Motorhead played rock'n'roll. Only, there was so much more to them than just that, wasn't there? 50 years since Lemmy got the boot from psychedelic prog rockers Hawkwind and made a band that'd "kill your lawn if [we] moved in next door", his band's story is indelibly entwined with the history of rock, metal, punk and beyond.
Because there's the rub: Motorhead united the tribes, inspired extreme metal (there's a reason we chose Overkill as their greatest song) and laid the foundation for generations of scuzzy, straight-talking bands to follow in their wake.
With 2025 marking 50 years since their formation, we've asked just about every band we've come across to pick out a song by Motorhead that means something to them, and maybe share an anecdote or two if they knew Lemmy and the gang. From being baptised in whiskey to pig's heads in guitar cases, dust-ups at The Rainbow and fall-outs over socialites, these stories represent a living, breathing history of what it meant to be a Motorhead fan even if you're in one of rock and metal's biggest bands.
So stick on our mahoosive playlist below, and dive into the stories around rock'n'roll's greatest band: Motorhead.
Nige Rockett, Onslaught: Motorhead - Motorhead (Motorhead, 1977)
“I actually got into Motorhead because of the single, Motorhead. We were all into hardcore punk at the time and would just go down to the local youth club where you’d have to fight the DJ to play ten minutes of noisy music and you’d take whatever they were willing to play. We took up Motorhead one night and it blended in perfectly with the likes of Discharge, The Exploited… stuff like that.
I got interested in their music and I remember hearing The Hammer and thinking it was so exciting and in your face. It’s them all over. I learned all the early songs – especially the ones on No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith – to basically become a guitarist. The music was so raw and the way Philthy played drums was amazing.
We played with them in the 80s – we couldn’t believe what they did for us. We probably only got three or four weeks notice when our label Music For Nations phoned us up and said, ‘Guys, don’t plan anything for the next six or seven weeks. You’re going on tour with Motorhead.’ It was like, ‘Fuck, are you for real?!’ We played with them on the Orgasmatron tour, which was when Philthy [Taylor, drums] had briefly rejoined the band. We toddled off to Zurich for the first show, and I remember being in the venue when there was only like three people in there waiting for Lemmy. He walks out, stamps his foot four times and the band just crash into Iron Fist. It pinned you to the back wall! We’d never played with a gig with a band of that level before and I’ll never forget that moment.
We played the show and thought we’d better be on our best behaviour. We’re backstage and suddenly there’s a bang at the frontdoor… it was Lemmy. ‘Get the fuck back out there, they want more!’ We couldn’t believe it, they gave us more time! We played in Copenhagen in Denmark, so we’d become good friends with the band by that point. We’re sat in this bar at 3am and it was us, a few crew guys, Wurzel, Phil Campbell and Philthy. We’re all completely out of it and the lift comes down, out comes Lemmy in paisley pajamas, slippers – the whole thing. We just fell about the place, it was so surreal! He just looked over, went, ‘Fuck off you cunts!’ and got back in the lift. To this day, we still don’t know what he’d come down for!”
Victoria Røising, Witch Club Satan: Iron Horse/Born To Lose (Motorhead, 1977)
“As a teenager, I used to have vivid discussions with my friends; who were the real rockers, and who were just wannabes. We disagreed on many of that time's most influential bands, such as Metallica, System of a Down and Korn. Listening too much to older legends like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Ramones could be seen as cheating; too easy to like. But there was one band no-one would question; Motörhead.
I made sure to include some of their albums in my CD-collection, and kept their self-titled album from 1977 as a favourite. When listening to it again now, I especially remember how the energy in Iron Horse/Born To Lose hit me. It carries a freedom that I so badly longed for - both hopeless and hopeful. The combination of melodic riffs and rawness spoke to my young, vulnerable rock’n’roll heart.
On a family trip to London, I visited Camden Market for the first time. That felt like heaven. I remember the joy of finding and buying a Mötorhead t-shirt (there was hardly anywhere to find them in Norway), and the pride of wearing it at school when I came back, noticing how the older rockers (some of them who even had their own bands) looked at me with admiration and jealousy.”
Brant Bjork, ex-Kyuss, Fu Manchu: Keep Us On The Road (Motorhead, 1977)
“I really love the earliest incarnation of Motorhead – the one from the late 70s with Larry Wallis. I love Fast Eddie and Philth, don’t get me wrong, but nothing ever sounded like that first record. I had a German pressing of Born To Lose when I was growing up and I actually got to ask Lemmy about that song when Fu Manchu toured with Motorhead years later. I was like, ‘when did you last play that one?’ and he knew the exact date!
What makes Lemmy such a lovable and magical person is that he’s about as authentic as you’re gonna get. He’s a rock’n’roll pirate!”
Dave Lombardo, ex-Slayer, Fantomas, Venamoris: Overkill (Overkill, 1979)
“I think my first Motörhead album was No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith. You’ve got classics like We Are The Road Crew, Stay Clean and Bomber – I love the Bomber riff. I think this was the album that took me into double-bass playing: Ace Of Spades and Overkill – those two songs, especially Overkill.
Slayer toured with Motörhead back in the late 80s, and my other band, Grip, Inc., also toured Europe with them. Lemmy was just such a nice, positive human being. He was always supportive – bringing a new band like Grip Inc. out on tour – and hospitable. Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee are also frickin’ great guys – love them both.”
Mike Bordin, Faith No More: I Won’t Pay Your Price (Overkill, 1979)
“Motorhead cured me from having to listen to Ted Nugent. I was 13 when Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Physical Graffiti and Burn came out, which was the real peak of classic metal. But a few years on, it’s getting soft – we’d gone from Stranglehold to Wang Dang Sweet Poon Tang. It starts getting repetitive, soft around the edges… then here comes Motorhead. That was it for me. It didn’t just knock the door down – it blew the building up!
