost all meaning as a genre?

Here And Now opening the Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 footage:

 

Interesting. I always assumed people were using space rock synonymously with psychedelia. Learn something new every day...

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun!

 

For me the best current space rock band comes from Germany and is called Vibravoid.

Vibravoid - legendary psychedelic and acid rock since 1990

 

Tomita - The Planets:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL068B4CED709798DE

 

IMO, Steve Hillage is the greatest solo artist of the original the late 1960s/ 1970s British Progressive music movement. His take on the Space Rock genre is rather phenomenal.



Steve Hillage Ether Ships (from Green, 1978)

 

How tied is space rock to human exploits in space?
There was a golden age of space travel and exploration for humans. It was in the 60s and 70s.

I did think back in the 80s that by 2020 we would be having manned missions to Mars.

Slow progress.

 

Psychedelia certanly was zeitgeist (it was well reflected also on visual arts, fashion and literature as well as on the 'way of life' at the time) that spawned so-called "Progressive music" as an Undeground-music movement where the bands were all pretty original in their own styles and so inspiring that they quickly have got the cultish followerships (I won't say "imitators"), and hence distinct genres of "Prog" were born. One of those genres is that groovy, guitar-oriented Space Rock that started with Hawkwind, Steve Hillage, some Gong' songs, early UFO.

 

Steve Hillage The Salmon Song (live 1977)

 

They'd have to play 'Watcher of the Skies' presumably?

 

Words have meaning. And their meaning doesn't change. Unless of course, they refer to music genres.

 

Actually, most of space-rock stuff is lyrically related to space, but as someone has already said, space-rock is primarily sound, so e.g. Steve Hillage could have sing about swimming with salmon and electrick Gypsies and make it Space Rock.


Steve Hillage Electrick Gypsies (Live From The Rainbow Theatre, 1979)

 

Space and time are pretty much the same thing. Time Rock?

 

UFO Star Storm (from Flying, 1971)

 

Ahhh, stoner rock. If you want to see a jacked up thread, just check out any thread here with “stoner rock” in the title. You’ll have people offering correct responses like Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Sleep and a bunch of doofuses recommending Foghat and Grand Funk Railroad. Some old-timers think “stoner rock” simply means rock that one listens to while on the weed rather than a specific sub-genre that emerged in the 90s.

 

I don't think they are the same thing, but I'm not the guy to ask. But the thought of Space is Time would make for some great song titles or an album concept.

 

Maybe we should start a thread about the general nature of Psychedelic Rock, Krautrock, Space Rock, Stoner Rock, and Prog Rock. Or we could do that here, but I don't want to singularly hijack the thread. But it looks like it's going that way of it's own volition.

 

As inexplicable short was that earliest, space-rock phase of later famous British heavy-metal band UFO was, it also seems certain that "UFO 2 - Flying - One Hour Space Rock" the album will remain as one of the cornerstones of the space-rock genre.


UFO Flying (from Flying, 1971)

 

Exactly. For example, this 21-minute long space-rock track is from just released new CD/LP by Danish band Øresund Space Collective:


Øresund Space Collective Summit (from Four Riders take Space Mountain, 2020)

 

Another lovely song by a contemporary space-rock band; It's Comming... from new CD/double LPset by SLIFT from Toulouse, France.


SLIFT It's Coming... (from Ummon, 2020)

 

This is probably closer to the classic Hawkwind spacerock sound from their early albums.

 

These Londoners brought a superb contemporary space-rock music at their CD/LP release from November 2019:


Psychic Lemon White Light (from Freak Mammal, 2019)

 

German band The Spacelords have released an excellent CD/LP this year, with a beautiful artwork done in the style of the 70's Science Fiction scenery. Well, there are plenty of rather good contemporary space-rock bands these days; in fact, the genre is experiencing its renaissance.




The Spacelords Spaceflowers (from Spaceflowers, 2020)

 

These guys are great, also from Germany, Electric Moon (probably my fav of the current space rock bands) are worth checking out as well as a whole bunch of other bands from all over the world including Acid Rooster, Korb, The Cosmic Dead, The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol, Hawkeyes, Mote, Kombynat Robotron, Charlottas Burnin' Trio, Rymdstyrelsen, Hills, Kanaan, Meteor Vortex, Yuri Gagarin, Lamagaia, Space Invaders, Here The Captain Speaking, The Captain Is Dead, Zone Six, Snakes Don't Belong In Alaska, UFO Över Lappland.... etc etc

There are loads of Space/Acid/Motorik/Kosmiche rock bands around

 

So I picked up this Spacelords release and hoo boy is it smokin'. I have never heard this band before, but now I'm definitely interested to check out their back catalogue. Any other bands like this that I should know about?