In 1975, Lemmy Kilminster was arrested by Canadian customs for drug possession and was fired from the band Hawkwind. It was then Motörhead was born. Lemmy has been a known recreational drug user, and indeed the name Motörhead itself is a colloquial reference to speed users.
For more than 30 years, Lemmy has been Motörhead, being the one constant member through continual lineup changes. It is curious that given the lyrics professing a devil may care attitude toward life and living past the present, Lemmy and Motörhead have lasted as long as they have.
Despite the easily recognizable Lemmy and the band’s significant cult following, mainstream rock and roll fans have by and large ignored the band. This column breaks down the Top 5 Motörhead songs any hard core rock ‘n’ roller should know. There are songs which could easily have made a list of “Top Motörhead music,” including “Iron Fist,” “Louie, Louie,” “I’m the Doctor,” and “Eat The Rich,” however the author considers these next 5 songs to be the “Essential” Motörhead.
5. “(We Are) The Road Crew” from Ace of Spades
Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” is a mellow, melancholy look at life on the road as a musician, seeing life on the road as a necessary evil to playing music. “(We Are) The Road Crew” is the opposite.
The lyrics tell the story of a narrator who just loves to be on the road – “But I just love the life I lead, Another beer is what I need, Another gig my ears bleed, We Are The Road Crew.” In fact, the only mention of music at all is the mention of ears bleeding after the gig. The rest of the song talks about the road, the backstage, the travel. He feels sad his “woman” is leaving, presumably due to his continued unavailability while on the road, yet he talks about “another girl, another face,” indicating a lack of complete emotional attachment.
4. “Rock ‘N’ Roll” from Rock N Roll
Throughout the band’s history, it has been a three-piece outfit: drums, guitar, bass. With the 1987 release of the album “Rock N Roll,” we saw the longest running version of a Motörhead 4-piece band – an alignment which lasted until 1992. For most iterations of the band, it has been a 3-member band.
Lemmy, as Motörhead, resists a label of “Heavy Metal” or “Thrash” and apparently tends toward “Rock N Roll” and hence the name of the album. The title track, “Rock N Roll,” follows the same general theme of “(We Are) The Road Crew.” The narrator’s significant other has left him for someone else, but that’s okay because he’s in love with Rock N Roll. The narrator goes on to tell of his somewhat nihistic approach to life – “I got rock ‘n’ roll, to save me from the cold, And if that’s all there is, it ain’t so bad…” Of course, if his significant other is going to leave, that’s okay because there are plenty of others.
The song is driven by the drum beat and punctuated with power chords, and is apparently built for the simple function of banging one’s head.
3. “Killed By Death” from No Remorse
This is just “in your face” rock and roll. The overriding message is that the narrator will only slow down and take it easy when he’s “killed by death;” he’s going to be taken out and it’s not going to be a natural death.
Lyrics consisting of two 4-line verses with a short bridge and a chorus of “killed by death” could hardly be considered an intellectual masterwork, but the song just works. Like most of the Motörhead catalog, it is the kind of hard rock song you put on your car’s system and several miles down the road as you’re being pulled over by the state police, you realize you have significantly exceeded the speed limit.
2. “Ace of Spades” from Ace of Spades
The ace of spades is typically considered the highest ranking of the cards and is considered “the death card.” The song “Ace of Spades” is another nilhist perspective on gambling and fast living. He doesn’t gamble because of greed, and it doesn’t matter if he loses – in fact he was born to lose, but he is playing to win. He doesn’t want to live forever, and that’s kind of the no holds barred, nothing’s going to stand in my way sort of attitude that has driven Motörhead for 30-some-odd years.
1. “Orgasmatron” from Orgasmatron
The Orgasmatron album is regarded by many as one of the bands best projects. The title song is a dark song with many references to religion, war, and politics. Lemmy is well known as a self-described “anarchist,” who despises political extremes of any sort and that message seems to permeate through this song in particular.
The narrator identifies several incarnations of himself: as a sadist called religion, emperor of lies, and as the Roman god of war, Mars. The landscape as laid out is of “a martyred world,” where those that populate it are servile and complacent as they are tortured and killed. It seems to serve a warning against being overly servile to politicians and religion, lest you find yourself casually slaughtered for no apparent reason.
Unlike the other songs on this list, this song isn’t one designed to put the top and the windows down, and smash the speed limit. This music seems designed more to provide the soundtrack to an interstate highway ride on a Harley, but it is – in this author’s opinion – the most essential Motörhead song to know.
Other “Top” music lists:
Sesame Street: Top 7 Songs
Alice Cooper: Top 10 Songs
Jimmy Buffett: Top 10 Albums
Reference:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql;=11:jifyxqe5ldte~T1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorhead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmy
