Ladbroke Grove
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Ladbroke Grove is a road in West London, and is also the name given to the immediate area surrounding the road.
Ladbroke Grove is the main road on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival in August.
The psychedelic rock band Hawkwind formed here in 1969, and eventually they bonded and worked with fantasy author Michael Moorcock who then was a resident (and who also lamented the tendency of the band members to show up at odd hours in search of food, alcohol or drugs). The Deviants (formerly the Social Deviants) and Pink Fairies were musical groups out of the Ladbroke Grove UK Underground Community, from which a number of bands would emerge, influenced by anarchistic singer/writer Mick Farren. Punk group The Clash also formed locally in 1976. The Roughler emerged in the 1980s and 1990s to chronicle the antics of the more Bohemian residents, including the legendary Portobello Pantos.
Ladbroke Grove is mentioned in the 1970s pop hit "One Man Band" by Leo Sayer, and was home to the UK Underground movement. In the Pulp song "I Spy" from the album Different Class they sing the line "your Ladbroke Grove looks turn me on."
In 1999, 31 people died in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash.
The road is also mentioned in the song "Slim Slow Slider" by Van Morrison, from the Astral Weeks album.
Celebrities currently living on this road include the socialite James Hudson and David Beckham's former personal assistant Rebecca Loos.
