Watch a unique version of Motörhead classic Ace Of Spades, and a killer take on Little Richard's Good Golly Miss Molly, as Lemmy fronts Jools Holland's big band R'n'B Orchestra on British TV in 1995

(Image credit: Jools Holland YouTube)

In the mid '90s, thanks to the huge success he enjoyed with mould-breaking Channel 4 morning showThe Big Breakfast, and subsequently TFI Friday and BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show, Chris Evans was viewed by commissioning editors as the golden god - or perhaps, more accurately, the ginger prince - of British light entertainment broadcasting. But it's fair to say that Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, a dog's dinner of a game show beamed live into British homes at primetime on Saturday nights in 1994 and 1995, was not his finest hour.

Don't worry if you've never heard of the show, you missed fuck all. Well... apart from one rather fine one-off collaboration between Motörhead's much-missed iconic frontman Lemmy and Squeeze keyboardist-turned-TV host Jools Holland and his R 'n' B Orchestra, broadcast in January 1995.

Given that Don't Forget Your Toothbrush was aimed at a mainstream Saturday night audience, it's no surprise that the show's producers asked Lemmy to perform Motörhead's best-known song, Ace Of Spades, the timeless title track of his band's fourth record, rather than Orgasmatron, or say, Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me, from 1993's Bastards album.

But if that predictable request irked Lemmy in any way, we imagine that his irritation was substantially off-set by the rare opportunity to perform Good Golly Miss Molly, the electrifying 1958 rock 'n' roll classic made famous by one of his life-long heroes, Little Richard, with the backing of a big band.

Talking to Classic Rock in 2013 about Little Richard, Lemmy stated, “He was the greatest rock vocalist ever, there's no doubt. The Beatles are close, and the Everly Brothers, and all kinds of other people are close, but nobody comes within 50 yards of Little Richard. He just took a song and ran away with it, and he was so joyful. He was full of good meaning and good intentions. He was Little Richard, I guess, because nobody else was!"

And you could apply that final sentence to Lemmy too.

Here's the man in fine voice on the show on January 28, 1995.

Jools Holland & his R'n'B Orchestra & Lemmy - Ace Of Spades (Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, 1995) - YouTube

Watch On

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.