Album of the Day — September 15
Motörhead — Ace of Spades
Motörhead — Ace of Spades
15.September.2020
Motörhead
Ace of Spades
1980
Lemmy Kilmister is to music what rock is to roll. Within the context of music history, you can’t have one without the other.
By 1980 a different sound was emanating from across the pond. It was a sound that embraced both elements of punk & heavy metal. To classify these bands, writer Geoff Barton referred to these bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Saxon as the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” (NWOBHM for short, sorta).
Motörhead was also thrown into this new genre. The always outspoken Lemmy expressed his chagrin in the 2011 book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead:
“Motörhead don’t fit into any category, really. We’re not straight heavy metal, because we’re a rock ’n’ roll band, which no-one knows how to market anymore…”
Ace of Spades was the fourth studio album by Motörhead and their most commercially successful.
The title track “Ace of Spades” was released as a single in October of 1980 and made its way to #15 on the UK Singles Chart. The full album was released the following month, peaking at #4 on the UK Albums Chart.
After having met when Lemmy was in his previous band, Hawkwind, the band chose Vic Maile to produce Ace of Spades. Maile, who had worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Who, brought some maturity to the rock’ n’ roll band.
Maile also injected a much-needed element of professionalism into the recordings; he forced Lemmy to sing rather than yell and got drummer Phil “Filthy” Taylor playing more solidly. The resulting product helped shape the band’s unique sound …and provide an auditory assault that would carry the band until Lemmy’s passing in 2015.
The album opens with the title track and introduces the double-time bass kick that helped spawn the “forbidden beat” of hardcore and “permanently mutated the DNA of trash innovators like Metallica.”
The beauty and joy of the band can be found on songs like “Love Me Like a Reptile.” Outside of the snake metaphor, I know nothing about the mating rituals of reptiles and this song is hardly a NatGeo like portrait so it doesn’t glean any light on the subject. However, it is fun and loud as hell. That counts for something:
Love Me Like A Reptile
Knew I had to bite you, baby, when I first set eyes on you
That moment turned me on, I can’t believe it’s true
And I like to watch your body sway
I got no choice, I’m gonna twist your tail
Love me like a reptile, love me like a reptile
I gotta sink my fangs in you
Thunder lizard, stony eye, you got me hypnotized
Hot tongue breaks in and out and I can’t believe my eyes
And your soft white belly, next to mine
Scaly baby, see you shine
Love me like a reptile, love me like a reptile
You’re a murderer in disguise
Black mamba, murder in disguise
Baby, you’re a rattlesnake, you know the way I feel
Feel you crawling up my back, you’ve got no love to steal
You know I’ve got my eyes on you
You’re petrified, gonna stick like glue
Love me like a reptile, love me like a reptile
Shock you like an electric eel
Shock you like an electric eel, oh!
[Fun Fact: Motörhead appeared on Top of the Pops twice in one month to promote the single “Ace of Spades”…better still is that the band were guests on the ITV children’s morning show Tiswas — go ahead, let that marinate — Motörhead was on a children’s television show.]
Lemmy’s first job in rock and roll was as a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Of this experience, Lemmy said:
“Jimi taught me how to find drugs in the most unlikely places because that was part of my job for him. That’s how I learned to function on five hits of acid.”
It was these experiences that Lemmy reflected on when he wrote, “(We Are) The Roadcrew.” If you’ve ever fantasized about being a roadie, you may want to take heed to this song:
We Are the Road Crew
Another town another place,
Another girl, another face,
Another truce, another race,
I’m eating junk, feeling bad,
Another night, I’m going mad,
My woman’s leaving, I feel sad,
But I just love the life I lead,
Another beer is what I need,
Another gig my ears bleed,
We are the road crew
Another town I’ve left behind,
Another drink completely blind,
Another hotel I can’t find,
Another backstage pass for you,
Another tube of superglue,
Another border to get through,
I’m driving like a maniac,
Driving my way to hell and back,
Another room a case to pack,
We are the road crew
Another hotel we can burn,
Another screw, another turn,
Another Europe map to learn,
Another truck stop on the way,
Another game I learn to play,
Another word I learn to say,
Another bloody customs post,
Another fucking foreign coast,
Another set of scars to boast,
We are the road crew
CRITICS:
BNR Metal Pages wrote: “Ace Of Spades is one of the best metal albums by any band, ever, period.”
Jason Birchmeier at AllMusic said: “The album is still rock-solid, boasting several superlative standouts. Ace of Spades rightly deserves its legacy as a classic. There’s no debating that.”
And whatever the fuck this gibberish is from Robert Christgau: “I recommend the bit where he promises to get fast and loose with his latest receptacle as soon as he finishes the song about it (not her, of course not), and note that his writing is more one-note than need be, wit and all — fucking for the hell of it can drive anybody into a rage, and tuneless fucking for the hell of it is really pointless. Anthem: “(We Are) The Road Crew.” [I guess he liked it, he gave it a B — shrugging.]
Ace of Spades is a nonstop assault on your ears. Songs like “Jailbait,” “The Chase is Better Than the Catch,” and “The Hammer” all serve as a template for not only a genre but also a rock and roll lifestyle. Lemmy’s alcohol and chemical intake is legendary and makes Keith Richards look sort of bush league.
The trio that recorded Ace of Spades is still considered by many to be the penultimate line-up of the band:
Lemmy — bass, vocals
Phil Taylor (Philthy Animal) — drums
“Fast” Eddie Clarke — guitar
This line-up would last for one more album, Iron Fist. Clarke left as a result of a spat when the band covered “Stand by Your Man” with The Plasmatics. Taylor would last a little longer before he left, and then Lemmy was the lone man standing, and for the next 25+ years, it was a rotating group of support players.
Truth be told, Motörhead was Lemmy, and Lemmy was Motörhead, and Ace of Spades remains one of the best albums in the band’s extensive catalog.
Motörhead — “Everything Louder Than Everything Else.”