Lemmy was fucking brilliant – smart, funny and an absolute gentleman. And that band were untouchable from Overkill to Ace Of Spades. I really love I Won’t Pay Your Price – it’s almost jaunty, and if you don’t pay attention to the words you miss the real meaning of that song. I heard Motorhead and didn’t have to do any of that late-stage butt rock in the late 70s.”
Prika Amaral, Nervosa: Stay Clean (Overkill, 1979)
“I’m crazy about 70s music and I just love the vibe of Stay Clean. When I first heard it I had no idea what the lyrics meant – I spoke no English at the time – but I loved it so much, the first time I heard his voice it was like, ‘Does this guy smoke 40 cigarettes at once?!’
I’ve always had punk in my veins and hearing Motorhead it was like, ‘Okay, so it’s not punk, but it’s not heavy metal either.’ It’s everything together! I only got to see them once – I think it was in Sao Paolo in 2009 and it was the best experience of my life. I just remember how incredibly loud it was, like the bass was hugging me and the drums were shaking my heart.”
Tom Templar, Green Lung: Capricorn (Overkill, 1979)
“Motorhead were one of the first bands I ever saw, at UEA [University of East Anglia] in 2003. It’s probably the most tinnitus I’ve ever had from a gig – I remember going to bed at my mate’s house afterwards and there was just this buzz in my ears.
Capricorn was always my favourite Motorhead song, probably because it ties to my love of Sabbath and doom, and it’s a fucking bleak one! Motorhead are seen as such a party band – Jack n coke, cowboys boots, beautiful women – but watching the documentary of Lemmy where he lives in this cramped flat full of memorabilia where he seems quite lost.
Capricorn captures that dark side of Motorhead, ‘A thousand nights, I've spent alone/Solitaire, to the bone/But I don’t mind I’m my own best friend/From the beginning to the end.’ That’s so not a party song! Lemmy had such a solo voyager vibe; so loved and celebrated by everyone in rock and metal, but going back home to a kind of lonely life because he’d been on the road since his teens. It’s almost like an admission that he’s alone and has given it all for what he does, but he also doesn’t mind. It’s an early song, but he already knew his fate – and that’s doom as fuck!”
Gordon Morison, Raging Speedhorn: No Class (Overkill, 1979)
“No Class is my favourite Motorhead song, it’s just banging drums, I love it! I love the rock’n’roll edge that it has. We only played with them once, on a festival, can’t remember where. But it was us, Motorhead, One Minute Silence and a load of American bands.
We met Lemmy and I remember that Phil [Campbell, guitars] was on one, just chucking the rider everywhere and destroying the room. Lemmy walked out, calm as anything, smoking a cigarette, and just started chatting to us. There was all this carnage going on all around him and he was just cool as fuck.”
Milkie Way, Wargasm: Limb From Limb (Overkill, 1979)
“I can’t even pinpoint the exact moment I discovered Motorhead – Lemmy was always there, in a way. Like Ozzy, he’s one of those figures that just floats around in the hemisphere of popular culture, just everywhere when I was growing up. I heard Ace Of Spades on a Tony Hawk soundtrack, I was just so enamoured. Then I saw what he looked like, it was like, ‘Jesus it just gets better!’
I was actually watching a live set from Wacken recently and it’s just fucking relentless – that’s what I love about them, they're relentless, and sexy. Limb From Limb is my go-to soundcheck riff. I love hearing the sleazy, lustful side of Motorhead and when the track switches from a sultry blues romp up into a thumping raging machine in the second half and we hear Lemmy scream ‘Don't stop now!’ It gets me every time.”
Marko Hietala, ex-Nightwish: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Bomber, 1979)
“Dead Men Tell No Tales is the Motorhead song that really woke me up. Of course, there was Lawman – that whole album is brilliant – but that slogan, ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’, was just so cool. It had a really heavy first impact on me.
I heard it first on some metal and rock hour on a Finnish radio station, which got me into a lot of stuff as a young dude, from punk to metal. I loved those speeding and loud guitars, so this one really stuck with me.”
Anastasiia Khomenko, Death Pill: Stone Dead Forever (Bomber, 1979)
“I’m actually in love with Motorhead. Them and Black Sabbath are the must-love bands if you’re a true rocker. If you don’t like either, you don’t like rock! I was a very young child when I first heard Stone Dead Forever – maybe 10 or 11 – but even then I knew it was about greed, about a man who has achieved success but loses his humanity. It’s a very true-to-life thing! Greed dehumanises you.
There’s a bit in the middle where only the bass is playing, and every time I listen to Bomber I have that in my head for hours afterwards. It’s got a dirty riff and real energy – what more do you need? When we formed Death Pill, Mariana [Navrotskaya] always used to put her mic really high like Lemmy because she’d read he did that so even if nobody turned up he wouldn’t see the crowd and she was so nervous she thought that was a good way around it!”
Ace, Skunk Anansie: Step Down (Bomber, 1979)
“My first show was Motorhead on the Ace Of Spades [tour] at the Odeon in Birmingham. I saw everybody there; AC/DC, Judas Priest Accept… From that day, I walked out and was like, ‘That’s what I’m going to do.’ It was my pivotal point where I started playing guitar and everything flowed from that. I was obsessed with Fast Eddie Clarke, but Lemmy was also the man, right? He was something from another planet.
