The CHAOS Behind Hawkwind’s “Warrior On The Edge of Time”
With just two months to craft an album to support an upcoming tour, Hawkwind created “Warrior on the Edge of Time,” and it very nearly broke them. Members left, including the infamous departure of Lemmy Kilmister, who would then form Motörhead. This is the story of the chaos behind that album, its sci-fi cred, the fall out, and its lasting legacy.
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CLIP REFERENCES:
Michael Moorcock on Hawkwind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIBYy7xApRw
Hawkwind “Silver Machine” (Top of the Pops 1972) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NysxdHSIs4I
Hawkwind “Assault & Battery/The Golden Void” (Live at Prognosis Festival, 04-22-2023) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0k42duB5mI
Hawkwind “Motörhead” Live at Magna, Rotherham, 12/18/2006 (Clip Credit: Moog Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5L6qZQD36U
CHAPTERS:
0:00 A Warrior Born of Chaos
1:28 Hawkwind in the Pressure Cooker
3:01 Cosmic Collaborations and New Blood
4:40 Lemmy’s Exit and the Album’s Iconic Art
6:19 Standout Songs and a Mixed Legacy
8:14 50 Years of This Cosmic Tale’s Echo
#hawkwind #lemmykilmister #motorhead #warriorontheedgeoftime
#vinylcommunity #vinylrecords #vinylcollection #andyfenstermaker #fensepost #vinylchannel #poeticwax #musicessay #musicstory #albumstory #musichistory #albumhistory #musicdocumentary
@paulmoore7261
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
I think Warrior on the Edge of Time is not only the best progressive space rock album ever made, it's also one of the best records of all time & all genres ever made PERIOD
@bellsibub9951
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
It's a great album but I prefer Levitation.
@insearchofspace71
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Great album but doesn't surpass Hall of the Mountain Grill or Space Ritual.
@thorbeast1
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
My favourite album of all time! – pure space magic.
@andreaabout
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Love Warrior, a classic album. I have it on vinyl, sadly not the original first release. Going to see Hawkwind in Norwich very soon.
@karllux-d6g
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
I stumbled into Hawkwind's orbit, on the radio, in October 75, in the north of Portugal, while doing a Math homework. I was a 12-yr old 7th grader. To this day i just can't specify the station, because it was prior to the so-called Nov.25th ''counter-revolution'' and national network was under heavy ''reconstruction'' (all caused by conflicting ideologies…) – it might have been RDP1 or Renascença (the Catholic station), but not yet RDP4, which in 76 began working as a sort of a Rock radio open University for the Portuguese Youth .The concept of Classic Rock station or parcial Rock broadcast segments was taking shape in Portugal, so some of the FM stations dedicated more attention towards Prog, Symphonic or melodic Hard Rock, playing entire halves of albums. One thing I'll never forget though, is the focus given during that afternoon to ''W.O.T.E.O.T.'' – and i quote by heart – ''an album by this British band which has been going on since the late 60s, proposing us this Epic kind of Space-Rock''. Of course the speaker went on giving details about the band's history but I was still too young to start mentally completing the puzzle. But my adoration for Hawkwind began then – never had i heard such adventurous spacesound-escapades and fantastic narratives, akin to the vintage 50-60s pulp scifi comic books my grandmother used to bring me from downtown . Everything fell in place. 2 years after, on Renascença, curiously enough, i would also discover and start following yet another band led by an ex-Hawkwind guy…
@garywhite5674
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Love it
@RandallBailey-w5m
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Been a Hawkwind fan since 1980. Warrior is probably their best album.
@John-z7h4o
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Saw them play at Leeds university in 1972 been a fan ever since seen them live over 25 times every gig was different still have space ritual and hall of the mountain grill c.d.in my car.im nearly 73. 7 by 7 is brilliant.loved the freaky light shows and the strobe lights.
@MrJameslascko
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
You overlooked something about Barney Bubbles masterpiece of cover art. When opened the Warrior standing on the edge of the chasm turns into a Warrior's helm with the 2 suns as eyes and the clouds in the narrow chasm showing his nose and lips peeking out from behind the helm. Surprised you missed this… 🙂
@danholm4952
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
They fired Lemmy cause he was a out of control speed freak…
@FabianCruzSegura
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Hola
@petersparklelarkel
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
I Grew Up on HawkWind Thank You HarkWind.
@chrischristie1486
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Your post has revived a memory of Nik Turner slinking through the tents of the Stonehenge festival at sunrise off to who knows where. Thanks for that 👍
@joaodara17
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Masterpiece
@roxaneandphilipgrim5980
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
I love it!
@Zopf-international
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Hawkwind's version of Motorhead with Brocky singing is the best ever.
@X2000Mr
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
deffinately the best of hawkwind
@TajRocks-el2mf
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
LEMMYYYYYYYYYYY
@itsacityofapes
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
I only discovered Hawkwind via reading Michael Moorcock's novels. I had to seek them out as a teenager at my local Tower Records. I knew no one who listened to them or even had heard of them.
I spent many hours listening to this album as a teenager. And Hawkwind albums.
Warrior!
