Motorhead: Ace Of Spades stylophone cover

YouTuber maromaro1337 has released the latest in his ever-popular series of stylophone cover versions.

With a growing army of followers already familiar with his covers of AC/DC's Thunderstruck and Rammstein's Sonne (complete with pyro), maromaro1337 has turned to Motorhead for his latest viral smash, and performed the 1980 classic Ace Of Spades on four stylophones. It's nuts. And borderline infuriating.

"I liked this one," says maromaro1337. "It was simple yet effective. The tempo was a bit fast, but you have to learn your chops. I used some distortion on the bass, because Lemmy would be proud."

We're not so sure about that. In Lemmy's 2002 autobiography White Line Fever, Lemmy was dismissive of Ace Of Spades, saying, "I’m sick to death of it now. We didn’t become fossilised after that record, you know, we’ve had quite a few good releases since then. But the fans want to hear it so we still play it every night. For myself, I’ve had enough of that song.”

Guitarist 'Fast' Eddie Clarke was more forgiving, however. "It’s a fantastic track," he said. "It’s got a natural speed, a velocity of its own, it’s got a great arrangement and it rocks like a bastard. And Lemmy’s lyrics are fantastic.

"I sometimes say to people: ‘I used to be in a band years ago’, and they say: ‘Oh, which one?’ When I say Motorhead, they look bemused. So I say: 'Ace Of Spades' and the penny drops. They might not know Motorhead, but they definitely know Ace Of Spades.”

Sadly, we'll never know what either man would have made of maromaro1337's stylophone re-working, but we're kinda glad it exists.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.