Talk:Dave Brock

Brock's role in Hawkwind
I'll try and address the issues user:Gingrichrook has raised regarding Brock's role in Hawkwind: As far as chief writer and arranger goes ,thats crazy,thats your opinion,not a fact.Who wrote Master of the Universe ,Brainstorm,Sonic Attack,Realms ,Wings, Robot ,Silver Machine,Dying seas,Motorhead,Dreamworker,Dangerous Vision,Waiting for Tomorrow,Moonglum,Ejection,D-Rider,Tv Suicide,Lost Johnny,Watcher, and on and on. He is not and never has been the chief song writer. He is one of the writers. Who was Bob Calvert? Who was Nik Turner? Who was Alan Davey ? Who was Lemmy? How many songs on DOREMI ,Space Ritual ,Warrior ,PXR5, etc.,did he write BY HIMSELF?.......And as far as the lead singer goes thats your opinion not fact.Ever hear of Nik Turner,Ron Tree,Bob Calvert,Capt Riz,Bridgette Wishart,Alan Davey,LEMMY,etc. Lead singer on what,who sang lead on the biggest Hawkwind songs ,Silver Machine,Brainstorm,Master of the Universe,Watcher,Realms ,Lost Johnny,Spirit of the Age,Quark,Pxr5,Death Trap,and on and on ? Wasn't Brock was it. What about leads on albums Space Bandits,Quark,Palace Springs, ,pxr5,astounding sounds,Alien ,etc. Why so biased against all other members? ..... And as far as Klute goes did you bring up all the Hawkfans who were messing with his file? Are you sure you want to talk about non payment of royalties or not getting prior permission for releases in the bios ? Do you want me to fill the bios with quotes with POV's on Hawk members royalties not paid from all the books like the other hawkfans do to Klute? Do we really want to read that sorry story again here after those two books made them look so bad? I mean Hawk fans talking about someone not paying royalties on that little item from 2004 is kind of silly isn't it ,considering the Voiceprint,Space Ritual 2 ,Yuri ,Hawkstra, Magma ,etc.,situations. I came on to read about the wonderful songs,the tours I saw,the songs, Stacia,Space Ritual era and all these bios are filled with items about firings of band members all slanted in Brocks favor. For example,why talk about Nik Turner being fired in the article? What about his songs ? In the whole Hawkwind and Nik Turner bios not one mention of "Brainstorm " or "Master of the Universe",but personal problems mentioned everywhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gingrichrook (talk • contribs) 02:59, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
 * "the founder" - it would be difficult to justify a claim that he was the sole founder, strictly speaking it was his meeting with John Harrison that was the genesis for the band, so I've left this this as "one of the founders"
 * "leader" - over their forty years lifespan, it would be difficult to rebuke this claim. Of course, I wouldn't want to diminish the role other players brought, but they always worked within Brock's framework.
 * "chief music writer and arranger" - I think the writing credits of each album would back this claim.
 * "for the most part, the lead singer" - As band members tend to sing their own songs, and as the majority of songs were written by Brock, then this claim is justified. The exception, of course, is the three years (1976-78) when Calvert was dedicated lead vocals, but the three years in a 40 year history is why "for the most part" is stated.

