In “Fast” Eddie Clarke’s memory: 10 essential Motörhead songs

Unfotunately “Fast” Eddie Clarke, former Motörhead guitarist, died with 67 years, with pneumonia. The news was confirmed by the official Facebook of the band. And to honor this legendary guitarist who gaves us such great powerful riffs and solos, we prepared a list in his memory, of essential Motörhead songs.

Check it out:

“Motörhead” by Motörhead

Motörhead (1979)

Motörhead frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, had been a member from 1971 to 1975. It was the last song that he had written for them, but it had only been released as the B-side of the single “Kings of Speed”, in March 1975.

In May of that year, Lemmy was fired from Hawkwind and formed a new band, naming it after the song. It indicated the direction in which he planned to go: hard rock, not space rock. Motörhead recorded two new versions of the song later that year, one as part of a demo session with producer Dave Edmunds and then another as part of the sessions for what was meant to have been Motörhead’s debut album.

“Overkill” by Motörhead

Overkill (1979)

Overkill is the second studio album of Motörhead, from 1979. It was the first one released by Bronze Records and reached # 24 of the English charts. The album had a great impact on the English punk culture of the time, paving the way for street punk.

Bronze Records hired the band in 1978 and gave them time to work at Wessex studios in London for the single from Richard Berry, Louie, Louie and a new song entitled Tear Ya Down.

The band toured to promote the single as Chiswick Records released the album Motörhead on white vinyl to keep the album going. Sales of the single gave the band the opportunity to perform on the BBC television program Top of the Pops. What gave the Bronze label the confidence needed for the band to record their second album.

“No Class” by Motörhead

Overkill (1979)

“No Class” It was released in 1979 in 7″ vinyl pressings. The song first appeared on the 1979 album Overkill, and became one of the “cornerstones” of the classic 1981 live album No Sleep ’til Hammersmith. It is one of the band’s “anthems”.

It was available in three different covers, with either a picture of Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke or Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor. The single also contains the B-side “Like a Nightmare”, which can be found on the reissued versions of Overkill. The song was already a live track before it was recorded for Overkill.

“Bomber” by Motörhead

Bomber (1979)

“Bomber” was recorded and released in 1979 (see 1979 in music). It is the title track to their album Bomber and was released as a single peaking at 34 on the UK singles chart.

The single was released in the UK by Bronze Records as a 7″ vinyl single with the first 20,000 copies pressed in blue vinyl and thereafter in black. The band promoted its release with an appearance on the BBC TV show Top of the Pops on 3 December.

The track was inspired after Lemmy had read Len Deighton’s novel Bomber. It became the inspiration for a forty-foot aluminium tube lighting rig used for their shows, a replica of a Heinkel He 111 bomber that could fly backwards and forwards, and side to side – the first to be able to do so.

“Ace Of Spades” by Motörhead

Ace Of Spades (1980)

The song is considered the definitive anthem of Motörhead, which “shocked the English musical charts and proved to everyone that the band could succeed without sacrificing their ferocious power and speed.”

The tune spent 13 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and originally hit the 15th rank at the time if its release. In early January 2016, it reached number 9 and the official English parade on Friday “Ace of Spades” was number 13, shortly after the death of frontman Lemmy in December 2015 and the subsequent dissolution of the band.

A total of 208,000 digital copies of the single were sold by January 2016. On January 9 reached the top of the UK Rock Singles.

“Love Me Like a Reptile” by Motörhead

Ace Of Spades (1980)

The song is from “Ace of Spades”, the fourth studio album by Motörhead, released November 8, 1980, on Bronze Records. It peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart and reached Gold status by March 1981. It was preceded by the release of the title track as a single on October 27, which peaked in the UK Singles Chart at No. 15 in early November.

Motörhead recorded Ace of Spades with Vic Maile at Jackson’s Studios in Rickmansworth in August and September 1980. Maile, who had worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Who, had crossed paths with Lemmy when he was a member of Hawkwind.

“Live To Win” by Motörhead

Ace Of Spades (1980)

By 1979, Motörhead released two successful albums, Overkill and Bomber, and had gained a loyal fan following by constant touring and television appearances. Their ferocious, loud proto-thrash playing style appealed equally to punks and heavy metal fans, but in 1979 Sounds writer Geoff Barton coined the term “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” (NWOBHM) to classify a slew of newer bands such as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Saxon. Motörhead. A band that resented being labeled anything other than rock ‘n’ roll — was placed in this new genre, which would go on to influence the emerging thrash metal movement that would include bands like Metallica and Megadeth. In the 2011, book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead.

“(We Are) The Road Crew” by Motörhead

Ace Of Spades (1980)

Motörhead appeared on Top of the Pops twice in October to promote the single “Ace of Spades”, and were guests on the ITV children’s morning show Tiswas on 8 November. The band undertook a UK tour from 22 October through to 2 December under the banner Ace Up Your Sleeve, with support from Girlschool and Vardis.

After the Belfast show on 2 December, hijinks resulted in Taylor breaking his neck forcing him to wear a neck-brace and curtailing any further band activity. The other members of the band took the opportunity to collaborate with Girlschool for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP.

“The Chase Is Better Than the Catch” by Motörhead

Ace Of Spades (1980)

Regardless, the association with NWOBHM would be another positive element in the gathering momentum that would lead to the band’s most successful commercial period at the dawn of the new decade. In fact, United Artists decided to finally release the band’s “lost” first album at this time under the title On Parole, which had originally been recorded in 1976 but shelved because it was deemed commercially unviable.

Next, the Big Beat label, which had taken over Chiswick’s catalogue, released Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers (EP), packaging four extra tracks that the band had laid down for their debut album. Further evidence of Motörhead’s nascent mainstream success was the release of the EP The Golden Years in May 1980 on Bronze Records, which became their highest charting release to date, peaking at #8.

“Iron Fist” by by Motörhead

Iron Fist (1982)

Iron Fist is the fifth album by Motorhead, released in 1982. Unlike previous work, which was produced by Vic Maile, Iron Fist was produced by Eddie Clarke, which made the sound more polished and accessible, taking away some of the characteristic weight of the Motörhead, which may have culminated in the misunderstanding between the guitarist and Lemmy.

For the promotion of the album, a promotional film was made in which the band appears dressed in beaten leather armor and wielding swords, which, according to Lemmy, “dressed as idiot cowboys.”

The album was reissued with five bonus tracks, with alternate versions of some songs. It was also released with bonus CD featuring a concert recorded at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on May 12, 1982.

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