Earthquake

Album: The Hogyssey (2001)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • A real earthquake inspired this song. Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon was in New Zealand when one hit, providing Earth-shaking inspiration. In a Songfacts interview with Langdon, he explained: "It's a metaphoric representation of that, and it was a pretty big earthquake. I was in Wellington and it just changed my perspective of what I thought was solid."

    The quake gave Langdon a new perspective. "It's kind of cool in a really weird way because it gives one a deeper appreciation of the atom and also just how powerless we are over nature. It just hit me, so I made this song, and it came up real quick - a little ditty."
  • At the end of the song, the band yells, "Beans on toast!" That's a reference to a food item popular in their native England, but not so prevalent in America, where they moved in 1994.
  • The Hogyssey is the third Spacehog album, and their last until 2013, when they re-formed to released As It Is on Earth. The Hogyssey, released in 2001, sold poorly and led to the band's demise, but Langdon was starting another chapter in his life: he got engaged to Liv Tyler that year, and married her two years later. The couple split up in 2008.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Intentionally Atrocious

Intentionally AtrociousSong Writing

A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.

Chris Tomlin

Chris TomlinSongwriter Interviews

The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

80s Music Quiz 1

80s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.

Song Titles That Inspired Movies

Song Titles That Inspired MoviesSong Writing

Famous songs that lent their titles - and in some cases storylines - to movies.