Everything about Mot Rhead totally explained
Motörhead are a
British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter
Lemmy, who has remained the sole constant member. Usually a
power trio, Motörhead had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles in the
UK Top 40 chart. The albums
Overkill, its follow on,
Bomber,
Ace of Spades, and particularly
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, cemented Motörhead's reputation as one of Britain's foremost heavy metal groups. More recent exposure has included providing wrestler
Triple H's
entrance music, performing live at
WrestleMania events and in 2005 the band received their first
Grammy.
While Motörhead are typically classified as heavy metal,
speed metal or
thrash metal (and often regarded as a foundational influence on the latter two styles); Lemmy dislikes such labels, preferring to describe the band's music simply as
"rock n' roll". Motörhead's approach has remained the same over the band's career, preferring to play what they enjoy and do best, their appreciation of early rock and roll is reflected in some of their occasional cover songs. Motörhead's lyrics typically cover such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and "life on the road." The band's distinctive fanged face logo, Snaggletooth, was created by artist
Joe Petagno in 1977 for the cover of the
Motörhead album and has appeared in many variations on covers of ensuing albums.
History
Early years
After being sacked from
Hawkwind in 1975, supposedly for "doing the wrong drugs", Lemmy decided to form a new band, originally to be called "Bastard." Doug Smith, the band's manager, advised him that, "It's unlikely that we're going to get on
Top of the Pops with a name like 'Bastard'." Lemmy concurred and decided to call the band "Motörhead", inspired by the final song he'd written for Hawkwind. The name of the song "
Motorhead" was derived from a slang term for an
amphetamine user, the drug being the subject of the song.
Lemmy's stated aim was for the outfit to be, "the dirtiest rock n' roll band in the world" and that, "if Motörhead moved in next to you, your lawn would die." The first lineup of the band featured
Larry Wallis (ex-
Pink Fairies) on
electric guitar and
Lucas Fox on
drums. Their first gig was at
The Roundhouse,
London, on
20 July 1975. On
19 October, having played ten gigs, they became the supporting act to
Blue Öyster Cult at the
Hammersmith Odeon. The Roundhouse was to feature Motörhead again on
7 November 1976 with
Pink Fairies and on
24 April 1977 with
The Damned and
The Adverts. Under contract with
United Artists, they recorded sessions at
Rockfield Studios in
Monmouth, during which Fox became unreliable and was replaced by drummer
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. Their
record label wasn't pleased with the recorded material and only released the album
On Parole and the single from it, "
Leaving Here", in 1979, when the band had established some success.
Deciding that two lead guitarists were required, the band recruited
"Fast" Eddie Clarke, but Wallis quit during the auditions, so the idea was dropped. The
trio of Lemmy – Clarke – Taylor is today regarded as the "classic" Motörhead line-up.
Initial reactions to the band were unfavourable; they won a poll for "the best worst band in the world" in the music magazine
NME. By April 1977, living in squats and with little recognition, Phil and Eddie wanted to give it up, and after some debate, the band agreed to do a farewell show at the
Marquee Club in London. Lemmy had become acquainted with Ted Carroll from
Chiswick Records and asked him to bring a mobile studio to the show to record it for posterity. Carroll was unable to get the mobile unit to the Marquee Club but showed up backstage after the gig and offered them two days at Escape Studios to record a single. The band took the chance and instead of recording a single did eleven unfinished tracks, Carroll gave them a few more days to finish the vocals and the band completed thirteen tracks for release as an album. In June the band toured with Hawkwind and in late July began their 'Beyond the Threshold of Pain' tour. "Ace of Spades", considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem, "put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed." The album has been described as "one of the best metal albums by any band, ever, period."
