Spacehog

The rock band Spacehog came into being in 1993 when British ex-pats drummer Jonny Cragg and guitarist Anthony Langdon met while they were living in New York City in the early 1990s. They hit it off, and soon Anthony’s brother Royston came aboard as the lead singer. After adding guitarist Richard Steel, they signed a record deal and issued 1995’s Resident Alien. At the time, Britpop bands like Blur and Oasis were hot, smartly mining the glory days of UK rock, and the band’s approach on their debut was to mimic the glam sounds of David Bowie and T. Rex. They scored a hit single with “In the Meantime”, which topped the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. The album went top 50 in the UK, the US, Canada, and Australia. The 1998 follow-up, The Chinese Album, added a Pink Floyd influence to the mix with the band attempting a loose concept album and trying fancier production techniques, while still retaining their obvious debt to Bowie. The single “Mungo City” went top 20 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart, and “Carry On” just missed the top 40 in the UK. 2001’s The Hogyssey failed to click with audiences despite some minor success with the single “I Want to Live”. The band broke apart not long after, but reunited in 2010, releasing a new album, As It Is On Earth, in 2013.