Has there ever been a better rock ‘n’ roll band than Motörhead?

Musical_Mystery_Tour

Voxman said:

Just tuneless noise to me. 

Which reminds me of a funny incident at work the other day. I had finished loading a KLM 737 going to Amsterdam and was up at the gate checking for late bags and okaying the load etc. The last few passengers were boarding, among whom was some rapper who I'd never heard of (there's a surprise), so one of the girls on the gate found a video of him and played a bit of it for me. Not my thing of course, and so I said something along the lines of: 'So he can't play any instruments and doesn't sing either? What a talent.'

Leisceoir

Of all the bands that I could have seen but missed out on, I think Motorhead are the one I regret the most. I love the lyrics to Orgasmatron - it's like a really dark English folk song, Sepultura do a great cover of it. I really like the lyrics of "Dead and Gone" too - quite different from the rest of their songs and really dark as well. I like the more fun straight ahead rock n' roll stuff too - "Born to Raise Hell" is brilliant, also love the cover of "Please don't touch" with Girlschool - that video from Top of The Pops in 1981 is cool as fuck

StuartMac290

They were, I think, the second-loudest band I ever saw live, and would have been the loudest if I hadn't seen Status Quo at the same venue a few weeks earlier.

I really miss the Glasgow Apollo.

MaximumZargon

Like others have said, 3 songs is about perfect. I have a 'best of' in the car, and it is terrible. After 10/15 minutes of Motorhead, dimishing returns.

3 songs of perfection is still perfect; lot every band needs to be King Crimson.

RocknRollDave

Musical_Mystery_Tour said:

Voxman said:

Just tuneless noise to me. 

Which reminds me of a funny incident at work the other day. I had finished loading a KLM 737 going to Amsterdam and was up at the gate checking for late bags and okaying the load etc. The last few passengers were boarding, among whom was some rapper who I'd never heard of (there's a surprise), so one of the girls on the gate found a video of him and played a bit of it for me. Not my thing of course, and so I said something along the lines of: 'So he can't play any instruments and doesn't sing either? What a talent.'

So, you’d rate Liam Gallagher higher for turning up to a studio and singing a song his brother wrote higher than, say, Dr Dre for writing, performing and producing a rap track?

darthed1981

RocknRollDave said:

Musical_Mystery_Tour said:

Voxman said:

Just tuneless noise to me. 

Which reminds me of a funny incident at work the other day. I had finished loading a KLM 737 going to Amsterdam and was up at the gate checking for late bags and okaying the load etc. The last few passengers were boarding, among whom was some rapper who I'd never heard of (there's a surprise), so one of the girls on the gate found a video of him and played a bit of it for me. Not my thing of course, and so I said something along the lines of: 'So he can't play any instruments and doesn't sing either? What a talent.'

So, you’d rate Liam Gallagher higher for turning up to a studio and singing a song his brother wrote higher than, say, Dr Dre for writing, performing and producing a rap track?

Were you one of the girls in the anecdote?

He didn't actually mention what they said back...

darthed1981

...oh and I get what the OP says about Motorhead.

They had a handful of great songs (the same number as most bands do) but they certainly had something about their approach, to performance and life in general.

I recently got a vinyl copy of Paranoid by Sabbath - War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man... bluddy marvellous...

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

imalrightjack

darthed1981 said:

...oh and I get what the OP says about Motorhead.

They had a handful of great songs (the same number as most bands do) but they certainly had something about their approach, to performance and life in general.

I recently got a vinyl copy of Paranoid by Sabbath - War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man... bluddy marvellous...

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

Fully agree. Iron Maiden’s classic albums all have pap tracks. Megadeth as my favourite band have at least one or two meh tracks per album.  

Philly_Q

imalrightjack said:

darthed1981 said:

...oh and I get what the OP says about Motorhead.

They had a handful of great songs (the same number as most bands do) but they certainly had something about their approach, to performance and life in general.

I recently got a vinyl copy of Paranoid by Sabbath - War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man... bluddy marvellous...

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

Fully agree. Iron Maiden’s classic albums all have pap tracks. Megadeth as my favourite band have at least one or two meh tracks per album.  

I was going to argue with @darthed1981's post but then I thought no.... again it's totally subjective.  Bands I don't like so much, their albums seem like 70-80% filler.  Bands I really like, I enjoy pretty much all of the tracks on all of the albums... but that's why I like them!   I'm sure there are people who think 90% of Motorhead tracks are great, and I might disagree but they're not wrong.

(With Megadeth it's not so much individual tracks, it's more a case that I like some whole albums, and really dislike others.)

Snags

darthed1981 said:

...oh and I get what the OP says about Motorhead.

They had a handful of great songs (the same number as most bands do) but they certainly had something about their approach, to performance and life in general.

I recently got a vinyl copy of Paranoid by Sabbath - War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man... bluddy marvellous...

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

You can fuck off with @munckee too




 

Stuckfast

I need to listen to more of their stuff, it's a bit of a closed book to me. But my vote for best rock 'n roll band of all time goes to the Faces.

