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Motorhead - Motorheadbangers: Diary Of The Fans Volume 1
Motorheadbangers, the official fan club for rock giants, Motorhead, has never stopped. Like the band on tour, in the studio, and playing live to audiences across the world, Motorheadbangers, through its stalwart fan base, has matched the band's enthusiasm to keep going against all the odds.
Since the first fanzine, the fan club membership has written of their experiences of seeing and meeting the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world. In this way, Motorhead's history has been catalogued. But the majority of those fanzines have long been out of print.
Diary Of The Fans Volume 1 re-prints the first part of that long lost history. Within these pages you can smell the pyro, the dry ice, and the beer stained concert hall floors. You can feel the sweat sticking your T-shirt to your back. You can see those gigs in your mind's eye, and be deafened by the loudest band in the world.
Come on, let's go...
Since the first fanzine, the fan club membership has written of their experiences of seeing and meeting the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world. In this way, Motorhead's history has been catalogued. But the majority of those fanzines have long been out of print.
Diary Of The Fans Volume 1 re-prints the first part of that long lost history. Within these pages you can smell the pyro, the dry ice, and the beer stained concert hall floors. You can feel the sweat sticking your T-shirt to your back. You can see those gigs in your mind's eye, and be deafened by the loudest band in the world.
Come on, let's go...
193 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 7, 2011
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6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 25, 2019
Context is oh so important in my world. One must establish some bona-fides if one wants be to be taken seriously as a writer, or in my case, a reviewer. So before I can do this review, you must suffer through a bit of autobiography. I was born in 1964, so I am in fact, a Beatle-Baby. Google the reference if you must. I’m lucky that my mother enjoyed rock music, as I was reared on those sounds of the latter 1960s. That music just became part of my DNA. In 1973, I fostered a love of hard rock when I heard Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” come blasting out of an old, beat up transistor radio. In 1986, I took some of my lawn mowing money and went out and bought my first real rock album, that being the debut Boston record. By then my tastes had become mainstream rock, all Stxysy and Speedwagonish, but that changed in 1977 when my mother was too slow to turn off a Sex Pistols appearance on television. I was mesmerized. I went out and bought my first punk album not long after, and unfortunately it wasn’t “Never Mind the Bollocks,” as Mom was adamant about not letting punk rock in the house. I settled for “Power in the Darkness,” by the Tom Robinson Band, an album that was light-years ahead of the Pistols politically even as it was tamer sonically and visually. By 1979, I was getting into The New Wave of British heavy Metal, and…….
(SCREECH)......I owe a debt at this junction to the mighty CREEM magazine, without which I would never have had access to punk and metal journalism and critiques. As an outsider kid in deep East Texas, that magazine was a lifeline to the New York and London scenes. Fortunately, the buyers at my local record stores read CREEM, too.
So in 1980, which was a watershed year for hard rock, punk, and metal, an album called “Ace of Spades” by a loud, crude bunch of malcontents named Motorhead was released. It was their first album to be released Stateside, and it fucking blew my ears off. It was punk and metal crossover a full 8 years before there was even such a thing AS punk/metal crossover. It’s a moment held in time for me. The noise blasting off of those vinyl grooves was outrageous and fast, and the band looked dangerous as hell on the cover. And all of this is my attempt to give you at least SOME idea as to why I feel qualified to honestly review “Motorheadbangers: Diary of the Fans, Volume One 1975 to 1986,” authored by Alan Burridge. I bought a Kindle copy of the book as actual hard copies are a bit rare and pricey. Burridge is a guy who not only knew and interacted with the band, he was placed in charge of their fan club. What you have here is a recounting of Alan’s experiences with the group from their rocky beginnings in 1975 to their more or less peak success in 1980-81 and then on through the mid-80s as a hard rock mainstay. Burridge had unequaled access to the band itself, and he was a willing conduit between the artists and their rabid fanbase.
No more exposition. I’m going to assume here that you know who the hell I am talking about when I mention “Lemmy” or “Philthy.” If you don’t then you should mosey on and listen to your Arctic Monkeys albums and leave off here.
There is a ridiculous amount of detail in this book. Here are a few nuggets to keep you interested:
Original guitarist Larry Wallis was something of a nit. The band had originally been envisioned as a two-guitar lineup, and they had asked “Fast” Eddie Clarke over to a rehearsal to try this configuration out. Wallis was late, and tried to pull rank on the boys by playing louder than everyone else. This didn’t sit so well with Lemmy and the rest of the band, who were quite happy to plug on as a three-piece. Wallis was much better in the Pink Fairies, anyway…...
Burridge also reviews a LOT of Motorhead shows. The band had real strength as a live band, as exemplified on the “No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith” LP, which showed them at full force. Motorhead was breaking land sound records all over the UK by then, beating out other such purveyors of noise as AC/DC and Saxon.
