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Welcome to Kerrang!'s essential guide to the greatest bands rocking our world. Discover new acts or re-acquaint yourselves with the legends... it all starts here.

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Motorhead
Motorhead

FORMED IN 1975 after Lemmy was kicked out of Hawkwind for getting busted for drugs, it was once said of Motorhead (by Lemmy) that if they moved in next door to you your lawn would die! And having just celebrated their 30th anniversary, that's an awful lot of dead grass. Once in 'The Guinness Book Of Records' for being the loudest band on the planet, Motorhead were the first band to break down the punk/metal barriers (before they were even properly put up) and have continued to raise hell ever since with a wall of noise that makes bands half their age cower in the corner of the room crying. And that, without ever once selling out or bowing down to popular trends, though that doesn't stop them from occasionally being fashionable. Frankly, it's impossible to sum up such a glorious career in so few words. Spanning many people's lifetimes, Motorhead are more than just a band, they're a way of life.

Ace Of Spades
Name: Ace Of Spades Label: BRONZE Year: 1980

Review: Unless you’ve been living in a cave without electricity in an undiscovered country, there’s no way you haven’t heard the title track. In face, it handily sums up what’s great about this album: Motörhead take plenty of risks, no prisoners, and leave the bulk of their metal brethren trailing in their dust.

Overkill
Name: Overkill Label: BRONZE Year: 1979

Review: Another great album with a thundering title track, Overkill is the sound of Motörhead nailing their colours to the mast with aplomb. Full of racing tempos, Lemmy’s trademark snarling vocals that have only become gruffer over the years and a tearaway spirit that always makes the band a delight.

Bomber
Name: Bomber Label: BRONZE Year: 1979

Review: Back in 1979, it wasn’t uncommon for a band in their prime to release an album every six months. And why not? On this, the album that proceeded Overkill, Motörhead are on stampeding form. It sounds like a catalogue of good times and warning signs, proving the band were definitely in possession of the brains to match their balls.

No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith
Name: No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith Label: BRONZE Year: 1981

Review: That Motörhead have recorded arguably the definitive rock ‘n’ roll live albums tells you everything you need to know about their spirit: what they brought into the studio, they took on tour. Also, it’s a double-disc release, so it solves the problem of their early albums in particular all being so short. It’s like the band knew that they’d left people wanting more.

March Or Die
Name: March Or Die Label: EPIC Year: 1992

Review: Motörhead’s work ethic and impact has hardly deteriorated over the course of their career, but March Or Die is their least characteristic album. It’s shorn of much of the attitude and cool that makes the band so listenable, there are far too many ballads and concessions to a more mainstream audience and the whole thing just sounds confused, really. A blip.

    Key Motorhead Tracks
  • (WE ARE) THE ROAD CREW

    Another title so catchy that it’s a struggle to think that someone actually invented it. Motörhead did, of course, and as you might expect it’s a rollocking ride that’s still a live favourite.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Ace Of Spades', 1980.
  • ACE OF SPADES

    Don’t everyone already own this? If not, get hold of it: a fist pumping, adrenaline shot of classic rock ‘n’ roll. The band must have performed it a thousand times, most notably on ‘80s TV show The Young Ones.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Ace Of Spades', 1980.
  • BORN TO RAISE HELL

    They had a point to prove after the weak March Or Die, so Motörhead fired back with a number of pleasingly thrashy numbers on their next record. Born To Raise Hell does just that and is the best of the bunch.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Bastards', 1993.
  • DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

    On fire and kicking ass, the original Motörhead line-up of Lemmy, ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke on guitar and drummer ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor kick-started Bomber like men on a mission with this anti-heroin missive.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Bomber', 1979.
  • IRON FIST

    The title-track from arguably the last of the ‘classic’ Motörhead albums, Iron Fist is as punishing and heavy as its title suggests. The tides of what’s popular promptly started to change outside the band after this point, though.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Iron Fist', 1982.
  • MOTORHEAD

    The first track the band ever commited to tape, in the choronological order of their back catalogue. It’s the calling card you might expect: unrelenting and welcomed by the ears of everyone who wanted something new.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith', 1981.
  • ONE TO SING THE BLUES

    A remembrance of the horrors of the first World War, this sobering number shows Lemmy enduring it all while the personnel changes have left him as the only original member of Motörhead, retaining their trademark sound.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 1916,1991
  • ORGASMATRON

    Numerous Motörhead songs have been covered, but when Brazilian metal lords Sepultura breathed new life into Orgasmatron it was a timely reminder of the original’s importance. A bold, almost psychedelic gamble that paid off.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Orgasmatron', 1986.
  • OVERKILL

    Perhaps the band’s second-most famous song, behind you know what, Overkill tears a strip off heavy music and shows it to itself. This is Lemmy in his prime, barking out his performance, almost rallying his troops.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Overkill', 1979.
  • OVERNIGHT SENSATION

    Returning to pure rock ‘n’ roll territory after a thrashy diversion, Overnight Sensation is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the band’s longevity and a rare moment of pure honesty without the bluster from Lemmy & co.

    Find on iTunes Find It: Overnight Sensation, 1996
  • RUNAROUND MEN

    The lead-off track from their latest album shows that Lemmy’s lost none of his guile and sense of fun that go hand in hand with the band’s more serious, punk and thrash moments.

    Find on iTunes Find It: Motorizer, 2008
  • SEE ME BURNING

    Given it’s one of the more frantic numbers from their later period, it’s ironic that See Me Burning appears on the decidedly mature We Are Motörhead. Proof that they’re not beyond rocking out, no matter what their age.

    Find on iTunes Find It: We are Motorhead, 2000
  • STAY CLEAN

    Another famous old school number and a timely reminder for anyone who thought that the band were only about sex, drugs, black cowboy hats and a cool logo. It’s a live favourite, too boot.

    Find on iTunes Find It: Overkill, 1979
  • STONE DEAD FOREVER

    Another take-no-prisoners, rock ‘n’ roll number from Bomber. Stone Dead Forever is another Motörhead anthem that comes with teeth and would kick any naysayers in theirs, should they question the band’s importance.

    Find on iTunes Find It: Bomber, 1979
  • WALK A CROOKED MILE

    No-one kicks off an album quite like Motörhead. With One More Crooked Mile, the trio confirmed that they’ll always throw up at least one songs that bears repeated listens, even if the rest of the album isn’t quite up to scratch.

    Find on iTunes Find It: Hammered, 2002
  • WHOREHOUSE BLUES

    Proof that Lemmy is still capable of throwing you the odd cruveball in his old age, Whorehouse Blues is a bluesy acoustic jam that lets his world-weary songwriting prowess shine.

    Find on iTunes Find It: 'Inferno', 2004.