EricTheWeary

Snags said:

darthed1981 said:

...oh and I get what the OP says about Motorhead.

They had a handful of great songs (the same number as most bands do) but they certainly had something about their approach, to performance and life in general.

I recently got a vinyl copy of Paranoid by Sabbath - War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man... bluddy marvellous...

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

You can fuck off with @munckee too




 

Everything on Paranoid is excellent. When I saw them live one of the best received songs was Fairies Wear Boots (possibly the best received if you ignore the wankers who had gone along to look at Facebook then applaud Paranoid). 

DefaultM

I saw them the year before Lemmy died and it was pretty dreadful to be honest, but I assume the fact he died the next year probably played a part in that.

HerrMetal

Great band in their heyday - like many others have mentioned I bumped into Lemmy in a bar once. Bit star struck tbh. He was shorter than I had imagined him for some reason.  I think they left us with some classic tunes and you can't ask for much more. I'm particularly partial to the Peel Session they did in '78 which can be found on Youtube etc . To be honest there are a load of great Peel Sessions from that era - The Stranglers is another excellent one. The sound guys had a real knack for capturing a performance.

darthed1981

Philly_Q said:

imalrightjack said:

darthed1981 said:

...oh and I get what the OP says about Motorhead.

They had a handful of great songs (the same number as most bands do) but they certainly had something about their approach, to performance and life in general.

I recently got a vinyl copy of Paranoid by Sabbath - War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man... bluddy marvellous...

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

Fully agree. Iron Maiden’s classic albums all have pap tracks. Megadeth as my favourite band have at least one or two meh tracks per album.  

I was going to argue with @darthed1981's post but then I thought no.... again it's totally subjective.  Bands I don't like so much, their albums seem like 70-80% filler.  Bands I really like, I enjoy pretty much all of the tracks on all of the albums... but that's why I like them!   I'm sure there are people who think 90% of Motorhead tracks are great, and I might disagree but they're not wrong.

(With Megadeth it's not so much individual tracks, it's more a case that I like some whole albums, and really dislike others.)

Quite, not just subjective with what you listen to, but also when.

I'm a huge Manic Street Preachers fan, and I know that opinion on here divides evenly between people who hate them, people who only like them when they were GNR copycats, and people who like them more than me in fact because they are the biggest fans (Manics fans are like that)...

Do I care.. do I buggery, because my relationship with their music is uniquely mine, just like @Philly_Q with Megadeth and Sabbath, or as it turns out @Snags ; relationship with Motorhead and Sabbath

I'm the same with Oasis, Radiohead, Suede and it turns out (it was a surprise to me as well) rather defensive of Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party...

Philly_Q

@darthed1981 I gave you a Wiz but it was very nearly a LOL for that inevitable last line. 

RocknRollDave

DefaultM said:

I saw them the year before Lemmy died and it was pretty dreadful to be honest, but I assume the fact he died the next year probably played a part in that.

I stopped going to see them a while before that, as Lemmy was clearly not up to the job any more - his vocals were shot (yes, I appreciate the irony of that statement.)

The Glastonbury show from, I think, the Summer before he died is very sad viewing.
As well as singing the words to Ace of Spades during Overkill (definitely not a deliberate thing, either; you can tell), he properly throws the band in the opening track, We Are Motorhead, by forgetting there’s a drum fill at the end of the instrumental section - he starts singing the next verse in totally the wrong place and doesn’t notice. Almost completely derails the song.
Tragic.

Grumpyrocker

darthed1981 said:

Most of side two - no thanks - unless you are a huge fan, nobody needs to deep-dive into anyone's catalogue, there lies mediocrity.

No, totally opposite to the way I listen to and enjoy music. Many of my favourite songs by favourite artists are deep album cuts rather than the well known hits. 

I like to explore and find new things. 

Fingers657

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen Motörhead Live since 1977?
Both original and later lineups.
Still up there as some of the best gigs ever but The Sensational Alex Harvey Band will always be my favourite live band ever and I’ve seen most of the greats.

KevS

Maybe not a better one,but many equals..

Bon Scott Era AC DC,,MC 5,,Bowie Era Spiders,,70's Ramones,,Getting away from labels,The Sex Pistols were in a similar turn it up loud and grin,,musical niche...And many more..The Ramones were as basic as you can get,,not saying R&R has to be,,but putting on Yes Close to the Edge is not a substitute for the feeling you get from blasting The Ramones..
The dumbness of the lyrics only increases their effectiveness..You can't get a more basic non virtuoso music,
but it's great.. 

Better than Motorhead,,that is subjective to the individual..
An Argument that could go on until 2 fans of different bands dropped..
A pointless stalemate..

Motorhead are also hugely influential. and influential on me...As are all the bands I mentioned above..

The Paranoid album is brilliant from first to last note..
Fairies wear Boots is Amazing,in my Sabbath top 5 if forced to have one..
The first 6 albums are mostly great...
The lyrics were better than most of their contemporaries too.. 
I don't look on Sabbath as Rock n Roll though..