The band had more chart hits in the early 1980s with releases such as the
St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP, their collaboration with 'apprentices'
Girlschool which reached #5; the live version of "
Motorhead", which reached #6; and the album it was taken from,
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, which reached #1. During March 1981, the band had been touring Europe, and in the final week of the month they conducted the 'Short Sharp, Pain In The Neck' tour from which the recordings for
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith were made. playing his last gig with the band at the Berlin Metropol on
11 November. Taylor quit the band after that recording, causing Lemmy to quip "Did I leave them or did they leave me?". Before joining Motörhead, Phil Campbell had met ex-
Saxon drummer
Pete Gill, and the trio decided to call him to see if he'd like to visit London. The try-outs went well and Gill was hired. — Gill left the band and Taylor returned to appear in the band's cameo as 'In House Club Band' alongside Würzel and Campbell. The band wrote "
Eat the Rich" especially for the film, its soundtrack featured tracks from
Orgasmatron and Würzel's solo single "Bess". The band's second album for GWR was
Rock 'n' Roll, released on 5 September, after a tight work schedule in the studio. While having some popular tracks and using "Eat the Rich" as its second track, the band commented that the album was virtually "nailed together". The single "
The One to Sing the Blues" issued on 5 January 1991, was followed by the album
1916 in February. The single, which was issued in 7", cassette, shaped
picture disc, 12" and CD single, reached #45 in the UK Singles Chart, the album reached #24 in the UK Album Charts.
On 28 March 1992 the band played what would turn out to be Taylor's last gig at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, California. In the midst of this, the band were recording an album at Music Grinder Studios, in the city's east part of Hollywood during the
1992 Los Angeles riots. Three drummers participated in the making of the
March ör Die album: Phil Taylor, who was fired because he didn't learn the drum tracks on the song "I Ain't No Nice Guy";
Tommy Aldridge who recorded most of the material on the album; and
Mikkey Dee, who recorded "
Hellraiser", a song originally written by Lemmy for Ozzy Osbourne's
No More Tears album. The
March ör Die album features guest appearances by Ozzy Osbourne and
Slash. Dee's first gig with Motörhead was on August 30 at the
Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The new line-up then went on tour, playing dates with Ozzy Osbourne, Skew Siskin and
Exodus. On 27 September, the band played at the
Los Angeles Coliseum with
Metallica and
Guns N' Roses. The band toured Argentina and Brazil during October and conducted the 'Bombers and Eagles in '92' tour of Europe with
Saxon throughout December. A further tour of Europe was made throughout December that year. The band toured Japan in late May and Europe in June, August and December. The
title track from the album,
Sacrifice, was later used in the movie
Tromeo and Juliet, a film in which Lemmy appears as the narrator. The band decided to continue as a three-man line-up and a tour of Europe was performed throughout October and the first two days of November. A three day tour of South America followed the week after. Lemmy celebrated his 50th Birthday later that year with the band at the
Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles,
Metallica played at the event under the name "The Lemmy's". The band concluded the year's touring with thirteen dates in Germany throughout the rest of December. The band did eventually, but made another studio album first,
Snake Bite Love, recorded in various studios and released on 10 March 1998.
The band joined with Judas Priest at the Los Angeles
Universal Amphitheatre on April 3, to begin their 'Snake Bite Love' tour. On May 21, Motörhead were recorded at The Docks in Hamburg. The tracks from this performance were later released as
Everything Louder Than Everyone Else. The band were invited to join the Ozzfest Tour and played dates across the States during early July until early August and were in Europe from early October until late November. The British leg of the tour was dubbed the 'No Speak With Forked Tongue' tour and included support bands
Groop Dogdrill, Radiator and Psycho Squad, which was fronted by Phil Campbell's son Todd.
