Motörhead[a] (/ˈmoʊtərhɛd/) were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox.

[26] They recorded sessions at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth with producer Dave Edmunds, during which Fox proved to be unreliable and was replaced by drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, a casual acquaintance of Lemmy's.

[30] By April 1977, living in squats and with little recognition, Taylor and Clarke decided to quit the band, and after some debate, they agreed to do a farewell show at the Marquee Club in London.

Carroll was unable to get the mobile unit to the Marquee Club on 1 April 1977,[31] but showed up backstage after the engagement and offered them two days at Escape Studios with producer Speedy Keen to record a single.

On 20 August, the band had a 40-minute filmed slot, along with Girlschool's 20 minutes performing live at the Nottingham Theatre Royal for the Rockstage programme, broadcast on UK television by the ATV on 4 April 1981.

[35] "Ace of Spades", considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem,[36] "put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed".

Lemmy and Taylor made numerous telephone calls to find a guitarist, including one to Brian Robertson, formerly with Thin Lizzy, who was recording a solo album in Canada.

[24] Robertson began to cause friction in the band as a result of his on-stage attire, consisting of shorts and ballet shoes, and with his refusal to play old standards that Motörhead audiences expected to hear.

Scenes of the band playing are interspersed with the characters' antics as they rush to the railway station, in a parody of the Beatles' comedy film A Hard Day's Night.

[40] Their set, which included "Iron Fist", "Ace of Spades", and "Overkill", was performed in the car park of the Central TV studios, Birmingham, prompting complaints about the noise from local residents.

[24] From 26 March to 3 April 1986, the band toured West Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark on their "Easter Metal Blast" and in June, played two dates in Bologna and Milan in Italy.

On the same day as the release of the album, Lemmy and Würzel were interviewed by Andy Kershaw on the BBC Radio 1 Saturday Live show and "Orgasmatron" and "Deaf Forever" were played.

Between July and August, they played across the United States with Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Metal Church and opener Dangerous Toys on the "Operation Rock 'n' Roll" tour.

In June, they went on a second tour with Black Sabbath, this time supported by Tiamat, until the band succumbed to influenza and headed back to Los Angeles and Cherokee Studios in Hollywood where they were to record an album.

[44] Lemmy recalled that the touring was going particularly well, with some countries like Argentina and Japan putting the band in larger venues, and the English promoters discovered that "they could turn a nice profit with Motörhead shows".

Four dates in Japan preceded the band's 25th anniversary concert on 22 October at the Brixton Academy in London, where guest appearances were made by "Fast" Eddie Clarke, Brian May, Doro Pesch, Whitfield Crane, Ace, Paul Inder and Todd Campbell.

Between late May and mid-July the band played seven dates at Summer Festivals in Europe and from late-July until the end of August, they were touring the United States with Iron Maiden and Dio.

The band performed seven shows across Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain between 21 and 28 October and from late November until early December they were in Germany and Switzerland, touring with Skew Siskin and Mustasch.

[44] Motörhead performed an invitation-only concert at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London on 22 February 2004; at Summer Festivals in South America during May; and in Europe during June, July and August.

In 2006, the band performed a four-date House of Blues tour in the States in March with Meldrum and from June until early August played at European open-air festivals with some indoor headlining shows.

On 3 November 2010, Future plc, a UK media company, announced that Motörhead were to release The Wörld is Yours via an exclusive publishing deal with Classic Rock magazine on 14 December 2010.

[69][non-primary source needed] In October, the band recorded a slow blues version of their longtime hit "Ace of Spades" for a TV spot for Kronenbourg beer.

[76] In celebration of 35 years' touring, in late 2011 the band released the live DVD The Wörld Is Ours – Vol 1 – Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else, including performances at the O2 Apollo Manchester, Best Buy Theater, New York City and Teatro Caupolicán, Santiago de Chile.

The Gigantour took place from 26 January to 28 February 2012, but Motörhead missed the final four shows because Lemmy had a combination of an upper respiratory viral infection and voice strain, resulting in severe laryngitis.

However, in January 2014, Motörhead announced the cancellation of the new February and March dates of their European tour as Lemmy was still to reach full recovery from diabetes related health problems.

On 4 June the new album (which would be their last) Bad Magic was launched for pre-order on Amazon, revealing its title and cover art which also shows the "XXXX", coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the band.

[97] Despite his ongoing health issues forcing Motörhead to cut short or cancel several US shows,[95][98][c][d] Lemmy Kilmister was able to bounce back in time for the trio's annual Motörboat heavy metal cruise from Miami to the Bahamas which ran from 28 September through 2 October 2015 including performances by bands such as Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion of Conformity.

The band posted the following message on Facebook: There is no easy way to say this... our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer.

[109] Initially planned on 27 May 2016, UDR Music released on 10 June 2016 Clean Your Clock, a Motörhead archive live album due to contain material recorded at the 20 and 21 November 2015 shows at the Zenith in Munich.

Artist Joe Petagno drew it in 1977 for the cover of the band's debut album (with designer Phil Smee who turned it into a negative and did the lettering to complete the logo),[130] having met Lemmy while doing some work with Hawkwind.