Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has revealed his pick for the greatest Motörhead song.
Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the guitarist puts the band’s 1980 signature single Ace Of Spades at the top of the pile. He explains that the song, and the album of the same name which it came from, is what really made him appreciate the UK heavy metal trio.
“Lemmy [Kilmister] was the real deal, right to the fucking end,” Hammett tells us. “When I first saw the cover of Ace Of Spades, I just fucking knew, man. I’d heard [1979’s] 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, OK, 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.”
Hammett adds that the music was particularly impactful because he and his friends were embedded in the Bay Area punk scene. Lemmy was a noted fan of punk rock, and his music has been praised for bridging gaps between the punk and metal worlds.
“Me and all my friends were into punk rock, right?” Hammett continues. “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!”
Hammett has been vocal about his love of Motörhead before. In 2020, he spoke out about the fact that the band are yet to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
“I really think that when things like that happen, it might be a generational thing where maybe some of the older people just don’t get it – they just don’t fucking get it,” he said on the Let There Be Talk podcast.
“They don’t see the range of influence and the impact and the inspiration that certain bands have. They don’t hear it, because maybe they’re part of a different generation and were told that vocals sung like that are bad. But they’re not – they’re fucking just another type of vocal… some of those Motörhead recordings are fucking so beautifully raw.”
The rest of Metallica are also ardent fans. In 2024, singer/guitarist James Hetfield got a tattoo of an iron cross on his middle finger that contained Lemmy’s ashes.
Lemmy died on December 28, 2015: four days after his 70th birthday and two days after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. This May, a statue of the frontman was erected in his birthplace of Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent. Stoke-On-Trent Lord Mayor Lyn Sharpe appeared at the unveiling and said, “Lemmy was one of us.”
A punk rock Motörhead tribute album, Killed By Deaf, comes out this Friday (October 31). Rancid, Anti-Nowhere League, GBH and Pennywise are among the bands who appear.
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