Born shortly after the end of World War II in Stoke-On-Trent, England, Lemmy honed his bass chops with mid-'60s beat outfit The Rockin’ Vicars, before graduating to a succession of increasingly psychedelic bands, including Sam Gopal, Opal Butterfly, and Hawkwind. A space-rock aggregation popular on the British and European festival circuit, Hawkwind experienced their greatest success with Lemmy in the band (he sang lead on their 1972 hit, “Silver Machine”), but fired him after he was nabbed for amphetamine possession during a tour of Canada. Undaunted, Lemmy soon formed a band of his own with former Pink Fairies guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor. Though the Motorhead lineup would change many times over the ensuing quarter-century, the band’s brutal sound would remain resolutely unsweetened and unchanged.

Though Motorhead’s career began inauspiciously -- their first label went under before their debut album was even released -- the band soon found favor with a motley assortment of British bikers, metalheads and punks looking for something harder than the usual rock 'n roll fare. The group’s deafening live shows soon became the stuff of legend, and the band peaked in 1981 with No Sleep Til Hammersmith, a UK chart-topper that featured scorching live versions of such Motorhead classics as “Ace of Spades,” “Overkill,” “Bomber,” and “(We Are) The Road Crew”. Though the band’s commercial status has waned somewhat during the past fifteen years, Lemmy and the boys are still rightfully held in high esteem by hard rockers of all stripes.

-- Dan Epstein

Dan Epstein is a Los Angeles-based journalist and pop-culture historian whose work has appeared in L.A. Weekly, BAM, Raygun, Guitar World and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. His first book, Twentieth Century Pop Culture, was published in 1999 by Carlton Books.