Motorhead are popular British rock band formed by Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister a very long time ago after his ”departure” from Hawkwind. Their first album blazed in as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was starting and they still are as popular as ever today even though Lemmy is the only original member left.
Often the band is known as powerful trio with arguably their peak popularity achieved popularity during the early 80s having couple of albums included in the United Kingdom Top 40 Charts. The Motorhead established their reputation being one of the prominent rock bands in U.K. through their now classic albums such as songs Ace of Spades, Overkill Bomber and No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith.
Lemmy coined a bit of a catchphrase by often start their live shows by saying “We are Motorhead We play rock and roll.” Today, the band has the same intensity from the start of their career until now by playing their music great and allowing the fans admire their performances also with tremendous loyalty.
In 1977, artist Joe Petagno designed the unique fanged-face logo of Motorhead. The logo design includes tremendous horns of boar, spikes and chains and was actually created for the band’s album as well as has appeared in numerous kinds on album covers. People often recognized the logo’s fanged-face to a Snaggletooth and War-Pig. Motorhead also ranked #26 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
Here’s the classic line up of Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke and Phil “Filthy Animal” Taylor banging out the equally classic Ace of Spades:
The band is no stranger also in the professional wrestling community because of their performances in one of Triple H’s entrance music entitled “The Game” in the 2000 Christmas season. Motorhead also appeared on a pay-per-view wrestling shows like the WWE Smackdown and WWE Raw. They also performed live at the WrestleMania X-Seven and WrestleMania 21.
Their influence of NWOBHM and ever since is undeniable though I was never much of a fan myself however it cannot be denied that they have somewhat legendary status along with leader Lemmy. If riotous, heavy and VERY loud rock straight in your face is your bag then Motorhead is for you.
I saw them just once – on the Bomber tour all those years ago. Can’t remember too much about it other than the lighting rig which was distinctively designed in the shape of a bomber plane – anyone remember which?
If you’d like to sample a bit of Lemmy and his buddies or replace that old vinyl collection – check out the albums below.