As the years went on, I actually became friends with him when Skunk [Anansie] were starting out. I even had my stag night with Lemmy in [famous London gentleman’s club] Stringfellows. Lemmy introduced me to Peter Stringfellow and in the end it was just us, sat in the bar until 4am smoking Marlboro Reds until we got kicked out. I had a hangover that lasted a week!
Even though he was supposedly a madman, he always had a fantastic moral compass and was incredibly clever and generous. Motorhead were everything I loved about a band: short songs, cool image, great people. My brother and I would play their records to death, literally wearing them out. The track that stood out most to me was Step Down, because it was Fast Eddie Clarke singing. As an inspiration, he was the coolest bloke on the planet so him doing that song with this solo at the start and [the fact its] also a lot more mellow than a lot of their other songs.
I actually wrote a book on how to play guitar a few years ago and in the foreward, I thanked Fast Eddie for his inspiration. His wife sent a text with a lovely message from him saying he was really flattered to have inspired me, so I asked if he’d do a masterclass with me in a college. But unfortunately he died not long after. I didn’t get to do that, but I did get the utter pleasure of playing Overkill onstage with him for their 25th anniversary… the day after I’d got married! I was on-stage with Brian May, Fast Eddie, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee on drums. Jeff Beck was watching us backstage – it was like walking into a waxworks!”
Blasphemer, Ex-Mayhem/Ruim: Bomber (Bomber, 1979)
“My sister and her boyfriend took me to see Motorhead in Oslo in 1985. I was 10 years old, and it was the Never Gets Dark tour. I remember getting Ace Of Spades and the other records from my sister’s boyfriend, who was listening to them on the stereo before the show.
You can wake up completely fucked up and then you realise, ‘Wow I had a great time yesterday’. Then you see Bomber is still on the stereo - and it’s like, ‘Hey there's more beer in the fridge, let’s go.’ It introduced me to a world I didn't know anything about.”
Kirk Hammett, Metallica: Ace Of Spades (Ace Of Spades, 1980)
“Lemmy was the real deal, right to the fucking end. When I first saw the cover of Ace Of Spades, I just fucking knew man. I’d heard Overkill before that and remember thinking, ‘this is way faster than Scorpions or UFO. Overkill, cool!’ But then a week or whatever later I saw that Ace Of Spades cover and was just like, 'Okay I’ve gotta buy this album.'
I got home and put it on… Oh my god. Lemmy opens up his voice and starts singing, my mind fucking exploded. Me and all my friends were into punk rock, right? Local San Francisco hardcore bands; me and my friends fucking loved it. The tone of Lemmy’s voice was like he’d got a distortion box in his throat. The sound of that bass too! I felt like I was in the mud with those guys. It’s so dirty and aggressive, so real!”
Riley Pinkerton, Castle Rat: Love Me Like A Reptile (Ace Of Spades, 1980)
“I covered Love Me Like A Reptile. I was playing a benefit show for Planned Parenthood in Queens, New York that they do every Valentine’s Day. It’s all artists singing love songs with a house band. So I took on Love Me Like A Reptile; I felt so nervous beforehand, which I always do when I’m covering a song.
I was working all day in this retail job, so when nobody was around I was blasting that song on repeat all day so I could memorise the lyrics, hoping nobody would interrupt me! That song is deeply ingrained in my mind and helped me overcome this hurdle of just singing instead of playing guitar too. I love Motorhead so much, I’ve named my dog Lemmy.”
Barney Greenway, Napalm Death: Shoot You In The Back (Ace Of Spades, 1980)
“Motorhead were the first band that I really loved. My dad was a massive rock fan and he took me to see them in the really early days, and it kind of changed my life. Listen to the gravel tone of Lemmy’s voice – I think, even inadvertently, that would be an influence on anyone doing really throaty sort of vocals.
The thing for me as well was that they straddled a lot of different styles. They were arguably more of a punk band than anything else. I certainly don’t think they were a heavy metal band. It’s hard to narrow down my favourite song, but I’d probably say Shoot You In The Back. It’s just a really menacing track. The whole thrust of it, and what they were doing at that point in time, is natural aggression at its finest without even trying.”
Scott Ian, Anthrax: (We Are) The Roadcrew (Ace Of Spades, 1980)
“I could pick 50 Motörhead songs, but I’m going to go with (We Are) The Road Crew. Ace Of Spades was a classic album for me as a kid, and of course the title track is legendary, but Road Crew means a lot to me because Lemmy actually got up and played that with us once when we were touring together in the UK in 2012.
Looking over and seeing this guy that I’d grown up listening to on the same stage with us was one of those moments that I’ll never forget.”
Nick Holmes, Paradise Lost: The Chase Is Better Than The Catch (Ace Of Spades, 1980)
“The Chase Is Better Than The Catch is a sleazy, slow song, which I always kind of liked. Ace Of Spades was probably one of the first albums I ever bought, and it was so loud and heavy compared to anything else that was around. I like the whole album, but that one, it was loud, the lyrics were a bit saucy, which my mum frowned upon because I was, like, 11 years old.
I don’t know if this actually happened or if it’s folklore, but he was once presenting a Headbangers Ball with Vanessa Warwick and they played one of our videos. She said, ‘That was Paradise Lost,’ and he said, ‘Paradise Lost? Paradise Shit, more like!’ We still say that to each other even now. That’s actually the closest I got to meeting Lemmy.”
Kim McAuliffe, Girlschool: Please Don’t Touch (The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1981)
“We did our first single with Vic [Maile] and he ended up doing [1980 debut album] Demolition which turned out moderately successful. Motorhead heard it, and decided they wanted Vic too – they nicked our bloody producer!
