Everything Louder Than Everything Else: Your Top Ten Motörhead Albums

[Jack the Stripper]

Today I've been listening to We Are Motörhead again after some while and I have to say the album's better than I remembered... I was thinking about putting it on the middle the list but now I think it might actually go to the top side.

Yep it’s a really good album and definitely in the top 5 of the Lemmy, Phil, Mikkey era along with Hammered.

[Jack the Stripper]

So I’ve been re-listening to my 11-15 selections the last few days just to make sure I’ve got them down correctly which I probably should’ve done before I did the list and I’ve decided to make a couple of amendments. The first one is Orgasmatron. As it stands now is a better more consistent album than Iron Fist so moving that to #11.

The other amendment is “We Are Motörhead” Giving it a Refresh today it’s better songs are better than the best songs on Hammered and its weaker songs which there aren’t many are better than the the weaker songs on Hammered. It must be said though, Phil’s solos are much better on Hammered. Also I’ll just add, the production on “We Are Motörhead“ is absolutely stellar and I should’ve included “Wake The Dead” in with the great tracks from that album and tbh I can actually see myself revisiting that album more than Iron Fist and S/T for the rest of my days so I’m even bumping it ahead of those two as well.

[Jack the Stripper]

*Updated

Ok I think I’ve got a good enough of a handle on Motörhead’s entire catalogue to judge them all. I own every one of their albums on vinyl or cd or both in a lot of cases and have given them enough listens over the years to rate them in some semblance of order as hard as that is because there is very little between a lot of them.


#11. Orgasmatron(1986) - Good album, probably closest in sound & style to the classic era delivered from this and subsequent lineups. Production is muddy which hurts it a bit but it still really captures the Motörhead spirit with the mean and dirty riffage of earlier releases. Deaf Forever, Mean Machine, Built for Speed, Doctor Rock and title track are my favourites off this.

#12. We Are Motörhead(2000) - Another really good solid release from the Lemmy, Phil, Mikkey lineup and a definite improvement on the previous release to this but again just a bit off the consistent quality of other albums from this lineup. See Me Burning, Stay Out of Jail, One More Fucking Time, Stagefright/Crash & Burn and the title track are up there with the best of anything this lineup ever did though. Another one that could be higher on the list.

#13. Iron Fist(1982) - The final album from the classic lineup. Very solid album but just lacks the quality and highlights of the previous albums. Played it a lot back in the day but need to be in a certain mood to give it a spin these days. Side one is the stronger side and last track “Bang To Rights” is the best from Side 2.

#14. Motörhead(1977) - Hard to know where to rank the s/t debut as Overkill was such a big step up from this in every way. This also has more of a punkier edge to it as well and a rawer production. Their sound and style is very much in the development stage on this and some of the songs were written by Lemmy in his former band Hawkwind and others were written before “Fast” Eddie Clarke joined. I do dig the album a lot though and appreciate it for its time but for some reason I don’t revisit it much these days. Vibrator is the only song that never did anything for me.

#15. Hammered(2000) - A really great album. Just a little bit off the consistent quality of the other non classic lineup albums I have in my top 10. Walk a Crooked Mile, Down the Line, Voices From the War, Kill the World and Red Raw are all brilliant songs. The Triple H theme song “The Game” is pretty cool as well. Recommend this one if you’re a fan of Bastards, Sacrifice and Overnight Sensation. Probably should have it higher actually but tough trying to demote any of the three ahead of it.

#16. Motorizer(2008) - Inferno and then Kiss of Death were always gonna be tough albums to follow but they did a more than admirable job with Motorizer. Still very much in the same vein as those albums only Kiss of Death is more varied and it’s best songs are just better than the best of Motorizer. Favourite tracks Runaround Man, Teach You How To Sing The Blues, Rock Out, Buried Alive and “The Thousand Names of God“.

#17. Bad Magic(2015) - Probably my favourite of their last 3 studio releases. Lemmy was ill during the recording and his voice is decidedly weaker. It seems they all lifted their game knowing it was more than likely gonna be the final studio album from Motörhead. Some really strong and memorable riffs from Phil on this one. Highlights include: Victory or Die, Thunder & Lightning, Shoot Out All of Your Love, Till the End, & Choking On Your Screams. “Electricity” is good also but the riff is a carbon copy of “Smiling Like A Killer” from Inferno. Production sounds strangely a bit murky too but I dig this album quite a lot and can see it creeping up the list in years to come.

#18. March Or Die(1992) - I do like this album overall even though It’s quite watered down and commercial sounding for a Motörhead album. The songwriting is still good though and I appreciate the point of difference to other albums and another side to Lemmy. He and the band proved they could write a popier more commercial sounding rock album with the best of them. Favourite  tracks: Stand, Bad Religion, I Ain’t No Nice Guy, Asylum Choir and You Better Run. No real bad or mediocre tracks on this one though.

