Motörhead – The 10 Albums That Cemented Their Fearless Legacy
The towering classics, the almost forgotten, the modern-day barnstormers and the monumentally heavy....
Source // metalworks.co
On Monday 28 December 2015 our world lost its last true rock star when Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister succumbed to a short battle with cancer. There’s not much that we can say here that hasn’t already been said by the great and the good of our community but it’s safe to say that if you have even a faint interest in rock and metal, then Lemmy and Motörhead will have touched your life in one way or another.
Motörhead were one of the few bands who never sold out in any way shape or form, surviving for forty years with their integrity intact and a great deal of credit must go to Lemmy for that. He was the living embodiment of a rock star and we could live our fantasies vicariously through him without any concern for our own wellbeing. But there was so much more to the man than the drug snorting, booze guzzling, mad-shagger persona of media folklore. Fans will be well aware that he was well mannered, quick witted and a man with a strong moral backbone.
Lemmy often claimed that Motörhead were not a heavy metal band but there’s no doubting he penned some brutally heavy tunes over the years. He also epitomised the pioneering nature of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – if not the sound – and was the all-encompassing embodiment of the spirit of rock and roll.
This then is our retrospective of the towering classics, the almost forgotten, the modern-day barnstormers and the monumentally heavy albums that made Lemmy and Motörhead such an undeniably reliable and thrilling proposition for nearly 40 years.
To paraphrase the great man himself “they were Motörhead and they played rock ‘n 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