MotÖrhead
 After
being released from five days in a Canadian jail on drugs charges
in 1975, former Jimi Hendrix-roadie
Lemmy discovered his band - 70s drug-monkeys Hawkwind
- had sacked him.
He immediately announced plans for a new band called
Motörhead, which he formed with drummer Lucas Fox and Pink
Fairies guitarist Larry Wallis.
Originally going to be called 'Bastard', Lemmy boasted they
would be "the kind of band that if we moved in next to you,
your lawn would die". Motörhead made their debut at
London's Roundhouse in July, and nobody who saw them would argue
against that description!
The original line-up lasted only six months. The band's loud
and aggressive debut album was rejected by their record company as
"unsaleable" and Larry and Lucas were replaced by Phil
"Philthy Animal" Taylor and "Fast" Eddie
Clarke to comprise the definitive Motörhead line-up.
 Motörhead's
music was in a class of its own; fast, heavy, riff-laden and
incredibly loud - it has been described as "speed-marinated,
stinky biker-rock".
The group became the very essence of the unwashed, unshaven,
unpleasant heavy rock band but finally broke through the Top 40
barrier in 1979 with Overkill - success which caused other
British metal acts to also start achieving respectable UK chart
positions.
1980 and 1981 were the group's classic years. They had Top 10
hits with The Golden Years EP and Motörhead (Live),
and their live album, No Sleep Till Hammersmith, entered
the UK charts straight at Number 1. It was the first heavy metal
album ever to do so. Recorded on-stage during their 1980 tour, the
LP featured live versions of classic Motörhead tracks such as Ace
Of Spades, Bomber and Overkill.
 Fast
Eddie left the band in 1982, supposedly unhappy with the direction
the band were taking - A decision finalised by Lemmy's cover
version of Stand By Your Man with singer Wendy O'Williams
(of Plasmatics fame).
Clarke went on to form Fastaway, while his replacement Brian
Robertson (ex-Thin Lizzy) stayed until
1984 when two unknown guitarists stepped into the breach.
Hindsight reveals that Robertson was perhaps too musicianly for
the band and that during his tenure the qualities which had
previously defined Motörhead all but disappeared.
So enter Messrs Phil Campbell and Wurzel (born Michael Burston),
aptly named after his scarecrow style haircut. Phil Taylor also
joined Robertson in departing the Motörhead camp and Pete Gill
(ex-Saxon) occupied the drum stool for
three years before Motörhead's prodigal son Taylor returned.
By 2007 Lemmy was something of a national treasure, endorsing
Kit Kats and insurance.
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