THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

16-Motorhead-Ace of Spades.

1980-Number 15 single. After the death of Lemmy in 2015 the song re-entered the chart on downloads, and this time peaked at Number 13.

Best Bit-At 0.01. If you asked a ‘Punk Rock’ fan, and a ‘Heavy Metal’ fan what they had in common, it would probably be an appreciation of this song.

By 1980 ‘Punk Rock’ had thrown the majority of it’s best music at us, and then ‘Ace of Spades’ came along with all the energy of Punk, although essentially it was very much in the Heavy Metal genre, but with a twist. ‘Ace of Spades’ was different, it was faster and louder, and would help push forward the genre of music that is ‘Speed Metal,’ and influence a whole new generation of bands.

‘Motorhead’ were formed in London, England, in 1975, and remained active until 2015, in total there have been 10 different members come and go, but the classic line up, and also the three who played on ‘Ace of Spades’ were Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, (1945-2015) (lead vocals, and bass) Phil ‘Philthy Animal Taylor, (1954-2015) (drums) and ‘Fat’ Eddie Clarke (1950-2018) (guitar.) The discography of ‘Motorhead’ includes 23 studio Albums released between 1977-2015, and 29 singles issued between 1977-2018, with five of those singles reaching the UK top 40, with their 1981 live version of ‘Motorhead’ charting the highest at Number 6. They finally charted on the Billboard Album chart in America with their final two studio Albums,’Aftershock,’ (2013, made Number 22) and ‘Bad Magic,’ (2015, made Number 35) Motorhead have sold in excess of 15 million records worldwide.

Ian Fraser Kilmister, better known as ‘Lemmy’ was born on December 24th, 1945, in Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England, he was a heavy drug user, drinker, and smoker for much of his life, and died from prostrate cancer, cardiac arrhythmia, and congestive heart failure on December 28th, 2015, at the age of 70. He acquired the nickname ‘Lemmy’ while at school, he has said that he doesn’t know the origin of his nickname, but it has been suggested that the name originated from the phrase ‘lemmy (lend me) a quid ’til Friday,’ because of his alleged habit of borrowing money from people to play slot machines.’ After being fired from his previous band ‘Hawkwind’ (see also best songs 577) for his use of drugs in 1975,’Lemmy’ went onto form the band ‘Bastard’ in the same year with Larry Wallis, (1949-2019) and Lucas Fox, but after being informed that it might be difficult to get their songs played on the radio with that name, Lemmy chose the name ‘Motorhead,’ which had been the title of the last song he had written as a member of Hawkwind, ‘Motorhead’ is the slang term for the stimulant, and recreational drug ‘Amphetamine.’

‘Ace of Spades’ was co-written by Eddie Clarke, Lemmy, and Phil Taylor, and was the only single released from Motorhead’s fourth studio Album ‘Ace of Spades’ from 1980. The song and the Album were produced by Vic Maile (1943-1989) who had previously worked as the sound engineer with the Animals, (‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’ 1965) and was also partly responsible for the recording of the 1970 live Album ‘Live at Leeds’ by the Who. Lemmy has credited Maile for freshening up the clarity of the ‘Motorhead’ sound, he said,’Vic’s strength was that he understood Rock and Roll. He wasn’t like a lot of producers who simply rely on the readings from the meters on the desk, he was instinctive and he had the same sense of humour as me.’

‘Ace of Spades’ is a song about gambling and it’s risks. Lemmy has said,’Writing it was just a word exercise on gambling, all the cliches. I’m glad we got famous for that rather than for some turkey, but I sang ‘the eight of spades’ for two years and nobody noticed.’ The playing card the ‘ace of spades’ had become synonymous in the game of ‘Poker’ as the ‘dead man’s hand,’ as that was one of the cards the ‘Wild West’ legend ‘James Butler ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok’ (1837-1876) was holding when he was shot in the back of the head at point blank range while sat at the Poker table.

In my own personal opinion, I see the gambling references as a metaphor for a reckless lifestyle, fuelled by drugs and alcohol. Lemmy knows he is gambling with his life, and he will eventually be dealt the ‘Ace of Spades,’ the card of death.

‘You know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools, but that’s the way I like it, baby I don’t want to live forever, and don’t forget the joker.’