Motörhead: Difference between revisions
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|Img = Motorhead (1995-present).jpg |
|Img = Motorhead (1995-present).jpg |
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|Origin = [[London]], [[England]] |
|Origin = [[London]], [[England]] |
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|Genre = [[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]<br>[[Speed metal]]<br>[[ |
|Genre = [[Hard Rock]]<br>[[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]<br>[[Speed metal]]<br>[[Thrash Metal|Proto-Thrash metal]] |
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|Years_active = [[1975 in music|1975]] - present |
|Years_active = [[1975 in music|1975]] - present |
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|Label = [[SPV GmbH]] |
|Label = [[SPV GmbH]] |
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Revision as of 11:53, 27 September 2006
Template:Infobox musical artist 2
Motörhead is a British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy Kilmister (real name Ian Kilmister) after his ejection from space-rock icons Hawkwind. The name was derived from a slang term for an amphetamine user.
It has been said that "Motörhead's overwhelmingly loud and fast style of heavy metal was one of the most groundbreaking styles the genre had to offer in the late '70s" and suggests that their blending of punk rock's speed and attitude with more traditional heavy metal music "created speed metal and thrash metal."[1] Whether they created these genres might be subject to debate, but Motörhead are unquestionably influential.
While the band are typically classified as heavy metal or speed metal, Kilmister, just like AC/DC's Young brothers, has refused such labels, preferring to describe Motörhead's style simply as "rock and roll." Motörhead's lyrics 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").
History
Early years
After being sacked from Hawkwind in 1975, supposedly for "doing the wrong drugs" [citation needed], Kilmister 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 figured he was right and decided to call the band Motörhead, after the last song he had written for Hawkwind.[2] His stated aim was for the outfit to be, "the dirtiest rock n' roll band in the world" and that, "if this band moved in next door - your lawn would die." [citation needed].
The first line-up 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 July 20, 1975. They recorded sessions at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, during which Fox left. He was replaced by drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. The sessions were not released until 1979, once the band was becoming popular.
Deciding that two guitarists were required, the band recruited "Fast" Eddie Clarke, but Wallis left during the auditions, so the idea was shelved. The trio of Kilmister, Clarke, and Taylor is today regarded as the "classic" Motörhead line-up.
Initial reactions to the band were unfavourable; they memorably won a poll for "Worst Band in the World" in one music magazine [citation needed].
Rise to success
The band's first official album was the self-titled, Motörhead, released in 1977. By this time, the standard of their performances had improved considerably, and the uncompromising nature of their music was beginning to garner a following from enthusiasts of both metal and punk. Follow-up albums, Overkill and Bomber, cemented their reputation as one of Britain's foremost heavy metal groups.
In the early 1980s, they had UK Top 40 chart hits with singles and EPs such as "Ace of Spades", "Motörhead (live)", "Iron Fist", "The Golden Years" and the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP" (their collaboration with 'apprentices' Girlschool). Many fans regard "Ace of Spades" as the definitive Motörhead anthem. They also consider the albums Ace of Spades and the live No Sleep 'til Hammersmith to be among the best such works of their era, as well as the band's most commercially successful releases.
Motörhead in WWE
Motörhead is well-known in the professional wrestling community for performing popular wrestler Triple H's entrance music, "The Game", from 2001. In addition to the track being heard on numerous occassions on WWE RAW and at other pay-per-view wrestling shows, the band has 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 Hammered album and WWF The Music Volume 5, and the Evolution theme song was released on the WWE ThemeAddict album.
Since then, Motörhead has 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 CD.
Triple H has said that he has been a lifelong Motörhead fan. He even sports a chinless beard much like Lemmy does.
Lemmy Kilmister and Phil Campbell were both in the audience on the May 8, 2006 edition of RAW along with Luke Perry and Billy Gibbons.
Departures from the band
In 1982, Motörhead recorded and released, Stand By Your Man, a cover version of the Tammy Wynette classic, with Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics. Clarke felt that this compromised the band's principles and resigned. He was replaced by Brian Robertson, formerly with Thin Lizzy.
Robertson only lasted for one album (1983's Another Perfect Day), having caused friction in the band due to his refusal to play their most popular tunes [citation needed]. The group then returned to the concept of dual guitars by hiring Würzel and Phil Campbell (ex-Persian Risk).
