Motörhead were formed in London in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy (real name Ian Kilmister), who has remained the sole constant member.

Usually a power trio, Motörhead had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles. The albums Overkill, its follow on, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and particularly No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, cemented Motörhead's reputation as one of Britain's foremost heavy metal groups.

The band's distinctive fanged face logo was created by artist Joe Petagno in 1977 for the cover of the Motörhead album and has appeared in many variations on covers of ensuing albums.

After being sacked from Hawkwind in 1975, supposedly for "doing the wrong drugs",Lemmy decided to form a new band, originally to be called "Bastard". Doug Smith, the band's manager, advised him that, "It's unlikely that we're going to get on Top of the Pops with a name like 'Bastard'." Lemmy concurred and decided to call the band "Motörhead", inspired by the final song he had written for Hawkwind.

Lemmy's stated aim was for the outfit to be, "the dirtiest rock n' roll band in the world" and that, "if Motörhead moved in next to you, your lawn would die".The first lineup of the band featured Larry Wallis (ex-Pink Fairies) on electric guitar and Lucas Fox on drums. Their first gig was at The Roundhouse, London, on July 20, 1975. On October 19, having played ten gigs, they became the supporting act to Blue Öyster Cult at the Hammersmith Odeon.Fox became unreliable and was replaced by drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor.

Deciding that two lead guitarists were required, the band recruited "Fast" Eddie Clarke, but Wallis quit during the auditions, so the idea was dropped. The trio of Lemmy – Clarke – Taylor is today regarded as the "classic" Motörhead line-up.

During August and September 1980, the band were at Jackson's Studios in Rickmansworth, recording with producer Vic Maile. The "Ace of Spades" single was released on October 27, 1980 as a PREVIOUS of the Ace of Spades album, which followed on November 8.The single reached #15 and the album reached #4 in the UK charts. Bronze celebrated its gold record status by pressing a limited edition of the album in gold vinyl.

Clarke left as a consequence of the band recording Stand By Your Man, a cover version of the Tammy Wynette classic, in collaboration with Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics. Clarke felt that this compromised the band's principles, refused to play on the recording and resigned, later forming his own band, Fastway. Lemmy and Phil made numerous telephone calls to find a guitarist, including one to Brian Robertson, formerly with Thin Lizzy, who was recording a solo album in Canada. He agreed to help out and complete the tour with them and signed a one-album deal resulting in 1983's Another Perfect Day and the two singles from it, "Shine" and "I Got Mine".

After Robertson's departure in 1983, the band was sent tapes from all over the world from potential guitarists. The group returned to the concept of dual lead guitars by hiring unknowns Würzel and Phil Campbell.In February 1984, the Lemmy, Campbell, Würzel and Taylor line-up recorded "Ace of Spades" for the "Bambi" episode in the British television series, The Young Ones.

On March 28, 1992 the band played what would turn out to be Taylor's last gig at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, California.The band had been wanting Lemmy to get rid of their manager, Doug Banker, for some time and after an unsolicited visit from Todd Singerman, who insisted he should manage them despite never having managed a band before, the band met with Singerman and decided to take him on board, firing Banker.In the midst of this, the band were recording an album at Music Grinder Studios, in the city's east part of Hollywood during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Three drummers participated in the making of the March ör Die album: Phil Taylor, who was fired because he did not learn the drum tracks on the song "I Ain't No Nice Guy"; Tommy Aldridge who recorded most of the material on the album; and Mikkey Dee, who recorded "Hellraiser", a song originally written by Lemmy for Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears album. The album features guest appearances by Ozzy Osbourne and Slash.

Lemmy knew Mikkey Dee from having toured with King Diamond when Brian Robertson had been in Motörhead. He had asked him to join before,but Dee was just joining Dokken and could not do it then. On this occasion, Dee was available and met the band to try out. Playing the song "Hellraiser" first, Lemmy thought "he was very good immediately. It was obvious that it was going to work." After recording "Hellraiser" and "Hell on Earth" in the studio Mikkey's first gig was on August 30 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The new line-up then went on tour, playing dates with Ozzy Osbourne.

Motörhead picked up their first Grammy in the awards of 2005 in the Best Metal Performance category for their cover of Metallica's "Whiplash" on Metallic Attack: Metallica: The Ultimate Tribute Album.

Though the band are typically classified as heavy metal or speed metal, when Lemmy was asked if he has a problem with Motörhead being called a metal band, he replied: "I do because I come from way before Metal. I’m playing Rock n’ Roll and I think Rock n’ Roll should be sacred – it is to me. I don’t see why it should not be for everybody else."

Discography

1977 Motörhead
1979 Overkill
1979 Bomber
1979 On Parole 
1980 Ace of Spades
1981 No Sleep 'til Hammersmith
1982 Iron Fist
1983 Another Perfect Day
1984 No Remorse
1986 Orgasmatron
1987 Rock 'n' Roll
1988 No Sleep at All 
1991 1916
1992 March ör Die
1993 Bastards 
1995 Sacrifice
1996 Overnight Sensation 
1998 Snake Bite Love 
1999 Everything Louder Than Everyone Else 
2000 We Are Motörhead 
2000 The Best Of 
2002 Hammered 
2003 Live at Brixton Academy 
2004 Inferno
2005 BBC Live & In-Session 
2006 Kiss of Death