Julian Cope: Head-On/Repossessed

I've been reading loads of music biographies during this spring: Joe Meek, Hawkwind, Syd Barrett, Hasse Walli (Finnish guitarist with Blues Section, etc.), Bob Dylan, Marc Almond, Suicide... plus Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds' book on postpunk of 1978-1984.

The latest in line has been Julian Cope's Head-On/Repossessed, which covers the artist's years from his birth in 1957 to 1989. (This edition is actually two books in one, Repossessed starting off immediately where Head-On stops.) Cope headed the UK postpunk band Teardrop Explodes (whose manager was Bill Drummond, better known from the prankish KLF duo) before embarking on a solo career in early 80s. In these books he gives own personal, often bittersweet accounts of rock'n'roll life and its stoned madness, the bitter fights within the band and between record labels, etc., how he met his muse and future wife Dorian in New York, with some excursions into his growing interest in mysticism; all in the best "never take yourself too seriously" Spinal Tap/Cheech and Chong tradition, which he describes with a combination of self-irony and surprising lucidity (considering the fact that he spent a lot of this time in constant drugged-out stupor, the reputation of which made him the laughing stock of UK music press) but always with unbridled enthusiasm. It's somehow touching also to read about Julian's obsession with the Corgi and Dinky toy cars of the 50s and 60s, which he collects obsessively as if to retreat back to his private and safe world of childhood, away from the backstabbers of music business. Julian Cope comes off as a freak but a likable freak with some real insight and conscience.

I have to say that I am perhaps a bigger fan of Julian Cope as an artistic character and personality than of his uneven discography (OK, his albums Peggy Suicide and Jehovahkill are some real gems). He has all the right influences: 60s psychedelic garage rock of the Nuggets compilations bands, Syd, Love, Scott Walker, The Doors, Krautrock (of which he even wrote a book, Krautrocksampler of 1995), Iggy Pop & The Stooges, MC5, Blue Cheer, Sly and the Family Stone and Funkadelic. Then Lester Bangs (the late great rock writer), Gurdjieff, John Sinclair, C.G. Jung... Julian Cope must be one of the coolest persons living on this planet.

An excerpt on Julian Cope's Head Heritage site



Panels from Daredevil comics which gave Cope's band The Teardrop Explodes its name

Hawkwind: The Spirit of the [R]Age

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
- Hunter S. Thompson

As quoted by Hawkwind's on-off managerial type Douglas Smith, these words by the late "gonzo" writer Thompson might well crystallize the story of this legendary "spacerock" band (and probably also British cousins to German Krautrock acts of the same era), as accounted by Carol Clerk in her The Saga of Hawkwind (Omnibus Press, 2004).

And what a dirty saga it is, as I found from Clerk's book I just finished. Hawkwind which got its beginnings in the days of UK's flower power scene and communal spirit of the late 1960s, as a "people's band" (like their peers Edgar Broughton Band, Deviants and Pink Fairies), has underwent several line-up changes, the most famous of these ensembles consisting up to mid-70s of Hawkwind's self-declared "captain", guitarist/vocalist Dave Brock, mischievous sax player Nik Turner (Brock's future nemesis), the amphetamine-fuelled bassist Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster (best known from Motörhead, of course, the band he founded after having been kicked out of Hawkwind), electronics guys Del Dettmar and Dikmik, plus drummer Simon King. Not to forget Stacia, their six feet (180 cm) tall Amazon-like naked dancer.

By the time Hawkwind reach the 21st century, the only remaining original member is Dave Brock. Behind them are not only loads of albums -- some of them undeniable classics, some of them bootleg drivel -- but also countless behind-the-scenes bickerings, accusations of financial rip-offs and records released without permission from other band members, court cases, back-stabbings and innuendo. Musicians sacked as the result of "personal problems" and ruthless band politics. Nik Turner accusing Dave Brock of this, Dave Brock accusing Nik Turner of that (most likely both cases of the kettle calling the pot black). Everybody thinking Dave Brock either as a hero or a villain. One of the best known Hawkwind tracks is called 'Spirit of the Age', and this is exactly how it feels: the band changing along the times from the easy-going, communal and sharing Zeitgeist of the 60s and 70s to the greedier and more egotistic times of the 1980s, 90s and early 21st century. All this reads like Spinal Tap but many times more as tragedy than comedy.

Recommended, perhaps essential reading to everyone who plans a career in music business; with tons of excellent advice on how NOT to handle things, business and personal relations.

Hawkwind in Tampere, May 2005