In 1984, the short-lived line-up of Kilmister, Campbell, Würzel and Taylor played "Ace of Spades" in Bambi, an episode of the British sitcom, The Young Ones. Taylor left the band after that recording, and was replaced by Pete Gill, formerly of Saxon.
Taylor returned to Motörhead in 1987 and continued playing in the group until 1992. In 1992, he was fired after recording, "I Ain't No Nice Guy", because he did not learn the drum tracks. Mikkey Dee became his permanent replacement, after the short and disappointing engagement of Tommy Aldridge on the album March or Die. When Würzel left in 1995, Motörhead returned as a three-man line-up. Later that year, they celebrated Lemmy's 50th Birthday with Metallica.
Recent events
In 2005, Motörhead picked up their first Grammy Award in the "Best Metal Performance" category for their cover of Metallica's "Whiplash".
On December 10th 2005 in Perth, Western Australia, Motörhead and Mötley Crüe played an encore together onstage of the popular Sex Pistols song, "Anarchy in the UK".
In 2006, Motörhead released Kiss of Death on August 29 via Sanctuary Records. A video was made for the song "Be My Baby".
Snaggletooth
Snaggletooth (full name Snaggletooth B. Motörhead, A.K.A Warpig) is the name of the fanged face that serves as a symbol of Motörhead. Artist Joe Petagno created it in 1977 for the cover of the band's first released album. Snaggletooth's broken tooth mirrors Lemmy's own broken tooth.
It has remained a symbol of Motörhead throughout the years, with Petagno creating many variations of Snaggletooth for the covers of ensuing albums (e.g., Overkill, Another Perfect Day, and Orgasmatron).
Band members
| 1975 Line-up #1 |
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| 1975 Line-up #2 |
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| 1976 Line-up #3 |
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| 1976-1982 Line-up #4 |
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| 1982-1983 Line-up #5 |
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| 1984 Line-up #6 |
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| 1984-1987 Line-up #7 |
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| 1987-1992 Line-up #8 |
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| 1992 Line-up #9 |
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| 1992-1995 Line-up #10 |
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| 1995 to present Line-up #11 |
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Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | UK Chart | Label | Other information | Line-up # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Motörhead | Chiswick Records | Recorded in two days | #4 | |
| 1979 | Overkill | #24 | Bronze Records | #4 | |
| 1979 | Bomber | #12 | Bronze Records | #4 | |
| 1979 | On Parole | United Artists | Unofficial release of 1975 recording sessions | #1/#2 | |
| 1980 | Ace of Spades | #4 | Bronze Records | #4 | |
| 1981 | No Sleep 'til Hammersmith | #1 | Bronze Records | Live album | #4 |
| 1982 | Iron Fist | #6 | Bronze Records | #4 | |
| 1983 | Another Perfect Day | #20 | Bronze Records | #5 | |
| 1984 | No Remorse | #14 | Bronze Records | Two disc compilation album | #4/#5/#7 |
| 1986 | Orgasmatron | #21 | GWR | Working title was Ridin' With The Driver | #7 |
| 1987 | Rock 'n' Roll | #24 | GWR | Guest appearance by Michael Palin | #8 |
| 1988 | No Sleep at All | GWR | Live album | #8 | |
| 1991 | 1916 | #24 | WTG | Nominated for a Grammy | #8 |
| 1992 | March ör Die | #60 | Epic Records | Guest appearances by Ozzy Osbourne and Slash | #8/#9/#10 |
| 1993 | Bastards | ZYX | #10 | ||
| 1995 | Sacrifice | CMC | #10 | ||
| 1996 | Overnight Sensation | CMC | #11 | ||
| 1998 | Snake Bite Love | CMC | #11 | ||
| 1999 | Everything Louder Than Everyone Else | SPV GmbH | Live, two disc album | #11 | |
| 2000 | We Are Motörhead | CMC | #11 | ||
| 2000 | The Best Of | Metal-Is/Sanctuary | Two disc compilation album | #11 | |
| 2002 | Hammered | Steamhammer/SPV | Guest appearance by Triple H | #11 | |
| 2003 | Live at Brixton Academy | Steamhammer/SPV | Live, two disc album | #11 | |
| 2004 | Inferno | #95 | Steamhammer/SPV | Guest appearance by Steve Vai | #11 |
| 2005 | BBC Live & In-Session | Sanctuary | 2CD, various live recordings from 1978-1986 | #4/#7 | |
| 2006 | Kiss of Death | #45 | Steamhammer/SPV | Guest appearances by Zoli Teglas, C. C. DeVille, and Mike Inez | #11 |
Audio samples
See also
Trivia
- There is a town in Alabama called Phil Campbell.
