Music N' More: Motorhead

Motorhead is one of the bigger metal bands to come out of England. Part of what I call the "British Big Four". You know how here in America we have the "Big Four"- Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth? I've always thought England has their own version of the Big Four and it's Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Motorhead. While I don't listen to their music, it's because I don't know that much about them. I don't know if they are heavy metal or just really hard rock. Because there seems to be a fine line between what is considered hard rock and what is considered heavy metal. But if someone says to me "I'm going to play you some Motorhead, to see what they're like", I would gladly says "Allright! Turn it up!". I love discovering new music

Lineup

Current lineup

-'Lemmy' Kilmister: bass, vocals

-Mikkey Dee: drums

-Phil "Wizzo" Campbell: guitar

Previous Members

-"Fast" Eddie Clarke: guitar

-Pete Gill: drums

-Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor: drums

-Brian "Robbo" Robertson: guitar
-Lucas Fox: drums
-Larry Wallis: guitar

History

-Formed in June 1975

-Formed by bass player, singer/songwriter Ian Fraser Kilmister, better known to the world as "Lemmy". Throughout any changes in lineup, he was the only consistent member
-This band is considered to be one of the earliest members of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement out of England. Despite being labeled "metal", Lemmy simply considers their music "rock and roll"
-Their most successful albums to date are Overkill, Ace of Spades, Bomber and No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith

-They are considered by many heavy metal, but they have managed to fuse punk rock into their music to essentially give birth to speed and thrash metal. Their lyrics seem to go along the same lines as Black Sabbath in terms of writing songs with lyrics about war, good vs. evil, etc. Except Motorhead typically writes songs about promiscuous sex, abuse of power, substance abuse and most noted, gambling. Even the name, "motorhead", is a nickname for amphetamine.

-Their iconic logo, the fang-faced logo with the large boar tusks, chains and spikes was created by Joe Petagno in 1977 for their debut album, Motorhead.

-Curiously enough, Motorhead was formed the year Lemmy was fired from his previous band, sci-fi rockers Hawkwind, for doing drugs. He was arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine at the Canadian border and spent five days in jail. He formed a new band, called it "Motorhead", inspired by a final song he had written for Hawkwind
-When hiring for the band, he hired Larry Wallis, a guitarist from a band called Pink Fairies, to play electric guitar, Lucas Fox on drums. Lemmy stated he wanted the band to sound like Michigan rockers the MC5. "I wanted the music to concentrate on very basic music: loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speedfreak rock and roll. It will be so loud that if we move in next door, your lawn will die"
-In March 1976, he decided that the band needed two guitarists, a sort of twin guitar thing that Judas Priest would become known for. So "Fast" Eddie Clarke was hired. This power trio of Lemmy/Clark/Taylor is considered by many fans as the definitive lineup.
-The mid to late 1970s proved to be unsuccessful for Motorhead. They released their debut album, Motorhead, in April 1977. But in July 1978, they took a gamble and did a cover of The Kingsmen hit "Louie, Louie".
-On March 24, 1979, they released Overkill, one of their more successful albums, even to this day. This was Motorhead's first album to break the notoriously hard to break Top 40 of the UK Album Charts.
-October 27, 1979: Bomber is released
-October 27, 1980: they released Ace of Spades. This is considered one of their trademark albums
-In 1981, they worked together with Girlschool, an all female British rock band. To this day, Girlschool is a band who tours frequently with Motorhead. The two bands worked together to record an LP titled St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
-In 1981, they released No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith
-The "definitive" lineup of Clarke/Taylor/Lemmy ended on May 12, 1982, with "Fast" Eddie Clarke leaving after the band did a cover of "Stand By Your Man", a song by country crooner Tammy Wynette. Motorhead had worked together with Wendy O. Williams, a former porn star and her band The Plasmatics
-To replace Clarke, the band made numerous calls, including one to Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson. He made a one album deal, which included 1983's Another Perfect Day.
-Starting in October, a lot of friction between band members started coming up concerning Robertson. It was over his stage attire, which usually consisted of shorts and ballet shoes and his very blunt refusal to play the trademark songs that every die hard Motorhead fan wants to hear. They returned to the idea of a twin guitar sound, hiring two unknowns named Wurzel and Phil Campbell
-In Feb. 1984, they recorded a version of "Ace of Spades" to be used in the "Bambi" episode of the British comedy series The Young Ones. There are scenes from the band playing that are cut into the episode and matched up perfectly as the characters rush to the railway station, parodying The Beatles A Hard Day's Night
-August 9, 1986: Orgasmatron is released
-August 14, 1992: March or Die is released
-March 28, 1992: Phil Taylor's last gig with the band. He was fired because he did not learn the drum parts on the song "I Ain't No Nice Guy". Mikkey Dee, former drummer for King Diamond, was hired. He had recorded "Hellraiser", which was originally written by Lemmy for Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears album
-November 29, 1993: Bastards is released
-July 11, 1995: Sacrifice is released
-October 15, 1996: Overnight Sensation is released
-The band felt the need to make another successful live album, so on March 3, 1998, they released Snake Bite Love
-May 16, 2000: We Are Motorhead is released
-April 9, 2002: Hammered is released
-June 22, 2004: Inferno is released
-In June 2008, Motorhead took the main stage at the annual Download Festival, formerly Monsters of Rock in Donnington, England. From August 6-31 of that year, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Heaven & Hell, Testament did concerts on the Metal Masters tour.
-July 9, 2011: former guitarist Wurzel dies of a heart attack
-Towards the middle of November 2013, Motorhead was due to tour with Saxon, but some of the gigs in December had to be postponed until February or March due to Lemmy's increasing health issues. He started getting diabetes related health issues
-And in 2014, they played the annual Rock on the Range festival, a three day music festival of hard rock and heavy metal in Columbus, Ohio

Studio Albums

1977

Motorhead

-8/21/1977