Ok, I'm going to try to address the issues you have raised in your rant: Drwhawkfan (talk) 09:48, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
 * "As far as chief writer and arranger goes ,thats crazy" - take any album and look at the writing credits, chances are the majority will be Brock compositions. You mention, for example, Palace Springs (album), an album of which four out of the eight tracks are Brock sole compositions, three of the remaining four are Brock co-compositions. Of course other people also wrote songs, the claim isn't that he was "sole writer", but it is interesting that in the list you reel off, Brock actually wrote the music to quite a few.
 * "as far as the lead singer goes thats your opinion not fact" - Again, the claim isn't that he was/is the sole lead singer, but that "for the most part, the lead singer". Lemmy and Turner averaged one lead vocal per album, Brock sang the rest prior to Calvert joining in 1976. As with the above statement, I am confident that this statement stands up to scrutiny.
 * "as Klute goes did you bring up all the Hawkfans who were messing with his file? Are you sure you want to talk about non payment of royalties or not getting prior permission for releases in the bios ?". - No, contentious claims of that nature shouldn't be made unless backed up by a reliable source. It is fine to state the fact that it is based on a sample of Hawkwind's "Zarozinia", but claiming "it was stolen" isn't.
 * "slanted in Brocks favor" - can you give an instance where you believe something specically favours Brock?
 * "Do you want me to fill the bios with quotes with POV's on Hawk members royalties not paid" - no, obviously not. If you can quote reliable sources then it is fine to mention Brock is responsible for releasing material without the permission of others and without them receiving due royalty. I hope that in the instances where this fact should be mentioned, it has been mentioned, such as Complete '79: Collectors Series Volume 1.
 * "Do we really want to read that sorry story again" - this article is written for the general public, not for fans. Most people reading it will not have read any Hawkwind books. If you feel that the story is "sorry", then perhaps that's simply the nature of the story, we shouldn't be in the business of roseying things up.
 * "I mean Hawk fans talking about someone not paying royalties on that little item from 2004 is kind of silly isn't it" - I would agree, but that's just my opinion.
 * "I came on to read about the wonderful songs,the tours I saw,the songs, Stacia,Space Ritual era and all these bios are filled with items about firings of band members all" - Wikipedia is encyclopedic and as such should be based on verifiable facts. If you want to read reviews, reminisces etc, then this isn't the place. I hope all effort has been made to comprehensively cover all aspects of the band's history, changes in the band line-ups, factual information about the writing of songs and their re-appearances over the years. Of course, as with all Wikipedia articles, it is an ongoing project and your are more than welcome to add verifiable facts to the articles where they are lacking.
 * "why talk about Nik Turner being fired in the article?" Because he was.

Personal Life
There's no point in selectively editing Brock's personal info - either put it all in there or leave it all out. I think that perhaps it is too invasive, and so have removed the section entirely. — Drwhawkfan (talk) 13:50, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Dave Brock - Hawkwind influences
Presently the article asserts that 'from the start' (1969) Brock's influences with Hawkwind included bands such as Neu and Kraftwerk. Both of these bands were formed many years after Hawkwind's first recordings, so whereas I don't dispute that they may have BECOME influences, it's logically impossible for them to have been original influences. Braka (talk) 20:07, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I can understnad why you have raised this issue, and I am happy to accept solutions you provide. I suppose the problem is with the stated intention of Brock from the outset of Hawkwind to "marry simple three-chord rock music with experimental electronic music", I'll see if I can find a reference for that. As for influences, the "cites his influences for the band at the time as The Moody Blues, Steve Miller Band and the krautrock scene of Kraftwerk, Neu! and particularly Can" comes from a 1972 interview, perhaps we should change "at the time" to "early in the band's evolution". — Drwhawkfan (talk) 22:42, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

I've just checked Wiki's own references, according to which Neu's first album was released roughly between Hawkwind's second and third. Kraftwerk are cited as being formed in 1970, but Hawkwind were formed in 1969 (though they were 'Hawkwind Zoo' at that time). I have no arguments about Can whose first album predated Hawkwind's by about a year.

I'm a little bemused that if 'krautrock' were a major influence, Amon Duul II weren't mentioned, considering that a) they predated Hawkwind by two years, and b) Dave Anderson, bass player on Amon Duul's first two albums, left and joined Hawkwind for their first two albums. Not to mention that both he and Amon Duul frontman John Weinzierl collaborated with Robert Calvert, and that Anderson rejoined Hawkwind, and was ejected, meantime playing with both Nik Turner and Dead Fred in Inner City Unit - though obviously some of this this is from the 80's.

I think your suggestion "early in the band's evolution" makes more sense than the current version.

Braka (talk) 17:29, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

a Bit Thin
This article is a bit thin, I suspect a great deal has been taken out but this should be a warts and all account of Brock's career. Would not harm to make it clearer that most of Hawkwind's work was collaborative even if Brock was the constant.

And shouldn't the article mention Dr Technical, Brock's 'alter ego'?Stub Mandrel (talk) 18:54, 1 March 2016 (UTC)