Motorhead Forever

The name of the elpee is The World Is Yours, but that’s just Lemmy being magnanimous. The world isn’t yers, it’s not mine, it’s Lemmy’s. You know it, I know it, and he knows it too. Lemmy’s gonna own it forever, because he’s gonna live (apparently) forever. If there is ever a super-serious threat of nuclear war, I’m packing up the wife and kids and moving to LA, right next door to Lemmy on Sunset Strip because Lemmy’s gonna be the last man standing, with cockroaches teeming at his feet. CHUCK NORRIS MY ASS.

People tend to think of Motörhead as a metal band. I’ve never been a fan of heavy metal. I get the same sort of physical reaction to most forms of metal that I get when viewing the dark energy contained within Anselm Kiefer’s Midgard at the MAM… I am overtaken by a feeling of utter despair, and I must leave the room. Motörhead, however, has always left me feeling VIBRANT and ALIVE. And wildly fun-destructive. For decades, whenever I’ve come across someone who I’ve felt deserved a good old-fashioned beatdown, I’ve imagined Lemmy roaring up on some carbon-belching Iron Horse to deliver the thrashing, and in the music video for the new single “Get Back In Line” HE DOES. It’s like watching my daydreams come true! Lemmy and the band bust into a London bank/casino and start tossing the frightened suits around the room. It is one of several great new additions to the Motörhead canon, a brutally loud track with a sturdy chorus. On it, Lemmy let’s you know he’s with you, brother. “Nothing is forgiven, we fight for every crust” is one of dozens of inclusive lines aimed at his working class following.

If you still lazily throw Motörhead in the metal genre, knock it off. Motörhead transcends genre. Motörhead is its own genre.

Hey! Motörhead is playing The Rave in Milwaukee on Wednesday, February 16th! You should go. When you do, listen for “Born To Lose,” “Get Back In Line,” “Rock And Roll Music,” “I Know How To Die” (which is bullsnot – he doesn’t) and “Devil In My Hand”… all thee best tracks from the new elpee. Sometime before the end of the night, say hello to Lemmy for me, and tell him I’ll see him in Chicago at The Congress Theater on February 19th cuz I can’t go to shows during the week. If I could, I’d do both.