What is "motorhead"

n. 1 (context US slang English) A car enthusiast. 2 (context UK slang English) Heavy (ab)user of amphetamines.

Motörhead were an English rock band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister, who was the sole constant member; guitarist and songwriter Larry Wallis; and drummer Lucas Fox. The band is often considered a precursor to or one of the earliest members of the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Motörhead released 23 studio albums, 10 live recordings, 12 compilation albums, and five EPs over a career spanning 40 years. Usually a power trio, they had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles in the UK Top 40 chart. The albums Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and particularly No Sleep 'til Hammersmith cemented Motörhead's reputation as a top-tier rock band. The band are ranked number 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. As of 2016, they have sold more than 45 million albums worldwide.

Motörhead are typically classified as heavy metal, and their fusion of punk rock into the genre helped to pioneer speed metal and thrash metal. Their lyrics typically covered such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and, most famously, gambling.

Although Lemmy has been credited with being part of various musical scenes, thrash metal or speed metal in the main, from the mid 1970s onward, he has stated very clearly over the years, when asked the question, that he plays Rock n Roll. He (Lemmy) has said that they had more of an affiliation with Punk Rockers than with the so-called Heavy Metal scene; Motörhead having evolved out of the London mid-1970s Punk era.

Lemmy died on 28 December 2015 after being initially diagnosed with an undisclosed aggressive form of cancer, which was later revealed as prostate cancer, and heart failure, after which drummer Mikkey Dee and guitarist Phil Campbell both confirmed that Motörhead would not continue as a band.

Motörhead is the self-titled debut studio album by the band Motörhead, released on 21 August 1977, on Chiswick Records, one of the first for the label. It is considered the bands first album, as the recordings they did with United Artists were shelved until 1979, when the band had some commercial success after their next two albums.

This would be the first album with the 'classic' line up of Kilmister, Clarke, Taylor - their only release under Chiswick - as due to the success of this album they were signed to Bronze Records by early 1978.

"Motorhead" is a song written by Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister while he was a member of the English space rock band Hawkwind. It was later recorded by (and was the eponym for) Motörhead, as he called it this instead of Bastard on his then managers advice.

1. Redirect Motörhead

Motorhead (stylised as MotorHead) is a futuristic racing game developed by Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment and published by Gremlin Interactive in Europe and Fox Interactive in North America.

Motörhead were an English rock band.

Motorhead may also refer to:

• Motörhead (album), Motörhead's 1977 debut album.
• "Motorhead" (song), a song (most notably) recorded by Hawkwind and Motörhead.
• Motorhead (comics), a character and series from Dark Horse Comics.
• Motorhead (video game), a 1998 automobile racing video game.
• Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, a member of The Mothers of Invention.

"Motorhead" is the eponymous song of the British hard rock band of the same name. It was originally recorded by the space rock band Hawkwind, of whom the song's author, Motörhead frontman Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, had been a member from 1971 to 1975. It was the last song that he had written for them, but it had only been released as the B-side of the single " Kings of Speed", in March 1975. In May of that year, Lemmy was fired from Hawkwind and formed a new band, naming it after the song. It indicated the direction in which he planned to go: hard rock, not space rock. Motörhead recorded two new versions of the song later that year, one as part of a demo session with producer Dave Edmunds and then another as part of the sessions for what was meant to have been Motörhead's debut album. However, their record label, United Artists Records, decided to shelve the project and dropped the band without releasing any of the material. Over a year later, the song was recorded yet again for Chiswick Records, during the session for their actual debut album and was released ahead of it, in June 1977, as their second 7" single.

Initially issued with the Map of Chiswick label, it was later switched to the Big Beat label and pressed in other formats. The reverse cover is taken up almost entirely with the song's lyrics, printed in a lowercase form of blackletter. Most of the original singles have the words "a porky prime cut" inscribed on the run-out groove, indicating that the record was mastered by George Peckham. A variety of supporting messages also appear.

Chiswick also released a special 12" vinyl edition which was limited to 12,500 copies, it has the same sleeve, tracks and catalogue number – Chiswick S13.

On April 28, 1979 Lemmy was interviewed by John Tobler on BBC Radio 1's Rock on Saturday show, Motorhead, Leaving Here and Limb from Limb were played.

In September 1979 Chiswick released a 7" vinyl picture disc in two pressings, black and white, and blue and white as well as single colour pressings in black, blue, pink, orange and white vinyl – catalogued Big Beat NSP13 and NS13 respectively.

In 1981, a live recording, Motorhead was released as a single and reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart.

In 2008, the song was re-recorded as downloadable content for the rhythm game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, along with Stay Clean and (We Are) The Road Crew.

It was covered by Primal Scream on their 1997 album Vanishing Point.