Vic and Lemmy got on like a house on fire because they both loved old rock’n’roll songs, so they came up with this idea of doing a collaboration between Girlschool and Motorhead, do these songs for Valentine’s day that would could massacre and call it the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. Vic suggested Please Don’t Touch and Lemmy already loved that song, so it was perfect.
In the studio… tantrums all over! Eddie [Clarke] chucked his guitar, Phil [Taylor] had broke his neck so couldn’t even shake a tambourine. We had a good laugh though and ended up on Top Of The Pops with Phil dancing in these. Wherever we went, we shared everything so we shared a minibus to White City to record Top Of The Pops. They were so excited, like little kids. We went to this massive big warehouse where they do props and everything; ‘Look at all this stuff!’ We all went into this olde-worlde pub straight after and these little old blokes were staring at us like we were aliens.
The original trio of Motorhead were pure rock’n’roll, from start to finish. Nobody else could have written a song like Overkill. They haven’t! It’s the kind of stuff that makes your hair stand up on end. Metropolis was one of my favourites to hear live. There’ll never be another band like Motorhead.
Girlschool had been going for two years before we linked up with Motorhead on the Overkill tour. We basically stole my mum and dad’s Bedford van and drove it into the ground, going all around these little clubs in Europe. We had a right old laugh, but I don’t think we’d do any of that now, having the Marshall cabs laid out at the back with our sleeping bags top to toe and hallucinating little green men because you’d been driving so long.
Kelly [Johnson] was living at my mum and dad’s because it was too far for her to keep coming and going between rehearsals. One day she comes in with this single somebody had given her, it was Motorhead’s first 10”. We took one look at the picture and went, ‘What the hell is that? Look at the state of them!’ And that was before we even heard the bloody racket they made.
We were great friends with a band called UK Subs and my boyfriend Tim was sharing a house with their drummer, Pete Davies and the bassist of this band called Fingerprints. It was a whole house of musicians. Anyway, we’d recorded a single in this dingy basement in Soho that stank called Take It All Away and on the way out, we ran into [Radio DJ] John Peel. He said, ‘What you lot been up to?’ When we told him, he said he’d play our single. Sure enough, he did, and Lemmy heard it. So one day he called up and offered us that Overkill tour.
Touring with Motorhead was one of the most special times ever. We had such a laugh, we didn’t know them at all at first and obviously they looked all tough, but they were really pussycats. We were quite young, so these little girls watching these blokes drink Special Brew and do god knows what. We were only getting paid a pound a day, so we had to choose whether or not we spent that on a pint or a sandwich. Beer usually won out! But then the lads would come in with big crates of beer to look after us. We got on like a house on fire. They’d always come wish us luck before we went on, because it was our first time on big stages.
One night Lemmy lingers around a bit longer than normal, so we’re like, ‘That’s a bit odd.’ I opened my guitar case and nearly fainted because I thought there was a human hand in there. It turned out, it was half a pig’s head. Cheers Lem, I’d got brains all over my guitar!”
JB Christoffersson, Grand Magus: Iron Fist (Iron Fist, 1982)
“Motörhead are one of the biggest inspirations for Grand Magus, the idea for us to be a hard hitting three-piece certainly came from being a fan of them. There are so many songs that I love, from all eras of the band, that I could probably pick one each day as one of my favourites.
Today I’ll pick the title track from the end of the Eddie Clarke era: Iron Fist. Certainly the best track on that album, and for me on the Motörhead top ten songs of all time. Blistering power and a fucking awesome lyric. Three of the most ferocious minutes of metal music ever. Gets me going every time.”
Evan Seinfeld, Biohazard: Loser (Iron Fist, 1982)
“I always thought there was a mastery to Lemmy’s bass playing. I remember being about 14, trying to figure out how to get that sound. I was listening to Loser on Iron Fist and there’s a bit where he goes, ‘Son of a bitch, you can’t steal my sound’. I remember thinking he was talking to me.
When I first met Lemmy, I was at the Rainbow and I’m rarely starstruck, but I was that kid with the Motorhead T-shirt. I remember walking over and going, ‘Mr. Lemmy, sir. My name’s Evan. I’m from a new band called Biohazard. I want to let you know I’m your biggest fan and you’re the reason I play the bass and sing.’
He’s like, ‘You’re a big fan, huh? What’s the last album you bought?’ And I go, Orgasmatron. He says, ‘Yeah, you missed one’ and he turned his back on me. This was a young, macho, tough guy Evan Seinfeld and I had to be dragged out of the fucking Rainbow by bouncers because I was trying to take a swipe at him.”
Mikkey Dee: Back At The Funny Farm (Another Perfect Day, 1983)
“There are so many Motorhead songs that don’t get the dues they deserve. I really liked the Another Perfect Day record, though Lemmy wasn’t too keen. I think it represented some pretty hard times for him and the band – Robbo [guitarist Brian Robertson] wasn’t the nicest guy to deal with, apparently, but those songs are brilliant.
Back At The Funny Farm, I Got Mine, I think its an overall great record and Brian Robertson put some Thin Lizzy into the riffing. It was more melodic in a way, because Motorhead before that was almost more punk rock – fast and furious. Perfect Day comes around and it turns into a melodic hard rock record with a Motorhead sound. Phil [Campbell] and I could write a song that sounded like Rush, but the second Lemmy put his bass on it sounded like Motorhead.”
Max Cavalera, ex-Sepultura, Soulfly: Dancing On Your Grave (Another Perfect Day, 1983)
“I bought Iron Fist and Ace Of Spades from a record store in Belo Horizonte. I remember showing my mum, and she got scared: ‘These guys look dangerous.’ They definitely looked like someone you didn’t want to fuck with. But Another Perfect Day is an extremely underrated record - it’s one of Motörhead’s best.