#19. Aftershock(2013) - A good solid release and improvement over “The World Is Yours”  but just suffers from being a little samey with tempos and lacking variety which was a bit of a constant in their later years. I do think this one will improve a bit more over time as I possibly get burnt out on others. Lost Women Blues, End of Time, Dust and Glass, Queen of the Damned and Knife are my standouts from this album.

#20. Rock ‘n’ Roll(1987) - A tough one to rate. I honestly don’t think it’s bad or any worse than some other albums I rank just ahead of it, it’s probably just less memorable. The production sounds lifeless as hell and lacks punch which doesn’t help. If it was a little more in your face I’d rate it higher. Best tracks are the self titled track , Eat The Rich, Stone Deaf in the USA, “The Wolf“ and “Boogeyman”. The b-side to Eat The Rich “Just Cos You Got The Power” really should’ve been included on the album proper.

#21. The World Is Yours(2010) - A little uninspired and a by the numbers release is probably the best way to describe this album which is a rare thing in their discography. Still a decent listen but just lacks consistent good memorable songs and the variation of previous releases from this great lineup. Best songs for me are the two bookends along with I Know How To Die, Brotherhood of Man and Outlaw.

#22. Snake Bite Love(1998)  - Another one that suffers from just not being memorable enough and is a little uninspired and misguided in what it’s trying to achieve. Doesn’t seem like they really put a lot of thought and effort into this album. Phil’s riffs are ok but nothing really stands out. Still not a bad album by any stretch but just not enough highlights to rank it above anything else. Quite like “Dead and Gone” for a different vibe and Dogs of War and Better Off Dead are solid Motörhead songs also, while Assassin would be quite likeable if not for the repetitive chorus.
Overall, Snake Bite Love is quite an oddball release sandwiched among some very strong albums.



Phew! That was even tougher than I thought...Subject to change of course.

Good luck to the rest of you’s.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I've boungth a couple more: Ogasmatron and We Are Motorhead.

Only just delivered so I haven't listened to them yet. I might get Hammered but that'll probably be it for now.

[Vyn]

Thanks for the run-down Jack. It is tough to put them in some kind of order. On a side note, I bought Rock 'n'  Roll when it came out. Got home, opened it up, and damned if the disk itself wasn't Battlezone's Children of Madness .

I was mad, alright lol. I should have kept it, but was so pissed off I took it outside and threw it down the street like a frisbee, bouncing of the asphalt. Fucking shit. I may have been chemically enhanced at the time.

[Jack the Stripper]

Thanks for the run-down Jack. It is tough to put them in some kind of order. On a side note, I bought Rock 'n'  Roll when it came out. Got home, opened it up, and damned if the disk itself wasn't Battlezone's Children of Madness .

I was mad, alright lol. I should have kept it, but was so pissed off I took it outside and threw it down the street like a frisbee, bouncing of the asphalt. Fucking shit. I may have been chemically enhanced at the time.

That poor album. Could’ve at least been stuck on a wall as cool Motörhead art.

As for Children of Madness, lmao I remember it well. I let a mate be the sacrificial lamb and buy it when we visited a record store one day soon after it came out. You could just tell from the cover that something was rotten in China. I remember we got back to the mates place and he threw it on and I instantly started pissing myself laughing while the mate was looking rather sheepish and slightly horrified. Didn't stop him desperately trying to convince himself for the rest of side 1 that it wasn’t all that bad and that this and that riff sounded pretty good though lol.

I think everyone would have one of those type albums in their collection 

[Charger]

I've been listening to some of the albums missing from my collection now...

I think I'm going to do a partial list soon and then fill in the missing ones as I get them...

[Charger]

Well just got Snake Bite Love today and I have to say I wasn't expecting to like it very much based on Jack's list BUT I actually do find it enjoyable.

It is little different sounding, and not quite so fast and crushing as some and the songs are bit longer without a single real fast short rocker the band is known for but I have to say I'm still digging it so it won't be on the bottom of my list...

I pretty much have locked down the bottom of the list already I think but the ranks from 15 to 11 are tougher....much tougher.

[Jack the Stripper]

My review wasn’t too bad. It’s not a terrible album or anything but when you put it up against anything else 6 years either side of it it’s just a lot less memorable with not much that stands out.

Anyhow, something has to be on the bottom 

[Jack the Stripper]

So the Contrarians uploaded/posted this today. Quite topical and rather on cue I must say to what we’ve been doing on here the last month.

Interesting but I’m not at all surprised. Quite similar to my thoughts but they’re a little harsher.

[Charger]

Ugh...could not disagree more on that one..

[Jack the Stripper]

I was surprised 1916 was even mentioned in the conversation. These things are all subjective of coarse but March or Die does tend to be a bit of a whipping boy amongst Motörhead fans.

[Charger]

^^^
Now when I started with my Motörhead journey only few years ago I did not know that and March Or Die was among the first ones I got...4th or 5th album I think...so I got to listen to it fresh without any baggage and it hit the spot thus it has stayed on my top 10.