For today’s Record of the Day we’re paying tribute to Motörhead legend ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, following the sad news of his death earlier this week.
With Lemmy and Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor both having died within a few weeks of each other in 2015, ‘Fast’ Eddie’s passing completes the afterlife reunion of the original and definitive Motörhead line-up.
Eddie, Lemmy and Philthy played together on Motörhead’s first six albums – the band’s strongest work – so there’s a plethora of songs that would be ideal for the purposes of this celebration. There’s the obvious classics – Ace of Spades, Motörhead, Bomber. And there are personal favourites, like (We are the) Road Crew. Road Crew stands out because, aside from being a blinding tune, it also demonstrates the down-to-earth, ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude that helped the band become so loved. It’s a celebration of roadies. To Motörhead, roadies were just part of the same, long party as them, so of equal importance to the band. It probably helps that Lemmy had roadied for Jimi Hendrix in the ’60s, but still, you can’t imagine Led Zep in their heyday paying tribute to their crew like this can you?
In the end Emergency got the nod as RotD. It might be a Girlschool cover, but it’s still a showcase for ‘Fast’ Eddie’s lightning quick, no-bullshit riffage and he also takes vocal duties on this beast too.
This track also demonstrates that other great Motörhead attribute – the way they appealed to metal heads and punks simultaneously like no other band could. Emergency is a perfect demonstration of why that is. It has all the fast, filthy urgency of punk, coupled with the power and attitude of the best metal. ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke’s guitar playing was a big factor in Motörhead‘s ability to carry that trick off. And now that he’s been reunited with his brothers-in-arms, they can pick the party up where they left off.