The addition of Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy brought melody into Motörhead that was never there before. You had all these cool melodies throughout the whole record – Shine, Back At The Funny Farm, Marching To War and Dancing On Your Grave, which had a great guitar intro. Dancing On Your Grave is also where the song which I got the name Sepultura from. I was a kid translating the lyrics with my dictionary, and the word ‘grave’ is ‘sepultura’ in Portuguese.
The first time I met Lemmy was in a bar in London. I was bugging him, saying, ‘I’m from Brazil! I am a big fan!’ He just wanted to drink and play his slot machines. Finally, he had had enough and he threw his whole whiskey glass over my head. To me, that was the great thing in the world – in my crazy, warped mind, it felt like I’d been baptised by Lemmy. People get baptised in the River Jordan by a priest, I got baptised by Lemmy in a pub. I read an interview with him years later, and he said that he liked me because I was an arrogant son of a bitch like him. That was one of the coolest things.”
Danko Jones: Shine (Another Perfect Day, 1983)
“When I was in high school, I got the No Remorse compilation. My favourite songs were Killed By Death, and Shine. Brian Robertson put his stamp all over [Another Perfect Day] and maybe that’s why I really like it – it’s like the best of both Thin Lizzy and Motorhead. When we toured with Motorhead, they played I Got Mine off that album and I was so surprised – and happy – that they did.
We toured with the band in the UK on [2008 album] Motorizer. We’d already done a tour with them before that, but it was amazing – they treated us so well and every night Lemmy asked if I wanted to come up and do Killed By Death - one of my favourite songs! I think was one of, if not the, best tour I’ve ever done. One night, Lemmy comes up and he says, ‘Will you do Born To Raise Hell instead?’ It’s a no-brainer, right? If Motorhead asked me to sing Happy Birthday, I would.
But I’m not as familiar with that song, so I was panicking because I didn’t know the verses, so I had to go hide in a closet with my iPod – because this is before streaming – and listened to the song over and over to sing the song back to Lemmy, face-to-face in his dressing room. I passed the audition! I don’t know if there’s anything more intimidating than singing Lemmy’s song to him in his dressing room.”
Dani Filth, Cradle Of Filth: Claw (Orgasmatron, 1986)
“Claw is really fun. It always used to remind me of a guy from the Wild West, I think someone like (British pulp horror author) Guy Smith, I think, used to write about him. It was this really violent story of this guy that chopped people’s heads off, and I was convinced Lemmy was writing about that. It obviously wasn’t, but it’s still a really fun song.
I met Lemmy many, many times. We actually fell out over (British socialite) Tara Palmer-Tomkinson of all people! He came to her defence when I made a crude comment about her... it wasn’t that crude. She was presenting an award to us and I said that she looked like she was wearing a cheap dress, because, you know, what’s she doing here? Just this rich socialite pretending to be into metal.
So, we kind of fell out in the press for a while. The we made up at the Graspop Festival and had a little cuddle, and I bought him a drink... at a free bar!It just went backwards and forwards like that for a few years. But he was great, a bit of a rebel, but that’s why we all loved him.”
Joe Nally, Urne: Mean Machine (Orgasmatron, 1986)
“Orgasmatron isn’t Motorhead’s best album by any means. It’s got some absolute classics on, but the production is really muddy. But I really loved the name of Mean Machine and in my kid brain I associated it with the movie Mean Machine which starred Vinnie Jones. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with it!
But I loved that track and it was the first time they were playing as a four-piece, the riff comes in and it just ticks all the boxes for a classic Motorhead song. I just love having this quick, aggy song with some cool vocal hooks. It’s really stuck with me.”
Andreas Kisser, Sepultura: Orgasmatron (Orgasmatron, 1986)
“Orgasmatron is a really big deal for us, and we still jam it [live] because its our best cover. It has almost become our song; a lot of people in Brazil who never listened to Motorhead think it’s an original Sepultura song because we play it so much! Lemmy was always very respectful, we jammed Orgasmatron together many times, us with him, him coming on with us and we even jammed Overkill with them in Brazil at Rock In Rio.
Being onstage with Motorhead... WOW! We were in Brazil and Motorhead were scheduled to play this big gymnasium, which had a shitty sound. Motorhead played two songs and stopped, Lemmy went off and came back, he’d dragged the promoter onstage and he said ‘Now this guy is going to explain to you why we’re not going to play anymore songs.’ The guy was like, ‘Uh! Sorry guys, we’ve had some problems, we’re going to reschedule the show in three days in a better venue!’ So, they did a different place a few days later and it all sounded much better, and they did Orgasmatron with this green light under Lemmy’s face. It was so powerful.
I was there with Max [Cavalera], Iggor [Cavalera] and Paulo [Jr.], all together, and it just summed up the power of that show. So, when Roadrunner asked us to do some bonus tracks for Arise we decided to do Orgasmatron because we were still so impacted by the song.”
Brann Dailor, Mastodon: Killed By Death (Single, 1987)
“Killed By Death is one of my favourite songs ever, not just Motorhead songs. Whenever they would launch into that live it was like ‘Oh boy, here we go!’
Killed, by death. Can you imagine?! Death gets us all, but this makes it personal… and badass.”
Shavo Odadjian, System Of A Down/Seven Hours After Violet: Eat The Rich (Rock ‘N’ Roll, 1987)
“I love Eat The Rich! Damn, man, ‘C’mon baby eat the rich, put the bite on the son of a bitch’ that was the coolest shit ever when I was a kid! We were once playing a festival in Europe – it might’ve been Download actually – and I’d overslept. I got out the bus and was pretty groggy – I think we’d been drinking the night before – and I’m wearing this Motorhead shirt, so I asked someone, ‘Hey, where’s our dressing room?’