@335LINZ
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Doremi Fasol Latido is the most pure Hawkwind.
@TimDunne-f9g
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Have had this album since early 80s still listen to it regularly..first Hawkwind album I ever heard and acquired was Roadhawks which had Golden Void on it..I was 12.alwaus been a Hawkwind and Motorhead fan since
@davidmay8818
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Absolutely timeless…..Ive loved this album for 50 years….Hope I can hear it for the next 50 !!!!!
@saint999ish
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Twin drumkit Alan Powell & Simon King & final EMI album before the massive Richard Branson 1976 swindle sterling to decimal pounds in UK.
@suewinter-o9y
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
It's always been one of my favourite albums, still listen to it
@undahraadaundahraada5594
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Hawkwind have always produced their best work when they have a strong mythology to work with. Originally, this was one of their own creation – relating the future past legends of starfaring nomads, which often included the band themselves in their number. It was a unique and compelling background to In Search of Space, Doremi Fasol Latido, and Hall of the Mountain Grill, with it's highest expression in Space Ritual, where Moorcock's intertwined contributions brought the whole thing together, and gave it a coherence it had not had before. This is probably why I find HOTMG somewhat lacklustre – they'd already peaked.
Warrior was a return to form with another strong mythology to work with – this time Moorcock's science/fantasy/fiction Eternal Champion – but exploring the concepts, rather than relating Moorcock's actual writings (Chronicle of the Black Sword was also a massively standout album, which this time expressly explored Moorcock's Elric books, and was none the worse for that.) It's a fine endpiece to what most people I know regard as "Classic Hawkwind".
@alojz300
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
awesome video
@rwdudgeon
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
R.I.P. Simon
@williamthompson2941
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Chaos began long before then….saw it all back stage
@timfeeley714-25
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
@2.43 that's not Simon king, that's Terry Ollis
@michaeljackson5914
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Still have my original copy,my how time flies.
@terrybeechener5992
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Simply Hawkwind 's greatest imo.
@stephenbunce6546
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Warrior is definitely one of the best Hawkwind albums, and of all time. Simply brilliant.
@DavidUKesb
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Don't you mean 'Warriors of Genghis Khan'?
@Headwind-1
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
borough a cassette tape called hall of the mountain grill at a shoppe in sidmouth circa 74 loved it to bits . . .never looked back apart from their earlier albums . . . .
@Headwind-1
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
and copper knob was brock living on a devon farm when warrior was produced no i don''t recon so . .
@mcfcguvnors
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Ive seen Hawkwind so mant times i think i may have been a member twice !
Theres so much lies & a narrative .They wanted lemmy out cos he didnt get on with other band mates . Camera mugging story is true & the arrest while true IS POLICE ERROR they tesed his speed as Coke & came up negative , being dumba$$es they didnt test it for speed ( ?!) Thats how he got released . Brock is a weirdo despite everyone in comments pretending they had a spliff with him – if you are 15 & cute hell have a drink with you . Lem always wanted away from people who had a thing about younger girls , Brock is one & Pete Gill ( Drummer on Orgasmatron ) was another who had to go for the same reason . Dont believe bullsh*t you tubers whove never been outside !
@MightyFerg1
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Amazing album, epic cover too! I bought Warrior not knowing what to expect, and happily it turned out to be fabulous. The "poetic" tracks were a really creative way to tap into the sci-fi/sword-and-sorcery vibe. Great use of analogue synth sounds throughout the album. I also love the way the tracks blended into each other (though arguably that made the last couple come across as a bit tacked-on). I know that some tracks Hawkwind did like Magnu were basically just a massive jam, but I loved them anyway.
@compostjohn
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
One of the best bands in the Universe!
@TheAdeybob
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
You might want to check out Agents of Chaos by Brock…and Out and Intake by Hawkwind – if you haven't already, that is. Listening to them back to back is an amazing experience, with real gems in them both
@peterpiper7216
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Amazing band……Vocals have been a problem over the years in my opinion….Brock, Calvert, Wishart and Lemmy all good…… others not so much…as seen in the current line up , Magnus is an incredible musician… however his vocals are flatter than a billiard table.
@saltybildo9448
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
I have it
@Hutchie2112
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
My first ever gig, clueless teenager, 1975 Glasgow Apollo. Warrior On the Edge of Time tour. Still not been to anything better.
@ThunderBassistJay
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Their albums are great. Their live performances are completely over the top. 🤘
@julianhill1914
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
a great album which I bought in 1982 along with Choose your Masques after discovering the band ( Arrival in Utopia on Masques one of their best songs for me )
@davidrenz5886
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
'In Search of Space' has always been my favourite album, but 'Warriors' has some great tracks🙂…
@bitIOSI
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Perfectly Understandable in that manipulated reality. Ask the Dalai Lama about his escapades. That should point you in the direction of the future that was stolen away from many of you. Unfortunate.
@mojin699
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
Hawkwind are one of the greatest bands of all time, seen them live nine times with my first concert in 1984!!
@keltyk
August 30, 2025 at 6:22 am
You look like Viv Stanshall when he was in the Bonzo Dog Band
Comments are closed.