“If Motorhead moved in next door to
you your lawn would die.”---- Lemmy
 Motorhead
has been called everything under the sun having anything to do with being
the hardest, fastest, loudest and craziest band in existence. Lemmy
Kilmister, and any one of the bands line-ups throughout the bands twenty-five
year history have lived through some of the most legendary exploits known
to the world of Rock Music, and have documented some of those wild stories
of angst, pranks, Rock n’ Roll debauchery and the Infinite Wisdom of Lemmy
for their legions of fans to live vicariously through with the twenty albums
Motorhead has released in the past quarter century. There aren’t
many bands that can match the influence or impact of Motorhead.
They’ve been called everything from the
Loudest Band in the World, to the pioneers of both the Thrash, and Speed-Metal
genres of music that have spawned bands like Slayer, and the Almighty Metallica,
who outspokenly cite Motorhead as one  of,
if not “the” major influence in Metallica’s formative years. While
many bands have dropped out completely, or succumbed to the influence of
music industry types, Motorhead stays true to what the band has been doing
for twenty-five years, and remains an uncompromising musical force.
The uncompromising nature of Motorhead is just one of many reasons they’ve
earned the right to be called Legends.
“If we’d had short hair they would have
called us punks. We’ve got more in common with the Damned than Judas
Priest”--- Lemmy
In 1975 Lemmy was fired from the psychedelic-rock
band Hawkwind, and immediately formed a band called Bastard. An interesting
piece of info about Mr. Kilmister is that he was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix
before he joined Hawkwind in the late 60’s. Excuse the detour, back
to the business of Motorhead. Bastard’s line-up consisted of Lemmy
on bass and vocals, Larry Wallace on guitar, and Lucas  Fox
on drums. Shortly thereafter Lemmy changed the bands name to Motorhead
after his then manager told him a band called Bastard would never get a
shot at being on the very popular British music show “Top of the Pops.”
The name Motorhead by the way is American slang for Speed Freak, (hmmmm,
how fitting). The band went into the studio to record, and during
the recording sessions Fox was replaced by Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor.
Lemmy wanted to add a second guitarist to the band, so they auditioned
“Fast” Eddie Clarke, and for reasons unknown, Wallace quit in the middle
of Eddie’s audition. Eddie stayed with the band and recorded five
studio albums including the bands 1977 self titled debut, and one live
album (No Sleep ‘til  Hammersmith)
with the band. Eddie saw the band through the ill fated, and underrated
Iron Fist album, and left the band after an artistic difference arose over
Lemmy recording a cover of cowgirl crooner Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your
Man” with Wendy O. Williams. Eddie formed Fastway with ex-Humble
Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and achieved a fair amount of success with Fastway’s
KNAC friendly debut album, and the single “Say What You Will.” After
that he hasn’t shown himself around town much.
With Eddie’s departure Motorhead hastily
recruited Brian “Robbo” Robertson from Thin Lizzy to help fulfill the bands
tour obligations. “Robbo” recorded Another Perfect Day with the band
and went on tour with the band in support of the album. While Another
Prefect Day is a fine album, and “Robbo” proved to be quite musically adept
live, and in the studio, the band found him to be more trouble than he
was  worth.
The fans were disenchanted with him for his refusal to play classics from
the Motorhead catalogue, and the band was disenchanted with him because
he developed a fixation for wearing ballerina shoes and tights on stage.
“Robbo” left the band at the end of 1983. Motorhead replaced him
with guitarists Phil Campbell and Wurzel at the beginning of 1984, and
then sadly, Philthy quit the band. Motorhead replaced him with Pete
Gill from Saxon. They also parted company with Bronze Records around
this time, and No Remorse – a greatest hits album with four new tracks,
is the last album Motorhead recorded for Bronze Records. In 1986
Motorhead released the absolutely devastating Orgasmatron and did a massive
tour in support of the album. In 1987 Pete Gill left the band and
Philthy returned to record Rock n’ Roll, which contains the most comical
lyrics to ever grace a Motorhead song in the form of the single “Eat the
Rich.” Motorhead kept on going and  recorded
the 1988 live album No Sleep at All, and the 1991 studio album 1916 with
the Lemmy, Phil Campbell, Wurzel, and Philthy line-up intact. Mikkey
Dee from Don Dokken’s band came onboard in 1992 in time to record March
or Die and replace Philthy on drums. After a couple more studio albums
with the four piece line-up I came to find the band was a three piece again
with the departure of guitarist Wurzel, upon seeing the cover of the 1996
release Overnight Sensation.
Motorhead released two more molten slabs
of metal in 1998 and 1999 with Snakebite Love in 1998, and with another
live release, Everything  Louder
than Everyone Else in 1999. Which brings us to year 2000, an incredible
year for an incredible band. First we’re treated to possibly the
finest Motorhead release in a long time with “We Are Motorhead,” which
includes 10 classic tracks that were forged in the fires of hell and brought
to the fans who love the classic, no holds barred style of the bands earlier
groundbreaking albums. The attitude is definitely there on this one.
There’s a killer  version
of the Sex Pistols Anarchist tribute to the Queen Mother with “God Save
the Queen,” and every one of the new originals is an Ace of Spades itself.
My favorites are “Stay Out Of Jail,” and the title track. The lyrics
to the title song say it all, “We are the flame at night, the fire in your
trash/We are Motorhead, born to kick your ass…” Seeing Motorhead
live with Nashville Pussy this year was also inFUCKINcredible! Be
sure to check out “We Are Motorhead and the 25th anniversary 2-disc release
containing 40 classic Motorhead songs, “The best of Motorhead.”
Check
out the official Motorhead web site
Check
out this cool fan site Motorheadbangers World Online
Buy
Motorhead music and merch at the iconoSTORE (over 40 items!)
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