This girl grabs me and is like ‘Over here!’ and drags me to this door. She opens it, and Lemmy is sat on the other side. They thought I was in Motorhead! He just grins and says, ‘Get in here you son of a bitch!’ and I end up sat with him while he plays this slot machine… in his dressing room. God rest his soul. That was on his rider! There’s an ash tray with like 200 cigarette butts in, so I just sat there soaking it in, playing slots with Lemmy.”
Sammy Urwin, Employed To Serve: Cradle To The Grave (Eat The Rich B-Side, 1987)
“Cradle To The Grave’s a strong example that Motörhead were still churning out absolute rock’n’roll anthems a decade deep into their career. I saw them twice, albeit much later. I want to say in 2005, but it’s a bond between me and my dad because he’s a big Motörhead fan.
It was a rite of passage going to see Motörhead with my dad and experiencing how ballistically loud it was. I’ve always worn earplugs, but even with both earplugs in, my ears were ringing chronically after both shows. They really were just a force of nature and I feel extremely grateful that I got to see him [Lemmy]. They would definitely be a band that, if I missed out on them back in the day, I would have been incredibly disappointed.”
Randy Blythe, Lamb Of God: Just ‘Cos You Got The Power (Eat The Rich B-Side, 1987)
“There’s just something about Just Cos You Got The Power man. That full line, “Just ‘cos you got the power, that don’t mean you got the right.” There’s a real groove there and the lyrics are very humanistic.
They display a level of empathy that isn’t just ‘Fuck the system’, it’s ‘Hey, stop and think about things.’ Think about how you act – act like a decent fucking human being. That’s what Lemmy was saying, I believe and I’m a firm believer in that.”
Einar Selvik, Wardruna: I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care) (1916, 1991)
“How could you not be a fan of Motorhead? Like almost everyone, Ace Of Spades was my gateway into their music and I just loved the grit, the attitude. Music is energy and if I can’t feel that, it doesn’t hit me. What they project, it comes from somewhere real – they never wore masks.
You can always tell who it is when they play too, because they have such a signature sound. We exist in a world where everybody wants their sound to be perfect and polished and so well produced, and Motorhead are the opposite of that. The man started a song with ‘I make love to mountain lions!’
Doro Pesch: Love Me Forever (1916, 1991)
"Love Me Forever is one of my absolute favourites. I listened to it a thousand times. And I was so super stoked that I could record this song as a duet with Lemmy for my Calling The Wild album. That was my very first duet ever. I still love it so much, and I still remember the great fun I had being in the studio with Lem."
Joakim Bróden, Sabaton: 1916 (1916, 1991)
“1916 is probably my favourite Motorhead song – either that or Hellraiser, which he wrote for Ozzy. When it came to Sabaton covering it, everything just fell into place, especially with how it fit into what we were doing on the album [the track was recorded around the same time as The War To End All Wars, but released on the Stories From The Western Front EP].
We were very much in World War One era and had reached a point where it was like, ‘I’m not sure there are any songs we can cover that’d fit in with this era.’ But then it struck us – we’re missing something obvious! It turned out to be a hugely popular track for us, so it was great to see people really getting into it when we played Wembley Arena [in 2023].
Around 2010, we actually got to meet them – we already kind of knew Mikkey [Dee, drums] because he’s a fellow Swede, but at some point as a touring band you find yourselves running into each other for an entire summer. For us, that was when we touring Coat Of Arms, and we were coming to the end of the run and I bumped into Lemmy. He was like, ‘you again?’ So he must’ve recognised us ha ha.”
Lzzy Hale, Halestorm: Hellraiser (March Or Die, 1992)
“Hellraiser came on the other day, and it reminded me of how I learnt to play guitar. Growing up, my dad was a bass player, so my first real experience playing ‘guitar’ was on his bass. My dad was like, ‘Think about Lemmy from Motorhead! He plays bass like a guitar!’
Lemmy was a rhythm guitarist in disguise, and tracks like Hellraiser really shaped how I play. Not to mention he was also so supportive when it came to LGBTQ rights and mental health. So I was inspired by his playing, and how he used his voice.”
Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne/Black Label Society: I Ain’t No Nice Guy (March Or Die, 1992)
“When you think of Motorhead, you don’t think of ballads, so I’m going against the grain and picking I Ain’t No Nice Guy. I love that song; it’s amazing. Obviously you’ve got Ozzy on there, and you’ve got Slash playing on it as well. Lemmy’s really singing on it too; I love that one.
Lemmy was the best. I remember when we toured with them, I didn’t realise Ozz had known Lemmy forever. He toured with him when Randy [Rhoads] was around, they did shows [together] all the way through to the No More Tours Tour. Lemmy was out every night. He was amazing, just the most down to earth guy. One thing you could say, as far as being an inspirational person to look at in life for any young person, he was just like ‘Do what you love, and that’s that, man.’
Lemmy was always told, ‘Well, you need to do more stuff like Bon Jovi!’ Some people could be swayed, but the only way you’ll ever thrive and shine is if you’re doing what you love. That’s Lemmy all over. He never forgot that once in his entire life.”
Ice-T, Body Count: Born To Raise Hell (Bastards, 1993)
“I was requested specifically by Lemmy for Born To Raise Hell, because he was asked to bring a rapper in and he picked me. I was honoured. I didn’t get to record in the studio with him, but I did do the video and he’s a big dude. A lot of these cats who are legends, they don’t have do much when you’re around them, you just know they’re bad motherfuckers. I remember there were some people late to the shoot and he was like, ‘a lot of these guys are all inspiration, no perspiration.’
