Voted the best worst band in the world, Motörhead went to number one
Early on, NME readers crowned Motörhead the best worst band in the world, and by April 1977 two members were ready to quit. A farewell gig that never got recorded turned into a studio offer instead. Four years later a live album by the same trio sat at the top of the British charts.
Lemmy Kilmister started the band in London in 1975 after Hawkwind fired him over a drugs arrest in Canada; he joked that he had been sacked for taking the wrong drugs. He named the new group after the last song he wrote for his old one. His brief was simple: loud, fast, raucous rock and roll, so noisy that a neighbour's lawn would die. Guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox made up the first line-up, which rehearsed in a Chelsea basement and admitted to stealing gear.
The early years went badly. United Artists shelved their first recordings, which surfaced only in 1979 as On Parole. Phil Taylor replaced Fox on drums, and when Wallis left in 1976 Eddie Clarke became the only guitarist, completing what fans call the classic trio. Ted Carroll of Chiswick Records missed the planned farewell show at the Marquee but offered two days in a studio, where the band cut 11 rough tracks. The debut album that followed spent a single week on the chart at number 43.
A deal with Bronze Records changed everything. Overkill reached number 24 in March 1979, and Bomber hit number 12 that October, toured with a lighting rig shaped like a bomber aircraft. In November 1980 Ace of Spades climbed to number 4, their best studio placing; its desert-look cover was actually shot in a sandpit in Barnet. The live No Sleep 'til Hammersmith reached number 1 in June 1981.
Lemmy said Motörhead were a rock and roll band with more in common with punk, yet they are credited with shaping thrash and speed metal and with anticipating the new wave of British heavy metal. Over 40 years they released 23 studio albums and, by 2025, had sold more than 25 million records. Kilmister, the only permanent member, died on 28 December 2015, and the band ended the next day.
Source: Motörhead
