whatever turned me on!

These pair of articles date back to what was presumably a regular feature from the New Musical Express called -

No, not what the stars of the day liked to get up to in the bedroom, but instead a look at their past musical influences, first in the chair is the captain himself Dave Brock, this appeared in the edition dated 05/08/72.

Also note that clicking on the cover images on the left will take you to associated sites for that act, often the official one, regardless of this though it should be somewhere hopefully you can learn a bit more about that band or individual.

	VELVET UNDERGROUND - I thought their first and second albums were particularly good. I like the bands basic simplicity. They almost stick to three chords - almost like us. Also, it's a very acid sort of music.
	STEVE MILLER "Sailor" - I liked this for the same reasons. When it came out I was hanging around the Gate, and it brings back memories. Again it's a fairly simply structured music - 67 music, really good old psychedelia which has just progressed a bit maybe. I think that all the Miller albums I've heard - up to number five - are really good.
	THE WHO "Who's Next" - This was really the first one of their's that I liked. They use major chords in such a majestic way, and on this one they started to get into electronics. It's an inspiring album.
	KRAFTWORK (A German Band) - I guess I'm more into music than lyrics. There's an album by this band that I particularly dig, because they've really got into electronic music. I think the album is about a year and a half old now, but along with Can they're probably my favourite German band. They use electronics in the right way. Like a lot of electronic records are f------ rubbish because they aren't in the right context. Like I thought the Pierre Henri / Spooky Tooth album was diabolical because it was just two tapes put on top of each other. Kraftwork are doing things I'd like to see Hawkwind get into. At the moment we seem to be more of a rock band than anything. But I'd like to move more into electronics.
	HERBIE HANCOCK "Crossings" - This is one of the newer things I really dig. It's hard to classify - I suppose it's a combination of avant garde jazz. Also synthesisers are used to good effect.
	SCRAPPER BLACKWELL, LEROY CARR, JELLY ROLL MORTON - I like a lot of the old blues things - I used to have a huge collection of New Orleans stuff especially. Morton in particular was incredible....some of his chords were incredible. He was quite a revolutionary for his time. I had to sell my whole blues collection at a time when I was hard up. I'd like to get some of those records back.
	MOODY BLUES "Threshold Of A Dream" - This meant a lot to me. I think the Moody Blues have gone off a bit now, but at one time you could be sure that their album would be very good. I dig this one because I used to hear it while going round to peoples houses and getting stoned and once again it brings back memories. Actually I think it has a lot to do with why you like certain records because all the time you're changing, and it's nice to hear things that bring back certain experiences.

Next up is Hawkwind's powerhouse drummer from the 70's, Simon King, also please note that by this time the piece had been re-named - "Under The Influence" but I'm sure you'll agree that the idea is pretty much the same!

This appeared in the New Musical Express (NME) dated 18/08/73 and the interview was conducted by James Johnston

	SANDY NELSON "Let There Be Drums" - Just a basic drum record, but it actually got me interested enough to take up the instrument. When I hear it now it's a bit of a joke - but at the time it was the only drum record around. The others were a couple of breaks on things like the Shadows records.
	BEATLES "Paperback Writer" and "Strawberry Fields" - The thing that struck me about "Paperback Writer" was that it wasn't a straightforward love song. I think it set a trend in that it wasn't about a boy - girl relationship. Also it was a good rocker - something the Beatles were very good at. The "Strawberry Fields" was a changing point all round. I think that was a milestone because they were really starting to get into using recording studios as more than just a place to put a record on wax.
	VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO "Velvet Underground And Nico" - I just liked their basic simplicity. There was no great musicianship in the band - in fact it was rather poor - but I love those songs like "Heroin". It had an overall effect on me that I'd never experienced before. Lou Reed was the mainstay. Whilst everybody else at the time was getting very arranged music he was just rambling the lyrics out. I love his mumbling. I think the band have influenced a lot of people in the last three or four years.
	JIMI HENDRIX "Hey Joe" - This was the single that made me want to play professionally. up till then I'd played in village hall bands in Berkshire, not taking it very seriously. Somehow this record just appeared out of nowhere and it got me into rock and roll in the form of three piece bands. Also I thought Mitch Mitchell was perfect for Hendrix. He seemed to follow exactly Hendrix's mood whatever the occasion. And the roaring guitar work was great. When I first heard the single it blew my head off. It was just rough raw and gutsy.
	CREAM "Crossroads" - Another three piece again. Ginger Baker drove that along like a steam train.
	WHO "Who's Next" - I was impressed by this album because of what the Who left out - what they didn't do. It's somehow empty, despite Townsend's huge chords. Also I think Keith Moon's drumming is brilliant. And it's very well produced and not overdone. Apart from the odd exception I think I prefer it to earlier Who stuff. It's certainly better than "Tommy."
	JOHN McLAUGHLIN AND CARLOS SANTANA "Love, Devotion, Surrender" - I've been listening to this lately along with Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells". I like the Mc Laughlin album especially because of Billy Cobham's drums - which are amazing. I think that's what I'd like to end up doing eventually.
In a similar vein to those two articles this little piece was entitled "Shipwrecked" was from 1993 and posed the following question - "you're washed up on a desert island, or worse still, having failed to recoup your advance the record company has sent in the bailiffs. Generosity is not an option; there's no eight albums....you can choose the works of one artist. HAWKWIND HEAD HONCH DAVE BROCK'S CHOICE: "I think probably FRANK ZAPPA, 'cause he's done so many different things. A lot of it is quite boring, but there's so much of it. I saw the Mothers Of Invention years ago - they were always good to watch - you never knew what was going to happen next and I like bands like that"