Editing Motörhead (section)

==Musical style==
[[File:Motorhead-01.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Lemmy]] live in [[Edmonton]], 2005]]

[[AllMusic]] editor [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] wrote: "Motörhead's overwhelmingly loud and fast style of heavy metal was one of the most groundbreaking styles the genre had to offer in the late '70s" and though "Motörhead wasn't [[punk rock]] ... they were the first metal band to harness that energy and, in the process, they created [[speed metal]] and [[thrash metal]]."<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mot%C3%B6rhead-mn0000501407|title=Motörhead Biography|access-date=11 February 2007|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|website=[[AllMusic]]|archive-date=4 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604093244/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mot%C3%B6rhead-mn0000501407|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although Motörhead is often considered a [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band, Lemmy always described Motörhead's music as simply "[[rock and roll]]". In 2011, he said: "We were not heavy metal. We were a rock 'n' roll band. Still are. Everyone always describes us as heavy metal even when I tell them otherwise. Why won't people listen?"<ref name=Independent>{{cite web|first=Nick|last=Duerden|title=Growing old disgracefully: Lemmy on heartbreak, ageing and his penchant for Nazi memorabilia|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/growing-old-disgracefully-lemmy-on-heartbreak-ageing-and-his-penchant-for-nazi-memorabilia-2142747.html|work=The Independent|date=28 November 2010|access-date=4 May 2014|archive-date=14 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114204608/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/growing-old-disgracefully-lemmy-on-heartbreak-ageing-and-his-penchant-for-nazi-memorabilia-2142747.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, he reiterated to ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' that he did not particularly like heavy metal.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/motoerhead-chef-lemmy-kilmister-kann-heavy-metal-nicht-leiden-a-983121.html|title=Motörhead-Chef Lemmy Kilmister: "Ich kann Heavy Metal nicht leiden"|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=27 July 2014|language=de|access-date=8 August 2014|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118212027/https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/motoerhead-chef-lemmy-kilmister-kann-heavy-metal-nicht-leiden-a-983121.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Lemmy had stated that he generally felt more kinship with punk rockers than with heavy metal bands: Motörhead had engagements with fellow Brits, [[The Damned (band)|the Damned]], with whom he played bass on a handful of late 1970s engagements,<ref>See the notes for the Damned's ''Smash It Up – The Anthology 1976–1987''</ref> as well as having penned the song "[[R.A.M.O.N.E.S.]]" as a tribute to the [[Ramones]]. Motörhead, Lemmy stated, have more in common aesthetically with [[The Damned (band)|the Damned]] than [[Black Sabbath]], and nothing whatsoever in common with [[Judas Priest]]. Lemmy said he felt little kinship with the speed metal bands Motörhead have inspired:

{{blockquote|They've just got the wrong bit. They think that being fast and loud is the whole thing and it isn't. The guitar solos are not really difficult for a guitar player, it's just playing scales. To feel a solo and bend into it & I mean Hendrix is the best guitarist you've ever seen in your life. And he learned from people like Buddy Guy, Lightnin' Hopkins and people like that inspired Hendrix. To be influenced by something, you're gonna have to play it the same.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earcandymag.com/motorhead.htm|title=''Motorhead Interview with Lemmy 6-20-2000'' Ear Candy interview.|access-date=6 May 2007|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928045324/http://www.earcandymag.com/motorhead.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

The ''[[NME]]'' stated that their brief solos were just long enough "... to open another bottle of beer", while a 1977 ''[[Stereo Review]]'' commented that "they know they're like animals, and they don't want to appear any other way. In view of the many ugly frogs in heavy metal who think they are God's gift to womankind these Quasimodos even seem charming in their own way".<ref name="MKM">{{cite web|url=http://www.mk-magazine.com/interviews/archives/000124.php|work=MK Magazine|title=MK Magazine Interviews: Motorhead|access-date=26 June 2007|archive-date=12 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112072841/http://www.mk-magazine.com/interviews/archives/000124.php|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Motörhead's approach did not change drastically over the band's career, though this is a deliberate choice: erstwhile Motörhead drummer [[Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor]] said that rock icons like [[Chuck Berry]] and [[Little Richard]] never drastically altered their style, and, like them, Motörhead preferred to play what they enjoyed and did best.<ref>See the notes for the 1999 Castle Records reissue of ''Ace of Spades''</ref> This fondness for the first decade of rock and roll (mid-1950s to mid-1960s) is also reflected in some of Motörhead's occasional cover songs from that era.

Lemmy often played [[power chord]]s in his basslines. When asked about whether he had begun as a rhythm guitarist, he stated:

{{blockquote|No, I play a lot of notes, but I also play a lot of chords. And I play a lot of open strings. I just don't play like a bass player. There are complaints about me from time to time. It's not like having a bass player; it's like having a deep guitarist.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130417111254/http://www.motorhead.ru/int2moo.htm We Do Not Bend The Knee. Motorhead Interview]}}. Motorhead.ru. Archived from [http://www.motorhead.ru/int2moo.htm the original] on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref>}}