There’s no Motörhead thread? Was going to post in one if there was one but seemingly no? Anyway…
I hear Motörhead for the 1st time when I’m about 11 years old. Ace of Spades as it releases as a single and Charts and Please Don’t Touch from the St. Valentine’s Massacre EP with Girlschool, which likewise also Charts pretty high from memory. The latter being a quite mainstream affair, catchy and has something about it for sure.
I would go into a local Woolworths to see what was Number 1 in the Album Charts and I had seen Motörhead patches on denim jackets at this time but never heard a full album because listening / buying albums in 1981 was a once to twice in a year thing back then due to price and accessibility.
To my surprise and mild shock Motörhead were Number 1 in the Album Charts with a Live album No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, straight in at Number 1 with that too! I actually felt excited just looking at it in the Number 1 rack. Of course I couldn’t listen to it.
About 3 weeks later I am opening in the school cricket team as batsman and after school one evening after a cricket practice l go round to the other openers house for tea, like you used to do at that age… and he has No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith on vinyl! I’m like “we have to listen to this”. We listen to it and I pour over the sleeve and inner.
No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith is everything a Live album needs to be. No slack. Electric shock after Electric shock. Every track a banger and it makes you feel like you are actually at a Motörhead concert circa 1981.
I’ve just listened to the album in full again some 44 years later. There is no way, for me, that this isn’t the greatest Live Album of all time. It’s exactly the way Motörhead are best experienced. No over production just the band Live doing their thing at a natural peak. Folsom Prison (Cash), Live & Dangerous (Thin Lizzy), Frampton Comes Alive, Made In Japan (Deep Purple), If You Want Blood You Got It (ACDC), and as much as it pains me to say it, It’s Alive (Ramones) - No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith tops 'em all.
Saw Midnight the sort of speed/black metal band the other day and for some reason one of their songs reminded me of the slightly underrated Dave Grohl side project Probot, and this song featuring Lemmy
I was introduced to Motorhead in the classic manner, by watching The Young Ones:
This music was pretty scary to me, but also exciting. And what is going on with the guy singing? That’s not what famous musicians are supposed to look like/act like…
“Very basic music – loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speed-freak rock n roll. It will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die.”
Obviously their “classic” period is generally considered late 70s/early 80s, but they were capable of putting out bangers all through their career. 1916 was the first album of theirs I heard on release, and it’s probably still my favourite. After becoming increasingly ignored in the UK throughout the 80s, the move to LA seemed to reinvigorate Lemmy.
Ultra late career classic, they went out on a high with Bad Magic. Top ten in the UK, number one in Germany! Great album…
I love how every generation has their own version of Motörhead, but each is valid. For me I remember Kiss of Death (2006) coming out just as I was getting into heavier music as a 14-year old. I thought it was great and still do today. Loads of really strong riffs and surprisingly melodic choruses. Their cover of Whiplash (which I’m sure was on my copy of that album though isn’t on the streaming version) was like a battering ram.
Gutted I never saw them, despite having tickets a couple of times for shows which were cancelled in Lemmy’s final years.
Same school mate and cricket opener bought Another Perfect Day in 1983 and even now I think of that as a latter Motörhead album! It’s overlooked but full of filthy bangers.
Motörhead are a bit like the Ramones in 2025, a t-shirt band with legendary status that didn’t fully = financial success in their true heydays. They’re both bands not brands but the (musical and cultural / fashion) world sees things differently now I guess. Good thing is if people like the Ramones & Motörhead there’s a lot to explore if inclined. I’m pretty happy with No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith and the No Remorse compilation from the 80’s and would suggest the Ramones have a deeper back catalogue - but that’s just personal taste.
I was I think maybe some of the guitar work sort of reminded me of Motorhead and the general vibes. Really enjoyed Wolf Bastard too who played just before Midnight.
Same, I bought 1916 on release, a great album, when I was 15 maybe 16. Before that I only had No Remorse compilation, which I remember buying from Our Price because the rather camp middle aged guy who served me said to me it was the only heavy rock album he ever owned and the only one he ever needed (he was probably into house music or something). Was kind of funny the way he said it and we both laughed.
Bought AoS in my twenties. It’s perfection; really between ‘love me like a reptile’, ‘ace of spades’, and ‘road crew’ you’ve got all the Motorhead you need I reckon. The chorus of ‘reptile’ is almost nothing, but the harmony vocal part transforms it into something ridiculously catchy.
‘Ace of spades’ is, like ‘kick out the jams’, ‘I wanna be your dog’ untouchable minimalist rock and roll.
I think maybe some of the guitar work sort of reminded me of Motorhead and the general vibes. Really enjoyed Wolf Bastard too who played just before Midnight.