Rock ‘n’ Roll

Motörhead are the reason thrash metal exists. They are the reason it became acceptable to stand in both the punk and metal camps at the same time. Nige Rockett of Onslaught said it plainly: “I don’t think thrash metal would be here without Motörhead.” Metallica borrowed their speed and relentlessness. Slayer took the aggression. Venom took the darkness. Every band that followed in the extreme tradition drew from the same source. Louder Sound wrote that Motörhead inserted “the genuine sense of aggression, attitude and rawness that would define extreme music in the decades that followed.” They built the bridge. Every heavy band since has crossed it.

Lemmy Kilmister formed Motörhead in 1975 after being fired from Hawkwind. The name was slang for a speed freak, borrowed from the last song he wrote for his old band. He found Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor on drums and “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitar. Three people, one sound. They played at volume that made other loud bands sound restrained. Ace of Spades arrived in 1980: fast, blunt, pitiless, thrilling. Clarke left in 1982. Lineups changed around Lemmy. He never stopped. The band was always exactly one thing, regardless of who stood next to him.

Rock ‘n’ Roll arrived September 5, 1987. Thirty-nine years ago today. The eighth studio album, recorded at Master Rock Studios in London on GWR Records. Phil Taylor was back on drums, the original Philthy Animal, returning for the first time since 1983. Phil Campbell and Würzel on guitar. Lemmy producing alongside Guy Bidmead. The title track opens the album and does exactly what the name promises. Loud. Direct. Unapologetic. Thirty-nine years on, the approach has not aged because it was never meant to be fashionable.