Everything Louder Than Everything Else: Your Top Ten Motörhead Albums

[Charger]

# 9

BASTARDS

The follow-up to March Or Die revealed one of Motorhead's best ever tracks in the shape of Born To Raise Hell, the drum intro and the groovy melody with the catchy chorus...that song is one hell of a Motorhead rock anthem! It became a live staple as well and usually always featured some special guest...Ice-T, Whitfield Crane and Michael Monroe all preformed on the album version too.
Death Or Glory is another absolutely stellar track. And it was kind of fashionable to make a child molestation song in the mid 90s and Motorhead did one too in the form of Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me which is different enough. This is also one of the few Motorhead albums to feature two slower numbers...Lost In The Ozone isn't among their finest but it's luckily a rather short one. The album closer Devils is another killer track.

This was also the first album where long time drummer Mikkey Dee was an official member of the band.

[Thelemech]

My second Motorhead studio album and one of the Lemmy's least favorite of their discography 
I personally love it though 

[Zzzptm]

I consider No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith to be an adjunct of the power trio of albums Overkill, Bomber, and Ace of Spades. If you have those three, you get that album to provide a power boost or something like that.

[Jack the Stripper]

#8

Overnight Sensation(1996)





1996’s Overnight Sensation marked the return of the power trio after the departure of Würzel in 1995. In contrast to heavy hitters Bastards and Sacrifice Motörhead dial it back a tad and stretch the boundaries somewhat incorporating some melodic and diverse song writing with a slicker more polished production while still managing to keep their trademark sound. The result is another brilliant release capping a trio of albums in the 90’s that comes close to rivalling the classic trio of Overkill, Bomber and Ace of Spades.
Favourite tracks are thunderous opener “Civil War“ the catchy rockin “Crazy Like A Fox”, haunting semi ballad “Don’t Believe A Word” with its doomy bass intro, the heavy groovin “Broken” and the out and out thrasher “Them Not Me”. The melodic soulful album closer “Listen to your Heart”  is another great track and highlights just how versatile Motörhead could be.
 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Are all 10 of your choices going to be from that time period I wasn't buying them?

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^
Are all 10 of your choices going to be from that time period I wasn't buying them?

No only probably 5 all up which is a good balance I think 

[Charger]

#8

I'm gonna copy Jack on this one just one step higher on my list.

SACRIFICE

Jack pretty much said everything there is to say about this one...
The title track is among Motörhead's best ones...there is certainly a bit of a punk edge to the album but I don't hold it against it though as it is still very Motörhead.

One thing though...this has to be THE WORST cover art in the band's whole discography...absolutely horrible. How could Lemmy allow this I'll never know...Snaggletooth with a penis tongue...what the actual fuck??

I won't even post the cover art...can't.

[Zzzptm]

^^^
Are all 10 of your choices going to be from that time period I wasn't buying them?

No only probably 5 all up which is a good balance I think 

OK, I'm going to give Overnight Sensation a go. I don't have post-1988 Motorhead, so I figure now's a good time to give 'em a go. I wasn't happy with Rock 'n' Roll or No Sleep at All, so I didn't drop cash on 1916. I was also pretty darn poor at the time, just out of college with a new baby and not really able to buy much of anything that wasn't a used record.

[Zzzptm]

Just finished OS... my first impression is that the second half is much stronger than the first. Definitely a +1 on the closing track for being a fun tune.

[Jack the Stripper]

#7

1916(1991)





Released 4 years after the somewhat lacklustre Rock ‘n’ Roll 1916 was a comeback album of sorts for Motörhead and earned them more success and recognition in America. It was also their most advanced and experimental album to that point mixing a variety of different styles & sounds even adding instruments like keyboard, saxophone and Cello.
I have very fond memories of this album when it came out which is probably why I rate it so high. Loved it and played the hell out of it for months culminating in seeing them live for the first time on the 1916 tour in 91 which is still one of the big highlights of my concert going life. You never forget the first time you see Motörhead live. Very impactful and stays with you forever.

My favourites from 1916 are “I’m So Bad(Baby I don’t Care)”, “No Voices in the Sky”, the creepy “Nightmare/The Dreamtime” the haunting balled “Love Me Forever“ and totally rockin pair of  “Angel City“ & “Make My Day”. It would also be remiss not to mention Lemmy’s tribute to the Ramones and his ode the the fallen British soldiers of WW1 inspired by the Battle of the Somme in 1916 which concludes the album.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
That will almost certainly be in my top 10. It has one of my all time favourite Motorhead songs and it's the best on this album The One To Sing The Blues.

[Charger]

#7

IRON FIST

The last of the "classic" line-up. Lemmy didn't like the production of the album nor the fact that they made it bit too fast after the live album but it still has some absolutely crushing songs on it like the title track, Go To Hell, ironically entitled Loser, Speedfreak and the absolute masterpiece that is (Don't Need) Religion.

Sure the production on this isn't perfect and some of the songs lack that Motörhead drive that was on the previous two albums but for the title track alone this deserves to be on the list. The other killer ones are the reason it rises up to number 7.

[Zzzptm]

Iron Fist, this one I know. I'll need to spin 1916 (thank you YouTube for having almost every song ever made on it), but Iron Fist is definitely a cut below the other "classic" output.

[Jack the Stripper]

^^Iron Fist is an interesting one for me, was tough leaving it out but at the end of the day I rarely revisit it these days saved for 3 of the first 4 tracks and Bang To Rights. I find the rawness and spirit is there but it does lack the quality of the three albums that preceded it. Plus, I really felt I needed to give a fair amount of love to some of the 17 albums outside of the classic lineup.

I did rank Iron Fist 11th for what it’s worth 

[Charger]

I was thinking long and hard about the rankings from 6-10...I pretty much new the top 5 out from the gate but these were bit trickier...and honestly the order of them might be very different on another day...