My introduction to Hawkwind was on my one and only Donington, 1982... aged 16 thought they were cr*p on the day. Asked a 6th form mate for a recommendation, he lent me Live 79... even bl@*dy worse to my ears.
Several years later finally had a (very cheap) pair of proper stereo headphones, plugged them into the family music centre to listen to Janice Long one Saturday and about the first thing I heard was "Master Of The Universe" from Space Ritual... yoy!
Decades on, now having a couple of mates one of whom has been a huge fan for ages and one who has seen them 380+ times (mostly tagging along with his brother who was some part of their crew) I have learned that a) they aren't a band to see at an outdoor festival; and b) they are actually rather better than my initial impression!