new live set was dominated by Bomber material: All
The Aces, Dead Men Tell No Tales, Stone Dead Forever,
Lawman, Poison, and to close the set, the noisy-
neighbours title track itself.
I recall being at the Hammersmith Odeon and
seeing the bomber lift off for the first time and
being so dazzled I nearly
spilled my pint. The band
were at their hoary peak –
17 shows into an unbroken
21-straight-dates stint- and it was as clear as
crystal meth that no sleep
whatsoever had been used
in the making of this
apocalyptic event.
After the show the scene
was equally battle-ready.
These were the days when Motörhead were
followed devotedly by various Hells Angels. “Part
of Lemmy’s Hawkwind inheritance,” as Doug
Smith put it. It lent a certain atmosphere to the
room, but the mood was always buoyant,
supportive, if a little nervy. In years to come,
Lemmy would take a step back from public
proclamations about his connection to the proud
bikers. In 1979, though, he was still openly proud
of the association. “It’s a full-time occupation,
really,” he shrugged. “It can be a very violent career
for a young man.” Not that that put Lemmy off.
“I get on with all of them,” he would tell you.
The regular fans in the audience made up an
unusual mix for the time of
diehard metal aficionados,
punk haircuts, hippie
leftovers and general
outcasts. At Reading that
year, Motörhead had been
added to the Friday night
bill, billed as New Wave
Night, which had seen
them following The Cure
and Wilko Johnson on to
the bottle-strewn stage.
The Tourists – fronted by a whey-faced Annie
Lennox – had the dubious honour of following
Motörhead, and The Police topped the bill. Fights
had broken out between the tribes gathered among
the tents and empty beer cans. Now at
Hammersmith and other shows on the full tour
that November, it was a different story. These were
now all Lemmy’s people, come what may.T
he first Motörhead album to feature
pictures of all three members on the cover- pictured in bomber-command mode
aboard a fantasy firebird created by famed sci-fi
illustrator Adrian Chesterman – Bomber was
released on October 27, 1979. Initial pressings were
on blue vinyl and sold out immediately, sending
the album straight into the UK chart at No. 12 – the
band’s highest chart placing thus far.
When the track Bomber was released as a single
five weeks later, again initially on blue vinyl, all
20,000 copies sold out within a week, taking the
single to No.34. (Quick comparison note: if
a single sold 20,000 copies in 2019 it would go
straight to No.1.)
There was also the reward of another
appearance on the nation’s favourite weekly TV
chart show, Philthy Animal chewing his tongue at
the front in a gangster’s hat (they always used to
put the drummers at the front on Top Of The Pops
because often they were the only ones in a group
that was miming who really moved); Lemmy in
blackout mirror shades; Fast Eddie, eyes screwed
shut, back-handing his guitar; the clearly
dumbfounded audience in their nice jumpers just
sort of standing around in front.
It was also around this time that Lemmy began
what would become a very substantial collection
of Nazi regalia, from medals and memorabilia to,
later, uniforms and knives. With the band now
getting increased media attention, this was
something he found himself having to justify to
easily shocked visitors like the writer from the New
Musical Express who quizzed him about the Iron
Cross he wore around his neck. Why did he wear
such an abomination?
“Because it’s obviously a joke,” Lemmy laughed.
But what if people were confused by it, took it
the wrong way?
“Confusion’s good for the soul sometimes,” he
said defiantly. “Actually, what it is is that I was
given this leather jacket in 1973. It just arrived in
a mystery parcel with no note or anything. And
I just thought: ‘Well, what’re you gonna wear on
a leather jacket?’ [Hawkwind sax player] Nik
Turner had ceramic flowers, but I figured it should
be something... heavy. It’s just like the Hells
Angels, really – in to shock.”
He paused, blew smoke in the unconvinced
journalist’s face and added: “ If there was Nazis
around today I’d be in the concentration camp
MA
IN:
AND
REW(^) PH
ILLI
PS;
(^) IN
SET
: (^) BA
RRY
(^) PL
UM
ME
R
“As soon as we got to
Heathrow we saw all
these police lined up
on the tarmac!”
Lemmy
34 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM