MOTORHEAD – MOTORHEAD Orange Vinyl 7″ – VG UK PIC SLEEVE 1979 LEMMY

Motorhead – Motorhead
(Big Beat Records  1979  NS13)
UK Pressing

Orange Vinyl in Very Good condition
(surface marks visible on the vinyl which do give pops/clicks, mainly at the start, but it plays through well with no skips – name on b side label)

Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– wear to edges, some creasing around edge and name written on front

Motörhead were an English rock band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister, who was the sole constant member, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. The band are often considered a precursor to the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Though several guitarists and drummers have played in Motörhead, most of their best-selling albums and singles feature the work of “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitar and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor on drums.

Motörhead released 23 studio albums, 10 live recordings, 12 compilation albums, and five EPs over a career spanning 40 years. Usually a power trio, they had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles in the UK Top 40 chart. The albums Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and particularly No Sleep ’til Hammersmith cemented Motörhead’s reputation as a top-tier rock band. The band are ranked number 26 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. As of 2016, they have sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

Motörhead are typically classified as heavy metal, and their fusion of punk rock into the genre helped to pioneer speed metal and thrash metal. Their lyrics typically covered such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and, most famously, gambling, the latter theme being the focus of their hit song “Ace of Spades”.

Motörhead has been credited with being part of and influencing numerous musical scenes,thrash metal and speed metal especially. From the mid-1970s onward however, Lemmy insisted that they were a rock and roll band. He has said that they had more in common with punk bands, but with their own unique sound, Motörhead is embraced in both punk and metal scenes.

Lemmy died on 28 December 2015 after being initially diagnosed with an undisclosed aggressive form of cancer, which was later revealed as prostate cancer, and heart failure, after which drummer Mikkey Dee and guitarist Phil Campbell both confirmed that Motörhead would not continue as a band.

“Motorhead” is the eponymous song of the British heavy metal band of the same name. It was originally recorded by the space rock band Hawkwind, of whom the song’s author, 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. However, their record label, United Artists Records, decided to shelve the project and dropped the band without releasing any of the material. Over a year later, the song was recorded yet again for Chiswick Records, during the session for their actual debut album and was released ahead of it, in June 1977, as their second 7″ single.

Initially issued with the Map of Chiswick label, it was later switched to the Big Beat label and pressed in other formats. The reverse cover is taken up almost entirely with the song’s lyrics, printed in a lowercase form of blackletter. Most of the original singles have the words “a porky prime cut” inscribed on the run-out groove, indicating that the record was mastered by George Peckham. A variety of supporting messages also appear.

Chiswick also released a special 12″ vinyl edition which was limited to 12,500 copies, it has the same sleeve, tracks and catalogue number – Chiswick S13.^[3]

On April 28, 1979 Lemmy was interviewed by John Tobler on BBC Radio 1’s Rock on Saturday show, Motorhead, Leaving Here and Limb from Limb were played.

In September 1979 Chiswick released a 7″ vinyl picture disc in two pressings, black and white, and blue and white as well as single colour pressings in black, blue, pink, orange and white vinyl – catalogued Big Beat NSP13 and NS13 respectively.

In 1981, a live recording, Motorhead was released as a single and reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart. This single is their highest-charting single in the UK Singles Chart.

In 2008, the song was re-recorded as downloadable content for the rhythm game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, along with “Stay Clean” and “(We Are) The Road Crew”.

It was covered by Primal Scream on their 1997 album Vanishing Point.

Single track listing

1. “Motorhead” (Ian Kilmister)
2. “City Kids” (Larry Wallis, Duncan Sanderson)

Personnel

• Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister – bass, lead vocals
• “Fast” Eddie Clarke – guitars, vocals
• Philthy Animal Taylor – drums
• Engineered by John Burns
• Photographs – Motorcycle Irene