- The main riffs of "No Class" and "Stone Deaf in the USA" are each other backwards, while the riff in "No Class" was borrowed from ZZ Top's "Tush".
- At the age of 12, Phil Campbell got Lemmy's autograph after a Hawkwind gig.
- Phil and Persian Risk supported Motörhead at some of their last dates with Brian Robertson.
- Both Mikkey and Phil's first concerts were Deep Purple.
- Lemmy and Philthy hosted the very first Headbangers Ball on MTV.
- Würzel started out his musical life as a drummer and did not start learning the guitar until the age of 24.
- Phil also used to play drums, backing caberet acts and strippers around South Wales.
- Würzel earned his nickname due to his rather untidy hair (Wurzel Gummidge).
- Lemmy was a roadie for The Nice and Jimi Hendrix.
- Lemmy was originally a guitarist. He didn't play bass until he joined Hawkwind.
- Lemmy's last name is often misspelled as "Kilminster".
- Philthy once stabbed himself in the foot in a fight.
- Phil Campbell is a Manchester United fan.
- Neither Lemmy nor Phil can swim.
- Lemmy is the only member of Motörhead who has been in all of the line-ups, although Phil Taylor has played with all of the guitarists (Larry Wallis, "Fast" Eddie Clarke, Brian Robertson, Phil Campbell and Würzel).
- The solo on "Capricorn" was recorded while Eddie was tuning his guitar.
- Frank Zappa released an album called Over-Nite Sensation. Also, Euclid James Sherwood, saxophone player of The Mothers of Invention, had the nickname "Motorhead".
- Motörhead's song Ace of Spades is featured as a track on the popular video game, Guitar Hero.
- In Children of Bodom's music video for the song Are You Dead Yet, a man with a Motörhead tank is paying the policeman.
- Motörhead performed a song entitled "You Better Swim" for the Spongebob Movie, and is featured on the movie's soundtrack
- Will Ferrell's character on Old School, Frankie, is seen wearing a Motörhead T-Shirt at the scene where he is debating on a sex doll.
- Snaggletooth peculiar appearance was used by manga artist Kazushi Hagiwara as a stone golem's visage in the very first volume of his fantasy manga Bastard!.
- Motörhead performed a song, "Hell On Earth", for the third Hellraiser film.
- Motörhead performed Ace of Spades on British show The Young Ones and Vivian shoved a Donut in his mouth and gave the two finger salut to the attendant while Ace of Spades was being performed.
- The umlaut over the ö in their name is a record-cover art conceit, possibly derived from the similar "Heavy metal umlaut" in the name of the Blue Öyster Cult. However, this umlaut does not alter the pronunciation of the band's name. Lemmy is quoted to have "put the umlaut on the middle-O in order to make the name more 'German-looking,' meaner!"
- In Jackie Chan's movie "Wheels on Meals" the leader of the Chinese thugs terrorizing the users of the Jackie Chan take-away wagon sports a Motorhead badge on his off-road bike
Notes
- ^ Stephen Erlewine Biography - All Music Guide
- ^ Kilmister, Lemmy and Garza, Janiss White Line Fever (2002) — Simon & Schuster p. 99 ISBN 0-684-85868-1
External links
- Motörhead official website
- Motörhead official forum
- Motörhead on SPV.de
- Gigwise band profile
- BBC Gig Review
- Motörhead Forever
- Motörhead at Curlie
- Motörhead at Encyclopaedia Metallum
| Studio albums | |
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| EPs | |
| Live albums | |
| Compilations | |
| Singles | |
| Box sets | |
| Videos | |
| Tours | |
| Miscellaneous | |
