A strange side effect of the Cool Britannia wave of late ’95 until 2000 was the re-appraisal by a younger (back then) generation of mod culture and early 70s films.

It’s fascinating that Michael Caine ended the 60s with The Italian Job, a “relax, it’s just a flick” affair that is stylish, fun, and entirely unbelievable and switched gears in the 70s with the downbeat Too late the hero and the epitome of nihilism, Get Carter, a brutal calling card a film decade that gave us so many great classics like Parallax View, Vanishing Point, and Race with the devil.

When I arrived to Nottingham in 2002, on one of my many aimless walks through town, I got a small carnet-sized publicity of a mod night at this or other club, pretty sure it was The Cookie Club. The person in the cover? Michael Caine, with that 12-gauge shotgun pointed straight at the reader. A publicity still from Get Carter, Cool Britannia now moving to specialty nights at funky clubs instead of the mainstream.

Spacehog’s In the Meantime is an all timer of a song. The lovely bassline, the accidentally “too cool for you” video, where everyone is longing for everyone else, and that melancholic piano while the band slowly leaves the stage and the crowd raises their arms for the hourglass. Just get chills every time I remember this. A stark contrast between the joyfulness of the song and a downbeat outro. Just like Michael Caine.

When I bought the album based on the sheer strength of In The Meantime, I wasn’t expecting much, as I had been burned too many times that year with hyped bands. Still, the album was a pleasant surprise, with Starlight, Cruel to be kind, Zeroes, and Ship wrecked being major highlights.

Never Coming Down (pt 2) is the moment in Resident Alien where Spacehog, Cool Britannia and Michael Caine intersect. The song includes two samples from The Italian Job: the inmates clapping for Bridger and the infamous “everybody in the world is bent!” line. The song hogs glam rock for its pomposity, pays tribute to the films that definitely gave the band their look, and it finally reaches its zenith.

Although Spacehog never managed to quite reach the heights of Resident Alien, they’ve keept at it with three more albums and a couple of solo projects here and there. Later releases like 2013’s As it is on Earth finds the band happier with glam. Perhaps finding a small place of respite is far from the terrible fate some people think it is. Still, they’re on tour and they will perform at the Darker Waves festival in Huntington Beach. Perhaps it’s time to catch them live.

-Sam J. Valdés López