Classic lineup drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor comes across as surprisingly literate and low-key in interviews. Reared mostly on soul and jazz music, his status as an originator of double-bass speed-demon madness is irrefutable. RIP Philthy…..you were one of the good ones.
Lemmy and the rest of the band didn’t consider themselves to be part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at all. They simply saw themselves as a straight-up rock ‘n’ roll band. This despite the wearing of the bullet belts, an absolutely necessary part of the “metal” uniform of the era. It’s true that Lemmy had one foot in the punk scene, often playing gigs and occasionally swapping band members with The Damned.
As the book swings to halfway, “Fast” Eddie Clarke decides to abruptly leave the band. Clarke was replaced by ex-Thin Lizzy axeman Brian Robertson, who didn’t exactly fit the mold, but when in need………
Lemmy was a huge proponent of feminism in rock music. One of his favorite bands was another British hard rock band, Girlschool. The bands often played together, and Lemmy had an ongoing casual flirtation/relationship with lead singer/rhythm guitarist Kim McAuliffe.
“Robbo” Robertson leaves the band by 1983. He was a wank pheasant. No disrespect meant. Thanks for all the great Thin Lizzy riffs, Robbo.
The “classic” era of the band truly ends in April 1984, when Philthy Animal Taylor leaves the band. The band regroups as an actual four-piece this time, with Wurzel (Mick Burston) and Phil Campbell taking over on guitar, and Pete Gill on drums. Campbell would go on to be the longest-tenured member of the band next to Lemmy, playing guitar all the way up until the final end of the band in 2015.
Motorhead spent a lot of time touring and not recording during the mid-80s, as a lawsuit with their former record company, Bronze, meant that new material could not be released until the suit was settled. Thus this era of Motorhead is not remembered well by the record-buying public. Going to shows, though, was another thing. The band was sandblasting everything in sight.
Lemmy and the boys enjoyed working with Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics, who by then had embarked on a (mostly) solo tour, as this particular version of the Plasmatics was nothing more than a hired-gun hair metal act. There are two great interviews with this classy, intelligent woman in this book. That alone makes it something of an artifact.
The book ends in 1986, with the band coming out of its recording limbo and embarking on new live shows. It’s fun and well organized, and absolutely essential if you are a fan of the band. Burridge is a perfect person to commit all of this information down on paper, and it’s as intimate and authentic a depiction of life in a rock ‘n’ roll band as you will probably ever get. It’s probably only going to appeal to diehard fans of the band, but it’s five-star material for someone like me who enjoys reading about the details of my favorite groups. It’s raw and gritty, but edited extremely well. Definitely better than most well-scrubbed rock bios, that’s for sure. There are very few tired stories of rock ‘n’ roll excess to be found here. Burridge focuses on the band as musicians and people and leaves the rest to your imagination. The interviews are fantastic and the reviews of the live shows are brilliant.
Motorhead changed my perceptions of what a rock band could be. I knew then that one didn’t have to choose a particular “camp” to dwell in. It was absolutely possible to embrace punk and metal as compatible musical styles, even though it would take years before this lesson was truly learned on a wider scale in the States. For me it was like coming out of the musical closet. I could now wear my Discharge patch next to my Tygers of Pan Tang patch without fear.
RIP Lemmy…..RIP Fast Eddie…...all of the members of the “classic” Motorhead are gone now. Phil Campbell is still out there rocking, and the memories of Lemmy as the latter-day Rock God are still vivid. He…...they…...seemed immortal. Buy this book and see why.
(SCREECH)......I owe a debt at this junction to the mighty CREEM magazine, without which I would never have had access to punk and metal journalism and critiques. As an outsider kid in deep East Texas, that magazine was a lifeline to the New York and London scenes. Fortunately, the buyers at my local record stores read CREEM, too.
So in 1980, which was a watershed year for hard rock, punk, and metal, an album called “Ace of Spades” by a loud, crude bunch of malcontents named Motorhead was released. It was their first album to be released Stateside, and it fucking blew my ears off. It was punk and metal crossover a full 8 years before there was even such a thing AS punk/metal crossover. It’s a moment held in time for me. The noise blasting off of those vinyl grooves was outrageous and fast, and the band looked dangerous as hell on the cover. And all of this is my attempt to give you at least SOME idea as to why I feel qualified to honestly review “Motorheadbangers: Diary of the Fans, Volume One 1975 to 1986,” authored by Alan Burridge. I bought a Kindle copy of the book as actual hard copies are a bit rare and pricey. Burridge is a guy who not only knew and interacted with the band, he was placed in charge of their fan club. What you have here is a recounting of Alan’s experiences with the group from their rocky beginnings in 1975 to their more or less peak success in 1980-81 and then on through the mid-80s as a hard rock mainstay. Burridge had unequaled access to the band itself, and he was a willing conduit between the artists and their rabid fanbase.
