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.
Too fast for metal and too heavy for punk, Overkill influenced
a generation of fans who failed to see any difference between the
two genres and who were simply looking for the thrill of something
hard, fast and nasty.
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, but their 19th studio album, Motorizer -
released in 2008 - showed that Motörhead had no intention of
mellowing or growing old gracefully. The album was recorded at
Dave Grohl's studio with nu metal man Cameron Webb (Limp Bizkit,
Social Distortion) at the controls.
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