![]() While there has been some understandable criticism that side two opener No Class stole its riff from ZZ Top's Tush, there can be no doubt that it's a classic in its own right, also making that final setlist. From Stay Clean and I Won't Pay Your Price (with Lemmy's hilarious “I'm so drunk” line at the start), through I'll Be Your Sister (which, according to Lemmy's autobiography, White Line Fever, was written with Tina Turner in mind), to the slow-burning Capricorn (Lemmy's star sign, the solo for which was written while Eddie was tuning up), every one is a winner. Produced by Jimmy Miller, who had formerly worked with the Rolling Stones, Overkill is packed with gems. “I had heard of other double bass drummers, but I don’t think they did anything like that, at that tempo and that beat.”īut, as previously mentioned, one great song, or even a couple of them, do not a classic album make. Slayer’s drummer, Dave Lombardo, was similarly impressed: “Motörhead was the first time I heard double bass done at that pattern,” he said in the same documentary. “When I first heard Overkill in early 1979, that was what blew my head off.” ![]() “The drummer that introduced me to that double bass type of thing was Phil Taylor from Motörhead,” said Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, in the Metal Evolution documentary on thrash. Little did he know that he was changing the face of rock'n'roll. “I was just about to stop,” said Philthy, “and they went, 'No, don't stop! Keep going!' And that's how Overkill was written.” Legend has it that Lemmy and Eddie walked in while Philthy was hammering away, trying to get his coordination right. Ironically, however, the title track's opening drum pattern, that iconic and unrelenting double bass thunder, came about by accident when aptly-named drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor was messing about in the rehearsal studio. It's safe to say that without Overkill there probably wouldn't be a Metallica or Slayer, or the entire genre of thrash metal. Overkill was an entirely different matter, and Lemmy rather understated the facts when he said that the band were “starting to get their sound together.” It was, and is, a monster. Badly produced, it featured three songs that Lemmy had written while he was still in Hawkwind – Motörhead, Lost Johnny, and The Watcher – and although it showed great promise, it was clumsy, with guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke describing the muddy sound as “pretty dreadful”. In many ways, Motörhead's self-titled debut from 1977 was a false start for the band. Moreover, with 22 studio albums to choose from, at least six of the ten songs on the original Overkill album were regulars in the set until the very end. That the title track was the last song Motörhead ever played speaks volumes. Recorded in just two weeks at Roundhouse Studios in London, and celebrating its 42nd anniversary today, it is as astonishing now as the day it was forged. And you'll buy a new copy every time, because you've worn the old one out.īy any measure, Motörhead's second album, Overkill, is such an album, a classic in every sense of the word. Inevitably, it will be re-released ad infinitum. More than likely it will be ahead of its time, pushing the boundaries of music and inspiring countless bands in its wake. A true classic stands the test of time, not just for a few years but for decades, and it will be rediscovered by future generations who weren't even born when it was released. A couple of hit songs do not make a classic album. ![]() Let's be honest, the word 'classic' has been overused to the point of redundancy. ![]()
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