After taking a month off, the band began working on a new album at Chuck Reid's house in the
Hollywood Hills. This album,
Hammered, was released the following year. On
1 April 2001 the band gave a one song performance for
Triple H's entrance at
WrestleMania X-Seven at the
Reliant Astrodome in Houston. The second leg of the 'We Are Motorhead' tour began in May in Ireland, moving across to the United Kingdom. In Manchester, the band were supported by
Goldblade, and by
Pure Rubbish at the two London shows. The second London show also included
Backyard Babies and Paul Inder, who was guest musician for "Killed By Death". Between June and August, Motörhead played at a number of rock festivals in Europe; including as the
Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium, the
Quart Festival in Norway, and the
Wacken Open Air on August 4, where four songs were recorded for the
25 & Alive Boneshaker DVD. The band returned to the States for a seven show tour between late September and early October. Some of the London show at the Hammersmith Apollo was filmed for TV as
Gene Simmons introduced the extra
opening act, The Class – a band made up of school children appearing in his Channel 4 series,
Rock School – and Wurzel joined as guest musician for "Overkill". The band continued the tour with Sepultura across Europe through the rest of November and December. At the show in
Magdeburg, Germany on 4 December Motörhead joined Sepultura on stage during their support slot playing the song "Orgasmatron", in celebration of Sepultura's 20th Anniversary. The show on December 7 at the Philipshalle in
Düsseldorf was recorded and later released as the
Stage Fright DVD. From March until early May, the band toured the USA, and in June and August were on the '30th Anniversary' tour in Europe. On 20 September, a compilation album containing the band's appearances on BBC Radio 1 and a concert recording from Paris Theatre, London was released as
BBC Live & In-Session. In October, the band toured Europe with
Mondo Generator before returning to Great Britain to tour with
In Flames and Girlschool in October and November. During the show at the Brixton Academy on November 19, Lemmy joined Girlschool on stage to play "Please Don't Touch". Motörhead finished the year's tours in December, with two gigs in New Zealand and five in Australia with
Mötley Crüe. In June 2007, Motörhead played a gig at the
Royal Festival Hall as part of
Jarvis Cocker's
Meltdown.
In February, 2008, it was announced on the band's website that Motorhead have convened in Los Angeles, California, to begin work on their next studio album. They entered
Dave Grohl's studio in March to begin tracking the drums for the new album, indicating that all songs are written and ready to be recorded. In an interview on the band's official site, Lemmy confirmed that the new album won't feature artwork from Joe Petagno, the artist who designed many of their classic album covers.
Style
Though the band are typically classified as heavy metal or speed metal, when Lemmy was asked if he's a problem with Motörhead being called a metal band, he replied: "I do because I come from way before Metal. I’m playing Rock n’ Roll and I think Rock n’ Roll should be sacred – it's to me. I don’t see why it shouldn't be for everybody else." Whether they created these genres might be subject to debate, but Motörhead were unquestionably influential.
Lemmy has stated that he generally feels more kinship with punk rockers than with metal bands: Motörhead had gigs with fellow Brits
The Damned, with whom he played bass with on a handful of late '70s gigs, as well as having penned the song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." as a tribute to
The Ramones. Motörhead, Lemmy states, have more in common aesthetically with the Damned than
Black Sabbath, and nothing whatsoever in common with
Judas Priest. Lemmy says he feels little kinship with the speed metal bands Motörhead have inspired:
They've just got the wrong bit. They think that being fast and loud is the whole thing and it isn't. The guitar solos are not really difficult for a guitar player, it's just playing scales. To feel a solo and bend into it & I mean Hendrix is the best guitarist you've ever seen in your life. And he learned from people like Buddy Guy, Lightnin' Hopkins and people like that inspired Hendrix. To be influenced by something, you're gonna have to play it the same.
Of the genre debate itself Lemmy is more forthright, when
Joel McIver spoke to him for an interview published in the January 2000 edition of
Record Collector, he asked him if he thought some people get confused between hard rock and soft metal and all the other categories, Lemmy replied "Cunt metal? Spunk metal? Left-handed metal? Right-handed metal? Upwardly-mobile metal? This term "heavy metal" is only rock'n'roll anyway, because metal bands are the logical successors to
Eddie Cochran and
Buddy Holly".
The
NME stated that their brief solos were just long enough "...to open another bottle of beer", while a 1977
Stereo Review commented that "[t]hey know they're like animals, and they don't want to appear any other way. In view of the many ugly frogs in heavy metal who think they're God's gift to womankind these Quasimodos even seem charming in their own way". Motörhead's approach hasn't changed drastically over the band's career, though this is a deliberate choice: erstwhile Motörhead drummer
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor said that rock icons like
Chuck Berry and
Little Richard never drastically altered their style, and, like them, Motörhead preferred to play what they enjoyed and did best. This fondness for the first decade of rock and roll (mid-1950s to mid-1960s) is also reflected in some of Motörhead's occasional cover songs from that era.
