Silver Machine - Live at the Roundhouse London; 1996 Remaster

Hawkwind was a UK psychedelic heavy metal band. They formed in London in 1969 as Group X. They changed their name shortly to Hawkwind Zoo and subsequently Hawkwind. Although this was their only hit, their space-age rock albums sold consistently well throughout the '70s.

Hawkwind guitarist Dave Brock wrote the music to this track, and their frontman Bob Calvert composed the lyric. According to Mojo magazine September 2011, Calvert's lyric was inspired by an Alfred Jarry short story called How To Construct A Time Machine. However, rather than writing about a "cosmic space travel machine" he made it about his new silver racing bike.

That's bass player Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister singing lead on this track. Lemmy, who later formed Motörhead, wasn't the group's main singer - that was Bob Calvert, who joined the group for the Roadhawks album. Calvert's attempts to record the vocal weren't up to snuff, so Lemmy got the call. "Lemmy had a high voice but it was just very much more powerful, he had a gruffness with it, so we decided to use his vocal," their manager Doug Smith explained. Calvert, who was hospitalized at the time for manic depression, didn't find out that his vocal had been replaced until later. When he did, he was not pleased.