Motörhead – The 10 Albums That Cemented Their Fearless Legacy
The towering classics, the almost forgotten, the modern-day barnstormers and the monumentally heavy....
3. 1916 (1991)
Motörhead’s first album of the 90’s is also the one that Lemmy has credited with saving the band after years of management and record company wrangles saw him making the move to America. It also saw the band newly revitalised after the flaccid effort that was Rock ‘N Roll; a convincing comeback was warranted and 1916 was incendiary.
1916 is the sound of the band having fun and is without a doubt one of the many Motörhead albums that remains unjustly overlooked. This album had everything a fan could ask for, from the raucous blasts of pure rock fury that are “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” and “No Voices In The Sky”, to the brooding intensity of “Love Me Forever” and the sombre and poignant “1916” itself; which came across more as a poem with minimal musical backing than an actual song.
Unfortunately, more record label troubles lay ahead – which would go some way to de-railing any momentum the band had again built up – but for this album Motörhead were back doing what they did best….which was kick ass rock ‘ roll!
A very enjoyable and well written read. I’d like to add that Another Perfect Day whilst having a clean guitar , still had a very heavy production, Lemmy and philthy were filthy as usual and it’s this contrast which worked so well. Motorhead also played one or two tracks live on most recent tours since the as mentioned Inferno tour in 2004. I’m currently listening to Overnight Sensation which is criminally overlooked. Their legacy will be immortal! R.I.P Lemmy
Adam
Thanks for the comment mate and glad you enjoyed the article. It was hard to whittle it down to just 10 albums.
Overnight Sensation is a fine album, it’s a pity most of their 90’s stuff is ignored as they have some great albums from that period
I can see your issue as I would not be able to keep the list to just ten albums either. I at first had a very hard time sitting through the Bad Magic album. Being a 7 year cancer survivor, as i listened to that album i felt some of what Lemmy must have gone through during the recording process. It becomes very hard to breathe as cancer advances so the fact that he finished the album and then toured for as long as he did and didn’t know he had cancer is a testament to his will.
He was Motorhead.
The other nine albums are great picks, no dud tracks on any of them.
A well written article.
Ernie
Thanks for taking the time to read the article and comment on it. So happy to hear you are a survivor, stay strong my friend