Motörhead's lyrics typically cover such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and "life on the road" — the latter is portrayed in songs like "(We Are) The Road Crew", "Iron Horse/Born to Lose", and "Keep Us on the Road".
Supporters
Motörheadbangers
During the 1979 'Bomber' tour of Great Britain, the band met with writer
Alan Burridge who then produced the first 'Motorhead Magazine'. Around the same time, drummer Philthy "Animal" Taylor's sister, Helen Taylor, had started the
Motörheadbangers fan club. Burridge and Taylor worked together to print the latest news for Motörhead fans, the first fanzine was published in January 1980. The
Motörheadbangers fanzine is printed three times a year, and has 3,000 subscribers.
Paul Hadwen, who had worked on the 'cartoon' style of the early Motorheadbangers fanzines with Chris Harris during Helen Taylor's leadership, and also drew the 'comic strip' art included with the 'Another Perfect Day' album, died at his home in Leeds in late July, 2007.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Motörhead are well-known in the professional wrestling community for performing popular wrestler
Triple H's entrance music, "The Game", from Christmas 2000. In addition to the track being heard on numerous occasions on
WWE RAW and at other pay-per-view wrestling shows, the band have performed the song live at two
WrestleMania events,
WrestleMania X-Seven and
WrestleMania 21. They also provided the entrance music for Triple H's (now defunct)
faction "
Evolution" titled "Line in the Sand". "The Game" was released on both the American version of
Hammered album and
WWF The Music Volume 5, and the Evolution theme song was released on the album. Since then, Motörhead have performed a new track titled "King of Kings", emphasizing Triple H's new "King of Kings" character, which made its debut at
WrestleMania 22. "King of Kings" is also featured on the
WWE Wreckless Intent compilation album.
Triple H confessed on his 2002 DVD release
The Game that he's been a lifelong Motörhead fan, and that it was a huge honour to have Motörhead play him down the ring at
WrestleMania X-Seven. Furthermore, on the extras section of the
WrestleMania 21 DVD Release, there's a segment that features Triple H hanging out in the lockeroom area with Motörhead who perform an acoustic version of "The Game", without vocals. Also in segments and video shots that feature Triple H outside of the ring (usually segments in the gym) he's often wearing Motörhead merchandise—most commonly t-shirts. Triple H previously sported a handlebar moustache/ beard, which was often said to be in homage to Lemmy.
Tribute bands
UK
tribute band Motörheadache was formed in May 2003 and embarked on its first "Beyond the Threshold of Pain" tour of the UK from August of that year. Based in Sheffield, the band features original members Rob (Lemmy) and Nigel Plant (more Phil Campbell than 'Fast Eddie') and has had many different drummers. During the course of their career they've been joined onstage by 'Fast' Eddie Clarke and supported Girlschool.
Other Motörhead tribute bands include "We're Not Motörhead" from Portsmouth, "Ace Of Spades" from Varberg, Sweden, "Lemmy's Wärt", "Mauro Tolot Kilmister" and the "Reptiles" from Italy, "Motorheads" from Moscow, Russia, "Motörhead Tribute" formed by UCLA and USC students out of the Los Angeles area, and "Overhead" from Norway.
Tribute albums
Motörhead have been the subject of several
tribute albums, markedly in the years since 1999. Genres range from
hardcore punk and rock, to
black and
death metal and
industrial.
- Built for Speed: A Motorhead Tribute: 1999, Victory Records, various (hardcore, punk) artists.
- Homenaje a Motörhead: Spanish release, 2005, El Diablo.
- Remember Me Now... I'm Motörhead: 2005, Scatboy Records, USA.
- Motörmorphösis – A Tribute to Motörhead Part 1 2001, Remedy Records.
- Saint Valentine's Day Massacre - Tribute to Motorhead: 2005, Bad Reputation Records.
- Strength to Endure – A Tribute to Ramones and Motorhead by Rioygun and Bullet Treatment: 2002, Basement Records.
