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(Credits: Far Out \/ Rama)<\/p>\n
Sat 21 February 2026 22:00, UK <\/p>\n
It\u2019s often said that Mot\u00f6rhead<\/a> forged a crucial bridge between punk and heavy metal when first landing on the charts in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n Not that frontman Lemmy was ever concerned with such tags. Often, the bassist and principal songwriter would take the stage, lift his head to speak to his signature high mic, and simply inform the crowd, \u201cWe are Mot\u00f6rhead, and we play rock and roll.\u201d Still, the early Overkill and Bomber records absolutely married the two disparate subcultures, sonically right at home with the emerging new wave of British heavy metal as well as fired up with punk\u2019s speed and urgency.<\/p>\n Then came thrash. Emerging from Los Angeles and New York as metal began to curdle into the spandex buffoonery of MTV\u2019s fledgling rise, the thrash underground looked to Lemmy as a bastion against hard rock\u2019s pull to sillier terrain and glossy pop dross, maintaining their speed attack well into the 1980s and beyond and pointing the way for the likes of Slayer and Metallica<\/a>. Indeed, the latter\u2019s Kill \u2018Em All debut even coincidentally features the \u2018Motorbreath\u2019 cut, a weird mark of happenstance perhaps revealing the speed metal outfit\u2019s subconscious presence.<\/p>\n Whether the late frontman liked it or not, Mot\u00f6rhead\u2019s story has one mammoth single smack bang at its centre. Dropped October 1980 off its namesake fourth album, \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019 rips out of the speakers with a mystery X-factor of turbo drama and raw power that elevates the all-or-nothing gambling anthem to defining anthem status.<\/p>\n Even over 45 years later, Lemmy\u2019s opening bass rumble, Phil \u2018Philthy Animal\u2019 Taylor\u2019s pummelling drum beat, and \u2018Fast\u2019 Eddie Clarke\u2019s screaming guitar attack capture a lightning alchemy that hasn\u2019t dimmed one iota.<\/p>\n However, as can curse any band, Lemmy grew tired of \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019 jukebox stranglehold, as well as its cards and dice lyrics forever bellowed by drunken fans for the rest of his life. \u201cI\u2019m sick to death of it,\u201d he frankly revealed in 2002\u2019s White Line Fever autobiography, fatigued by the band\u2019s being \u201cfossilised\u201d by their surprise hit.<\/p>\n