No more exposition. I’m going to assume here that you know who the hell I am talking about when I mention “Lemmy” or “Philthy.” If you don’t then you should mosey on and listen to your Arctic Monkeys albums and leave off here.
There is a ridiculous amount of detail in this book. Here are a few nuggets to keep you interested:
Original guitarist Larry Wallis was something of a nit. The band had originally been envisioned as a two-guitar lineup, and they had asked “Fast” Eddie Clarke over to a rehearsal to try this configuration out. Wallis was late, and tried to pull rank on the boys by playing louder than everyone else. This didn’t sit so well with Lemmy and the rest of the band, who were quite happy to plug on as a three-piece. Wallis was much better in the Pink Fairies, anyway…...
Burridge also reviews a LOT of Motorhead shows. The band had real strength as a live band, as exemplified on the “No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith” LP, which showed them at full force. Motorhead was breaking land sound records all over the UK by then, beating out other such purveyors of noise as AC/DC and Saxon.
Classic lineup drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor comes across as surprisingly literate and low-key in interviews. Reared mostly on soul and jazz music, his status as an originator of double-bass speed-demon madness is irrefutable. RIP Philthy…..you were one of the good ones.
Lemmy and the rest of the band didn’t consider themselves to be part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at all. They simply saw themselves as a straight-up rock ‘n’ roll band. This despite the wearing of the bullet belts, an absolutely necessary part of the “metal” uniform of the era. It’s true that Lemmy had one foot in the punk scene, often playing gigs and occasionally swapping band members with The Damned.
As the book swings to halfway, “Fast” Eddie Clarke decides to abruptly leave the band. Clarke was replaced by ex-Thin Lizzy axeman Brian Robertson, who didn’t exactly fit the mold, but when in need………
Lemmy was a huge proponent of feminism in rock music. One of his favorite bands was another British hard rock band, Girlschool. The bands often played together, and Lemmy had an ongoing casual flirtation/relationship with lead singer/rhythm guitarist Kim McAuliffe.
“Robbo” Robertson leaves the band by 1983. He was a wank pheasant. No disrespect meant. Thanks for all the great Thin Lizzy riffs, Robbo.
The “classic” era of the band truly ends in April 1984, when Philthy Animal Taylor leaves the band. The band regroups as an actual four-piece this time, with Wurzel (Mick Burston) and Phil Campbell taking over on guitar, and Pete Gill on drums. Campbell would go on to be the longest-tenured member of the band next to Lemmy, playing guitar all the way up until the final end of the band in 2015.
Motorhead spent a lot of time touring and not recording during the mid-80s, as a lawsuit with their former record company, Bronze, meant that new material could not be released until the suit was settled. Thus this era of Motorhead is not remembered well by the record-buying public. Going to shows, though, was another thing. The band was sandblasting everything in sight.
Lemmy and the boys enjoyed working with Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics, who by then had embarked on a (mostly) solo tour, as this particular version of the Plasmatics was nothing more than a hired-gun hair metal act. There are two great interviews with this classy, intelligent woman in this book. That alone makes it something of an artifact.
The book ends in 1986, with the band coming out of its recording limbo and embarking on new live shows. It’s fun and well organized, and absolutely essential if you are a fan of the band. Burridge is a perfect person to commit all of this information down on paper, and it’s as intimate and authentic a depiction of life in a rock ‘n’ roll band as you will probably ever get. It’s probably only going to appeal to diehard fans of the band, but it’s five-star material for someone like me who enjoys reading about the details of my favorite groups. It’s raw and gritty, but edited extremely well. Definitely better than most well-scrubbed rock bios, that’s for sure. There are very few tired stories of rock ‘n’ roll excess to be found here. Burridge focuses on the band as musicians and people and leaves the rest to your imagination. The interviews are fantastic and the reviews of the live shows are brilliant.
Motorhead changed my perceptions of what a rock band could be. I knew then that one didn’t have to choose a particular “camp” to dwell in. It was absolutely possible to embrace punk and metal as compatible musical styles, even though it would take years before this lesson was truly learned on a wider scale in the States. For me it was like coming out of the musical closet. I could now wear my Discharge patch next to my Tygers of Pan Tang patch without fear.
RIP Lemmy…..RIP Fast Eddie…...all of the members of the “classic” Motorhead are gone now. Phil Campbell is still out there rocking, and the memories of Lemmy as the latter-day Rock God are still vivid. He…...they…...seemed immortal. Buy this book and see why.
January 29, 2013
A thoroughly enjoyable read of going to gigs, getting to know Motorhead back in the days. Alan was there and had done a great job of allowing the reader, and fans who could make it, feel what it was like.
Great read for fans of the band, of Metal and good old heavy Rock n Roll.
As the great man says “I just try to have fun. It’s about having a good time.”
Long live Lemmy
Great read for fans of the band, of Metal and good old heavy Rock n Roll.
As the great man says “I just try to have fun. It’s about having a good time.”
Long live Lemmy
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews