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Motörhead was a British heavy metal band, even though frontman, Lemmy Kilmister spoke of rock-'n-roll. The band was founded in 1975 by Lemmy Kilmister, former Hawkwind bassist and Jimi Hendrix roadie. Motörhead's music has influenced the music of several bands, including Alice in ChainsMetallicaThe Sisters of MercyQueens of the Stone Age, and Killing Joke. Their best-known songs are Ace of Spades and Orgasmatron. Ace of Spades has been covered by Peter Pan Speedrock and Blood for Blood. Orgasmatron is covered by Sepultura.

Lemmy was fired from Hawkwind in the spring of 1975 because of his drug possession, and in England he formed a new band. The original plan was to name the band "Bastard", but he eventually called it "Motörhead", to the last song he wrote for Hawkwind. Motörhead is slang for an amphetamine user. 

The metal umlaut does not affect the verdict. Lemmy once said that the umlaut is on the last "O" to display the name "German" (and thus meaner).

The first occupation consisted of Lemmy, Larry Wallis, the former guitarist of the Pink Fairies, and drummer Lucas Fox. In July 1975 they performed for the first time and in the same year they recorded their first album. During the recording of the album, Fox left the group. He was replaced by Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. However, this album was not released by the record company, but when Motörhead was successful, a couple of years later, it was released as On Parole. Soon after that, a new guitarist was adopted, Fast" Eddie Clarke, on which Wales left the group. The now formed formation, consisting of Lemmy, Philthy Animal and Fast Eddie Clarke, would be known as the classic occupation.

In 1977, the first official album was released, Motörhead. The album hit both the metal and the punk audience. The two subsequent albums, Overkill and Bomber were very successful, and Motörhead was considered to be one of the most important British metal groups at the time.

In 1980 Ace of Spades came out. The album reached the top ten of the British charts and the single single became a big hit. A year later, they partnered with Girlschool. Please do not Touch is one of the songs that resulted from the collaboration. The collaboration was called Headgirl. That same year, the band released the live album No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith. Around this time the band was at its peak. Ace of Spades and No Sleep 'To Hammersmith are considered the best of Motörhead and were commercially the most successful.

In 1982, Clarke left the band after an argument with Lemmy. The reason for the quarrel was probably a collaboration between the band and Wendy O. Williams, the singer of the Plasmatics, which resulted in a cover of Tammy Wynettes Stand by Your Man. Clarke was replaced by Brian Robertson, former guitarist of Thin Lizzy. He remained one album (Another Perfect Day) long and was replaced in 1984 by two guitarists, Würzel (Michael Burston) and Phil Campbell (former Persian Risk guitarist). Taylor left the band and was replaced by Pete Gill. In 1987, Taylor temporarily returned to the band to be replaced by Mikkey Dee in 1992. Since the departure of Würzel in 1996, Motörhead is once again a triumphal formation and released a studio album every two years.

In 2002, autobiography of Lemmy came out, White Line Fever appeared and in 2010 the film Lemmy appeared about his life.

On July 9, 2011, former guitarist Würzel (Michael Burston) died of a heart disease at the age of 61.

On November 11, 2015, former drummer Phil Taylor died, also at the age of 61.

On December 28, 2015, founder / bassist / singer Lemmy Kilmister died at the age of 70 to the effects of cancer, which was discovered two days before his death. On December 29, the other band members confirmed that the band stopped immediately.

On January 10, 2018, guitarist Eddie Clarke died of pneumonia.

The band posted the following message on Facebook:

There is no easy way to say this... our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. He had heard of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow.

We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren't words.

We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please... play Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play Lemmy's music loud. Have a drink or few.

Share stories.

Celebrate the life of this lovely, wonderful man celebrated so vibrantly himself.

He would want exactly that.

Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister

1945–2015

Born to lose, lived to win.  

Official website

Read the Full Story   All Languages

Albums  

Motörhead (1977)

Overkill (1979)

Bomber (1979)

Ace of Spades (1980)

Iron Fist (1982)

Another Perfect Day (1983)

Orgasmatron (1986)

Rock 'n' Roll (1987)

1916 (1991)

March ör Die (1992)

Bastards (1993)

Sacrifice (1995)

Overnight Sensation (1996)

Snake Bite Love (1998)

We Are Motörhead (2000)

Hammered (2002)

Inferno (2004)

Kiss of Death (2006)

Motörizer (2008)

The Wörld Is Yours (2010)

Aftershock (2013)

Bad Magic (2015)

Complete Discography  

Last line up

Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister – lead vocals, bass  (1975–2015; his death)

Phil "Wizzö" Campbell –guitars, backing vocals  (1984–2015)

Mikkey Dee – drums (1992–2015)

Former members

Larry Wallis – guitars, backing vocals (1975–1976)

Lucas Fox – drums (1975)

Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor – drums (1975–1984, 1987–1992; died 2015)

"Fast" Eddie Clarke – guitars, backing vocals  (1976–1982) died 2018

Brian "Robbo" Robertson – guitars,               backing vocals (1982–1983)

Michael "Würzel" Burston – guitars,               backing vocals (1984–1995; died 2011)

Pete Gill – drums (1984–1987)

Full Member List

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