I'm not sure if space rock is an official genre, but on the cover of my bargain Hawkwind CD it says "72 minutes of space rock". Some of the sounds on there make you feel like you could be in a spaceship or something, Silver Machine for example. You're right about Pink Floyd, some of their stuff I class as space rock like Astronomy Domine, Instellar Overdrive, the keyboard sounds on Have a Cigar etc. I don't think there is such a thing as a space rock band, its just a phase some bands go through. That must be a record for mentioning the term space rock in one paragraph
Check out Hawkwind's double live CD Space Ritual, it's excellent stuff! Other good spacerock bands-- Pink Floyd and Gong (any of their pre-1975 albums are amazing) have already been mentioned, some others to consider: Here & Now/Ici Maintenants, Steve Hillage, Ozric Tentacles, Surface of Eceyon, Invisible Opera Co. of Tibet (Brazil), Melting Euphoria, Bardo Pond, Escapade (one of my favorites), etc. Not obscure enough? Check out Aural Innovations, you'll get a mainline to tons of underground spacerock groups from the US, UK and Europe. There's some great streaming radio, too... http://www.aural-innovations.com
Hmm, don't know if I agree. Pink Floyd definitely had their phase where they had more of a "spacerock" sound-- the synth washes, long meandering explorations, etc.-- but what about Hawkwind? Those guys have been doing the same thing for 35+ years! For them, spacerock is hardly a "phase"... Same thing with Gong-- 20 years after the "classic" Radio Gnome lineup disbanded, the group started up again with new spacey material. Most recently, the revamped Gong/Acid Mothers Temple hybrid has lifted off for the cosmos. I would say that there's definitely such a thing as a spacerock band and a spacerock genre...
Cool. I wasn't saying their isn't such a genre but a only know of a couple of space rock bands, so I wasn't sure. I'll have to check out Gong and thanks for the link in your last post I feel slightly better knowing the concept of space rock exists I also have to check out more of Hawkwind too, thanks man.