Hey Qui-gon Joe, long time no see !
Hope all is well amidst the pandemic.
In recent months, I've stumbled on yet another "Why haven't I checked out these guys before ?!" band.
The almighty Motörhead ! Goodness gracious ! What a blast, figuratively and literally !
It started innocently enough, by simply listening to their most popular song on YouTube, of course being "Ace of Spades". Not bad. Not bad at all. Then I checked out "Overkill" and "Bomber". Both tremendous songs ! Then went on to others like "Killed by Death", "Eat the Rich", "Orgasmatron" and "Motorhead".
There was no escaping it now, I was hooked. The first thing I did was buy a good compilation to dip my toes a bit further and a live show. I've come to really appreciate rock concert DVDs in time. Given that I've never to a concert by any of these artists, it's a good way to see how well they performed. I didn't exactly get the best show, but it's still a good one. Clean your Clock was the last professionally recorded show before Lemmy Kilmister's unexpected passing, a month before, give or take. Yes, he was obviously quite ill, but he played for his fans regardless. The compilation oversees stuff from the very beginning in '75 to '00, so overseeing 25 years of music. Very, very satisfied with the album.
And to top things off, I went ahead and got one of their later studio releases not found on the compilation. Aftershock, from 2013, was the second-to-last album before Lemmy's death. It's just as solid as the earlier music sampled.
Do I prefer a specific lineup to others ? Not really, the classic stuff by Lemmy/"Fast" Eddie/Philthy Animal is amazing, but so are the later Lemmy/Phil Campbell/Mikkey Dee trio, the one-off "Another Perfect Day" with ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson, and the mid-80s to mid-90s run with secondary guitarist Wurzel alongside Phil Campbell is as good as anything else by the band.
Like Sabbath and Dio, perhaps I'll eventually purchase all 22 studio albums. We shall see.
And a final word about Lemmy himself. Yes, he overdid it with drugs, booze and women. But you know what ? The man was honest. Instead of living in a mansion with many cars, he stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment. He wasn't in for the money or the glory, but purely for the music and his fans. Despite his addictions, I can't help but admire and respect someone for sticking to his true self.
Wonder what Goldfish will say about this interesting development 