THE SPOTNICKS

Nothing says Space Race like guitar-twanging rocket men named after Russia's famous Sputnik satellite! The Spotnicks formed in Sweden in the late 1950s and adopted their trademark name in 1961 when they signed their recording contract. By 1962 they were dressing like astronauts on stage and recording hits that rose up the charts in Sweden, Australia, and the UK. The band played in the instrumental style as The Shadows and The Ventures and their popularity eventually orbited around the world during the 1960s and beyond! Even though they recorded some tunes that echoed their intergalactic image like The Rocket Men, Space Walk, Cape Kennedy, Space Creatures, Moonshot, Space Ship Rendez-Voux, The Spotnicks were more likely to cover traditional folksongs like Hava Nagila, Meadowlands, Alabamy Bound, Ol' Man River, My Bonny, and My Old Kentucky Home. This trend was pretty common and one can see similar efforts by the early Beatles, The Rattles, The Lords, and many others. Viewed from contemporary times, the contrast can seem pretty funny, especially with the Pythonesque pairing of The Spotnicks picking High Flying Scotsman in their domed helmets. All around great stuff! Here are some sleeve designs and a video of the band playing The Rocket Man. Trivia: ABBA manager Stig Anderson managed The Spotnicks for about a year in their early days (the band fired him). Enjoy!

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THE SPOTNICKS

Many guitar groups followed in the footsteps of The Shadows in the early 1960s, but none captured the Space-Age spirit like The Spotnicks. Hailing from Sweden, this proto-Man Or Astroman styled band had a number of songs in the charts in 1962 and 1963. The group is actually still in orbit, but I particularly enjoy their early years dressed as astronauts. Couldn't they find smaller helmets? Blast of for the weekend with The Spotnicks! The first tune below is an adaptation of a Russian song that readers may remember as "Meadowlands" from your old family songbook. And if that's not enough, check out their rendition of "My Bonnie"- a standard that was popular among rock bands during the era (including The Beatles!). Enjoy!

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