Motörhead

Motörhead is that rare band worshipped by headbangers, punks, and alt-rockers with equal reverence. From their formation in 1975 (shortly after bassist Lemmy Kilmister’s dismissal from Hawkwind), the Brits locked into an elemental sound that piles mechanized riffs atop grooves swinging with the abandon of early rock ’n’ roll. On Motörhead’s first six albums, including 1979’s Overkill and 1980’s Ace of Spades, the classic lineup of Kilmister, guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke, and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor established the ferocity of post-’70s heavy metal. Taylor’s double kick-drum attack proved particularly influential on thrash and D-beat. Over the decades, Motörhead became a paragon of hard-rocking consistency. Experiments like 1986’s proto-industrial-metal jam “Orgasmatron” pepper the catalog yet remain rooted in the group’s core pummel. Even when Kilmister’s health began declining, Motörhead continued unleashing sonic beasts like 2015’s Bad Magic. Arriving mere months before the icon’s death at age 70, the record would wipe the floor with rockers half his age.