Motorhead was the style of rock we emulated on [Body Count's] Cop Killer – to me that was the sound of someone going down the highway on a Harley. That’s the image they had and the vibe.”
Phil Campbell: Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me (Bastards, 1993)
“Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me from Bastards was a great song to work on. I went to sleep for the solo, Howard [Benson, producer] tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up. That was my favourite album of ours. People forget our softer songs, unfortunately.”
Ginger Wildheart, The Wildhearts: Devils (Bastards, 1993)
“I toured with Motorhead twice. Once on The World Is Yours [with Michael Monroe], and in The Wildhearts in the early 2000s [2003] when it was us, Motorhead and Young Heart Attack. My little lad got to meet Lemmy, back in the days when giants walked the earth. He was a gentleman, which is the thing I liked about him most. He never talked down to people and you could tell he’d always wanted to be in music, but didn’t have a plan for how that’d happen. To me that was reassuring.
He was a real, genuine, ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of person. They made a documentary when The Wildhearts were on tour with them, and he said, ‘Do you want to come on with us?’ I was like, ‘Okay, can I do Overkill?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ ‘Can I do London instead? Everyone I know will be there.’ And he just turned and walked away, so I thought I’d blown my fuckin’ chances. Come the London gig, he came up like, ‘You getting on tonight then?’ I still can’t believe I got to do that.
Nobody was really talking about Motorhead when they released Bastards, except for us people who went to see them and brought every album. I was one of those people and in 93 I was hitting things pretty hard. I’d not long passed my driving test and had got a car, but hadn’t done a long journey yet because I’d been living in London. At Christmas, people were giving me all this advice about what to do before I made the journey back to Newcastle, one piece of which was to get a bag of peanuts and a 2p coin, just in case you get breathalysed.
So I embarked on this long journey from London to South Shields. I was about 20 miles away, playing Bastards the whole time because it’d just come out. But nobody has warned me about black ice. So I’m playing Bastards, probably going way too fast as I’d done the whole journey on speed, and I hit this ice at a roundabout. I couldn’t stop and flew through all this traffic – god knows how I didn’t hit anything – and went up this embankment where they’d planted all these young trees. I took the lot out.
I came to a stop upside down and as I’m lay there like, ‘What the fuck just happened?’ Devils is blasting out its last refrain – ‘Angels in my heart tonight’ over and over. Of course the police turned up and breathalysed me, but I’d got me bag of nuts and 2p coin, so nothing came up.”
Fernanda Lira, Crypta: Sacrifice (Sacrifice, 1995)
“I’m a huge King Diamond fan, therefore I’m a huge Mikkey Dee fan and I think Sacrifice is a perfect mix of Motörhead and Mikkey Dee’s styles. First time I heard it, I couldn’t believe it was Motörhead; it’s darker, kind of hypnotic, because the same melody and drum line repeat for most of the song.
My friend was actually friends with Lemmy. Years ago – like, 2008 – she brought me to his dressing room. When I met him, I couldn’t talk, but he was the kindest person. It was one of the first times I’d been in a big band’s dressing room, and there were a lot of Kinder eggs. I love them, but they’re expensive here in Brazil and I was just staring at this pile when he said, ‘Hey, you can have one.’ He was talking to my friend, but he’d noticed. It was so silly!’
Jamey Jasta, Hatebreed: Civil War (Overnight Sensation, 1996)
“I really think Overnight Sensation is criminally underrated. If you want Motorhead that is more fast, kinda hardcore sounding, go with Civil War. It’s so perfect, Lemmy’s asking, ‘What are we fighting for?’ The lyrics could have been written today and be relevant in a bunch of different countries all over the world.
We had a real trial by fire in 1999 going on tour with them and watching them every day. I would say this about Lem, obviously many people know he was very popular with the ladies, but at the time I was, like, barely 20 years old. You would see these beautiful women [with him] every day, Jack Daniels bottles on the pool table, maybe some other party favours as well, depending on where we were and what city we were in, and they all loved him. You never heard one bad word about him throughout the years, because he really took care of people behind the scenes.
I was lucky enough to have him on my podcast right before he passed and he said to me, I’m not even sure if we kept this in the show, but he said in his own way that he loved everybody. He really did love and care for everybody; every city, every show. He proved you can still be hard and spread the love.”
Whitfield Crane, Ugly Kid Joe: I Don’t Believe A Word (Overnight Sensation, 1996)
“Backstage, Lem always had a poker machine. Even if it was no smoking, he’d be there with his hat on puffing away, with a Jack and coke on one side and a lyric sheet on the other. He was just always in it, there was no vacation for Lemmy, he was a real poet.
Just look at the lyrical content for a song like I Don’t Believe A Word – it’s incredible. I feel like he was talking to himself. He’s asking, ‘What’s real? What’s bullshit?’ There’s a lot about his own travails in there too, getting ripped off. He’s done the whole fuckin’ thing and just kept keeping on, keeping on.”
Brock Lindow, 36 Crazyfists/Paradise Slaves: Murder Show (Overnight Sensation, 1996)
“Motorhead were the loudest band of all time, right? I’d disovered the band through MTV – Beavis and Butthead watching the Ace Of Spades video. I dug a bit deeper into Lemmy as an artist and found out he’d been in Hawkwind and had even been a roadie for Jimi Hendrix. What a fuckin’ rock’n’roll pedigree!
The guy drank Jack Daniels and did speed all day but I’ve never heard a story about him being belligerent. It was [James] Hetfield who got me into Murder Show, he gave that song a shout-out a bunch of times and Metallica were always my favourite band, so as soon as he’d said it I went out to go stick that track on. So raw!”
