By the autumn of 1981, everyone knew Motörhead. Whether revered as the kings of greasy biker grebo, fast’n’loose dirty rock’n’roll, or reviled as the sort of dirty ruffians who turned everything up to 11, drank too much and flipped dirt-encrusted middle-fingers to the dull and boring British public, Lemmy, Philthy Animal Taylor and Fast Eddie Clarke were news to everyone. Their popularity was at an all-time high: No.1 albums, Top 10 singles and even an appearance on children’s TV show Tiswas had seen them emerge as one of Britain’s top bands. Lemmy even got away to record a single featuring The Young & Moody Band plus The Nolan Sisters, Don’t Do That…
Not that they ever took any time to revel in the fruits of such labour. Indeed, the answer to this almost bizarre level of success was for their management at the time to keep them on the road, to keep them working and speeding along, to keep them on a relentless cycle of touring which saw them never really get any time off. This was soon to prove a major problem, but in August 1981, life was sweet.
