Eulogy For a Giant Fucking Talent, Nik Turner

By Jimmy “Explosive Diarrhea” B.

 Do you know what almost never belongs in rock and roll? Saxophones. Like all of my rules and beliefs, there are exceptions. If the sax is played by Bruce Lamont, Dana Colley, or Nik Turner then I can accept it. One of these important sax blowing men, arguably the best of the lot - Nik Turner - died recently.

 I assume that most of the Taint Ticklers know that Nik Turner was one of the original members of Hawkwind where he played sax and flute. His playing wasn't that weak-ass horn blowing of someone like Clarence Clemons. Nik always played jazz. Early Hawkwind had an unusual sound that combined punk, hard rock, and jazz flourishes to create some of the most original progressive rock of the era. It is likely that if Nik had begun his career recording jazz albums he would be regarded as one of the great jazz sax players. He did make jazz albums later in life, although I doubt he sold enough jazz records to keep the lights on. 

 Outside of Hawkwind, Turner played on a bunch of records, sometimes his own projects and sometimes as a guest for other artists. His list of credits is long. I know Turner from four projects, Hawkwind, his solo jazz recordings, his solo space-rock albums, and a wonderful album he made with Youth from Killing Joke called Interstellar Energy (click play on the video below). 

 

 

I first heard Hawkwind when I was in my late-20s. This was a time when I was beginning to experiment with progressive rock. I had come from hard rock and metal so I found Hawkwind at the right time. I was also excited that Lemmy Kilminster played bass on three of the early Hawkwind records. I found a stash of Hawkwind records at a small thrift store below my favorite bar, The Speak Easy, in Lincoln, Nebraska. At the time, I had never heard Hawkwind so I only bought one of the records. The next day I was back at the thrift store buying the other three Hawkwind albums in the bin. Nik Turner helped me move along my musical journey to the jazz, progressive rock, bluegrass, country, and metal loving weirdo that I am now. 

 I assume that because you are reading a blog post you are staring at either a phone or a computer screen. Jump over to the website you use to find new music and listen to Interstellar Energy and some of the early Hawkwind tracks. Be careful though, Nik Turner's playing may prevent you from liking those old Bruce Springsteen (and the E-Street Band) or Huey Lewis and the News records ever again.