Courtney Cox, Burning Witches: One More Fucking Time (We Are Motorhead, 2000)
“One More Fucking Time has gotten me through many hard times and is very underrated. Although Motörhead was known for being an in-your-face, loud, full-throttle type of band, Lemmy always knew how to bring it down and grab us all by the heartstrings with the same power. Lemmy was an incomparable poet and a true master of writing everything from heavy to so-called ballads.
A masterpiece of a "ballad" that is so powerful with its sombre groove, lyrics, and solo... Just a full package. We musicians all started out throwing fast notes/licks together, playing chords for days to validate our own egos from day to day, but it wasn't until we were exposed to and latched onto bands like Motörhead that we all learned and experienced, while listening to all of their albums, the true art of writing a song. Thank you for the music.”
Jayant Bhadula, Bloodywood: The Game (Hammered, 2002)
“The Game was probably the first time I heard Motorhead. I remember, it was a match where Triple H wasn’t scheduled to appear, but suddenly you’d hear that opening riff… ‘Oh shit!’ ‘It’s time to play The Game…’ Oh. My. Fucking. God.
The sound is so on point, pure domination. That song could give you all the confidence in the world. It was so simple and so heavy. That laugh at the start, too!”
Derrick Green, Sepultura: In The Name Of Tragedy (Inferno, 2004)
“Getting encouragement from Lemmy [when I joined Sepultura] was incredible. We got to tour with them for the Inferno album and it was one of the best runs we’ve ever done. There was a song that they were playing on that tour called In The Name Of Tragedy, and I loved it when they played new songs.
I just remember the groove on that song was so impactful, it was great. Every night when they played it I was like, ‘This is my jam!’ it was just such a groove and so moving. It makes you really wanna bang your head and move around. I was like ‘This is Motorhead, but modernised! Now! Today! In the moment!’
Rob Halford, Judas Priest: Rock Out (Motorizer, 2008)
“Lemmy was such a brilliant songwriter. I’m so glad we have songs like Rock Out, where Lemmy can just growl ‘Rock out with your cock out.’ It’s pure genius! It says so much about who they are, about going to a show and just letting loose.
It seems like just yesterday we last saw them – it always feels like I’m just going to bump into him at a festival somewhere. But their music will live forever and that’s all that matters.”
Megan Targett, Vexed: One Short Life (Motorizer, 2008)
“Whenever I hear a song by Motorhead, it brings me back to my family. My mum used to work in a place called Hide Out Leather in Cambridge. Lemmy and the gang would come down to the shop and she’d take all their measurements and ask them what they wanted. I never got to meet him, my big sister did, but it was like he was this family member that I hadn’t met.
Then when I got much older, and entered into the world of metal and discovered bands that I liked myself, it really sunk in how much of an icon he is. I hadn’t comprehended that in the slightest as a kid! To me, it was just another bloke that looked like he rode motorbikes that my mom was friends with.
One Short Life is a bit more groovy [than other Motorhead tracks], and I’ve always grown up loving groove metal, so it hit a spot with me. But it’s also the lyrics. [Lemmy’s] talking about how he’s not one of the bad guys, and he always listens to what his mama said.”
Neil Fallon, Clutch: Heroes (Motorizer, 2008)
“One of my favourite Motorhead songs is actually their cover of Heroes. It’s an amazing song – as gruff as Lemmy’s voice was, he hits all the notes and it’s so melodic. They didn’t try to over-Motorhead-ize it either, it’s still got this soaring melody.
We actually toured with them twice; once in the UK in 2006, then in the US in 2014. It was near the end, but you wouldn’t know it. I’m sure anyone who saw them in the 80s might’ve been able to tell the difference, but just watching them play was incredible. They had this notoriety for being animals, but that whole operation was one of the most professional tours I’ve ever seen. Lemmy was the captain of the ship and everybody knew their job; you could do whatever you want, as long as you didn’t fuck with the show, because that was a sacred thing.
Some of the people who worked with Motorhead had been there for ages, it was almost telepathic communication. Usually on tour you won’t always watch the bands, but that was one I saw every single night. I didn’t hang out much with Lemmy – I’m always of the mind to give people their room and I got pretty starstruck with Lemmy. I ended up in the elevator with him at one of the first shows we did together and he looks at me and goes, ‘You’re the singer of Clutch. You’re very… consistent.’ I didn’t dare ask him to elaborate!”
Wednesday 13: Victory Or Die (Bad Magic, 2015)
“I came out of COVID miserable, like rest of the world. It took me a while to get out of it. When I went back hard on my gym thing, getting in shape, I needed to listen to something fast every day to run. The song Victory Or Die, from Bad Magic was on my shuffle, so I’d just run to that song every day. It kind of set my brain and I went. ‘I gotta get this victory.’ It literally was my anthem.
I love some of the later recordings, Mickey Dee’s drumming is so badass on those records. That got me through a rough few months. I used to see Lemmy every time I went to The Rainbow in Los Angeles. He was there every single time. I remember waiting in line to go to the bathroom with him one time, and I didn’t want to just start up a conversation about Motorhead, so I’m just literally waiting in line to take a piss and I went, ‘I like Twisted Sister too.’ (laughs) I think that’s all I said to him! He started telling me a story about Twisted Sister.
On my second album [Fang Bang], I was working with a manager who was close friends with Lemmy, and there’s a song called Too Much Blood that I wrote because at the time Lemmy, according to the manager, was going to guest on vocals on it. It never happened. So, if you hear that song and can imagine Lemmy singing on it, it’ll make a lot more sense when you hear it next time.”
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