Motörhead, who initially got together under the name of ´Bastards` in 1975, first came to the attention of the public towards the end of the Seventies, when Lemmy Kilmister (bass, vocals) recorded the Motörhead debut with ´Fast` Eddie Clarke (guitar) and Phil Taylor (drums), and the group were still stuck with the dubious label ´the worst band in the world`. Lemmy himself, who had just completed a stint with the British space rock act Hawkwind and spent some time in the clink, was already considered one of the more colourful characters of the scene. The trio borrowed their name from a slang term for tempo addicts. Despite initial criticism from the media, the band were considered authentic rock dinosaurs from the start, specializing in uncompromising rock’n'roll and restricting their stage show – unaffected by fashionable frills – to the bare essentials. Their brief solos were just long enough “… to open another bottle of beer” (New Musical Express), and the public were delighted with their straightforward audio-visual presentation that thumbed its nose at the showy glam rock acts of those days. “They know they’re like animals, and they don’t want to appear any other way. In view of the many ugly frogs in heavy metal who think they are God’s gift to womankind these Quasimodos even seem charming in their own way,” commented Stereo Review in 1997. And indeed: Lemmy & Co. were always considered ´ugly frogs` who hammer out their musical vision relentlessly from the stage, leaving any notion of pomp or glitter aside. Ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson joined Motörhead in 1982 and ensured that “… the simplistic, radical, scornful, noisy moronic rock band with their grunting, anthemnic, good songs, which gave speed freaks with their love of the emaciated just as much roaringly idiotic joy as intellectuals who enjoyed an element of irony, turned into a fairly normal heavy metal act” (Diedrich Diederichsen, former editor with ´Sounds` and ´Spex`). While Robertson inspired the critics to this kind of flowery terminology, his star status didn’t work with the rest of the down-to-earth Motörhead members. After the release of Another Perfect Day, Robertson decamped and was replaced by Phil Campbell, who has remained with Motörhead to this day. Lemmy and Campbell have been supported by ex-King Diamond and Don Dokken drummer Mikkey Dee since 1992. Their album 1916 was a chart success in the early Nineties, followed by March Ör Die (1992), Bastards (1993), Overnight Sensation (1996), Snake Bite Love (1998) and the impressive live album Everything Louder Than Everyone Else (1999), which were all praised by media and fans alike. As the German ´Musik Express` commented aptly on the release of Snake Bite Love in spring 1998: “Lemmy is the best. Nobody roars with such abandon. Nobody has the history of rock music written all over his face like he does. No trend has affected him, no breakfast whiskey has ever knocked this man down. Plus: Mr. Kilmister has turned into a giant since Motörhead have dwindled down to a trio. His guitarist Phil Campbell snorts like Angus Young used to, pretty boy drummer Mickey Dee has a punch like Cassius Clay. That’s the way rock’n'roll was made thirty years ago, and it’s still going to work like that in 2063. Lemmy is like a good wine: the old rogue from Britain gets better with every year.” Lemmy himself reduces such hymns of praise to a common denominator that also, if not indeed particularly, applies to the new album We Are Motörhead: “We are Motörhead and we´re gonna kick your ass!”