Snaggletooth, full name Snaggletooth B. Motörhead, (and erroneously called Warpig by many merchandise vendors), is the fanged face that serves as the symbol of Motörhead. Artist Joe Petagno created it in 1977 for the cover of the band's debut album, having met Lemmy while doing some work with Hawkwind. Petagno stated;
The inspiration came from just being a naturally pissed off bastard! And Lemmy's the same way! So it was bound to be an alchemal wedding of a more "primordial nature". I did a lot of research on skull types and found a x-breed gorilla-wolf-dog combination would work nicely with some oversized boars horns. Lemmy added Helmet, chains, spit, spikes and grit.
It has remained a symbol of Motörhead throughout the years, with Petagno creating many variations of Snaggletooth for the covers of ensuing albums. To date, only two of the original covers for Motörhead's 19 studio albums don't feature any variation of Snaggletooth on the cover: On Parole and Overnight Sensation, of which On Parole was re-released with a black snaggletooth on a white background. Phil is wearing a Snaggletooth badge on the cover of Ace of Spades. The cover of 'Iron Fist' depicts a metal gauntlet wearing four skull-shaped rings, one of which is Snaggletooth, while the rear of the album-sleeve shows a fully detailed 3-D metal sculpture of the symbol. Originally the Snaggletooth design included a swastika on one of the helmet's spikes. This was painted out on later re-releases of the albums on CD.
Discography
This is a summary of original Motörhead recordings that have been made available on general release.
Filmography
- 1982 UndeRage: performing "Ace of Spades" — Contemporary Films Ltd
- 1985 Phenomena also known as Creepers: performing "Locomotive" — Genesis Home Video
- 1986 Zombie Nightmare: performing "Ace of Spades" — New World Pictures.
- 1988 The Decline of Western Civilization Part II, The Metal Years: performing "Cradle to the Grave" — RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video
- 1988 Eat the Rich: performing "Nothing up My Sleeve", "Built for Speed", "Orgasmatron", "Doctor Rock", "On the Road", "Eat the Rich" and "Bess" — New Line Home Entertainment. Halfway through shooting, the idea of gradually replacing the members of the ballroom band with Motörhead was hit upon. At first there are no Motörhead personnel, then Phil Campbell appears, followed by Würzel and Phil Taylor. The scene involving Lemmy riding a motorcycle is played by female stunt double as Lemmy was on tour with Motörhead in America at the time the scene had to be shot
- 1992 : performing "Hellraiser" and "Hell on Earth". "Born to Raise Hell" was recorded in the same session, to play over the end credits, although it didn't appear on the film's original soundtrack album — Directed by Anthony Hickox
- 1994 Airheads: performing "Born to Raise Hell" — 20th Century Fox Distribution
- 1990 Hardware: performing "Ace of Spades" — HBO Home Video
- 1996 Tromeo and Juliet: performing "Sacrifice" — Troma Team
- 1996 The Boy's Club: A-pix Entertainment
- 1997 Grosse Pointe Blank: performing "Ace of Spades" — Hollywood Pictures Home Video
- 1997 Wishmaster: also known as Wes Craven's Wishmaster: performing "Listen to the Heart" — directed by Robert Kurtzman
- 1998 Whatever: performing "The Chase Is Better Than The Catch" — Sony Pictures Classics/Columbia TriStar Home Video
- 1998 Bride of Chucky : performing Love For Sale — Universal Pictures
- 1998 Urban Legend : performing Deaf Forever — Sony Pictures
- 1999 Mrs. Death: performing "Born to Raise Hell" — directed by Jack Williams
- 2002 Ash Wednesday: performing "Shoot 'em Down" — directed by Edward Burns
- 2004 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: performing "You Better Swim" — United International Pictures based on their previously released song "You Better Run". The words were changed to being about fishes avoiding hooks, sharks, and killer whales.
- 2005 : performing "Ace of Spades" — Seville Pictures/Warner Home Video
- 2006 Free Jimmy: performing "Ace of Spades" — directed by Christopher Nielsen
- 2006 Starter For 10: performing "Ace of Spades" — Picturehouse (awaiting release)
- 2007 Smokin' Aces: performing "Ace of Spades" — Universal Pictures Distribution
- 2007 Life on the Road With Mr. and Mrs. Brown: — La Vie En Rose (post-production)
- 2007 Shoot 'Em Up : performing "Ace of Spades" — New Line Cinema
Further Information
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