Ace of Spades (song)
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| “Ace of Spades” | |||||
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.jpg/200px-Ace_of_Spades_(song).jpg) |
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| Single by Motörhead from the album Ace of Spades |
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| B-side | Dirty Love | ||||
| Released | October 27, 1980 | ||||
| Format | 7" 12" |
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| Recorded | 4 August – 15 September 1980 Jackson's Studios, Rickmansworth, UK |
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| Genre | Heavy metal Hard rock |
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| Length | 2:49 | ||||
| Label | Bronze Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Eddie Clarke Lemmy Phil Taylor |
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| Producer | Vic Maile | ||||
| Motörhead singles chronology | |||||
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| Alternate cover | |||||
Christmas picture sleeve edition
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"Ace of Spades" is a song by the heavy metal band Motörhead.
Initially released as a 7" vinyl single on October 27, 1980 as a preview to the album Ace of Spades and autumn tour, Bronze Records also released a 12" vinyl pressing in special 'Christmas' picture sleeves, limited to 50,000 copies. The picture of the band in Santa outfits used on the cover was taken while the band were on tour at the Aylesbury Fair. In November the song reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] The song is considered to be the definitive Motörhead anthem,[2] and "put a choke on the English music charts and proved to all that a band could succeed without sacrificing its blunt power and speed".[3]
Bronze also issued German and Spanish 7" vinyl versions which had a different sleeves, as well as a Japanese import, with a colour picture insert with song lyrics in English and Japanese. One sided test pressings (not mis-presses, used in the trade) escaped the pressing plant and are on the market.[4]
For the lyrics, Lemmy said he "used gambling metaphors, mostly cards and dice - when it comes to that sort of thing, I'm more into the one-arm bandits actually, but you can't really sing about spinning fruit, and the wheels coming down".[5]
On September 6, 1980 Lemmy was interviewed by Graham Neil on BBC Radio 1's Rock On Saturday show, "Bomber", "Ace of Spades" and "Love Me Like a Reptile" were played. The following month, on October 6 and October 20, the band played the song on BBC TV show Top of the Pops.[6]
In 1988 another recording of the song was released - Ace of Spades (live) - and later withdrawn.
In September 1993 WGAF Records re-released the original 1980s track on CD-single, cassette single, 12" vinyl picture sleeve and picture disc versions, the song was covered with "Louie Louie", "Dirty Love", and "Ace of Spades (The CCN Remix)", and although the band were not too pleased with the CCN Remix version, this single reached #23 in the UK charts.[6]
The song ranked in at #10 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.[7] In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at #27 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
Contents |
[edit] Single track listing
[edit] 7" & 12"
- "Ace of Spades" (Lemmy, Eddie Clarke, Phil Taylor) - 2:49
- "Dirty Love" (Lemmy, Clarke, Taylor) - 2:57
[edit] In popular culture
- This was the first song that Phil Campbell and Wurzel played with the band - on the Bambi episode of The Young Ones. The line up is particularly rare until 1987: Lemmy, Campbell, Wurzel and Taylor. Taylor had already left the band by the time the filming started, but kept to his promise of making the performance.[6]
- The song is used in the 1998 Golden Wonder Pot Noodle, the 2000 IKEA furniture, the 2003 Clark's Marathon Boy, and the 2005 Walkers Crisps television advertisements.
- The song was used in an episode of BBC's motoring show, Top Gear, that featured the Lotus Exige attempting to avoid missile lock from an Apache helicopter.
- In an episode of the Men Behaving Badly television sitcom, Gary and Tony play air guitar to the track.
- The song was chosen to appear in the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.
- The song was used in the movie Grosse Pointe Blank, during a gunfight in a convenience store between hitman Martin Blank (John Cusack) and another hitman sent after him, a teenager is playing an arcade game to the sound of Ace of Spades at maximum volume in his headphones and escapes unharmed, completely oblivious to the destruction unfolding around him.
- During the opening credits of Zombie Nightmare, a movie that would later be used for an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the song is played and the characters of the show make comments about the lyrics.
- The song is used in the introductory scene for The Tremor Brothers in the movie Smokin' Aces, as well as in the teaser trailer.
- The song was featured in the popular skateboarding game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.
- A cover of the song, containing an included speed metal-like guitar outro, was used in the 2005 music video game Guitar Hero for PlayStation 2, as well as being included in a downloadable 3-song pack for the Xbox 360 version of its successor, Guitar Hero II. The song is also featured on the soundtrack of the baseball game The Bigs as well as in the television commercial for it.
- A retrospective review of the song by music magazine Q once memorably stated: "This song has an intro which wouldn't be out of place ushering in the end of the world".
- Between 8pm and 2am on November 9, 2005 at The Boat nightclub in Toronto, the song was played 128 times consecutively.[8]
- After a 15 year career with the network, DJ Simon Mayo played the song to end his final show on BBC Radio 1 in 2001. The comedian, Noel Fielding, described the song as the sound of his childhood, as his parents would play it constantly.
- The song also appears in the 2007 Judd Apatow comedy Superbad starring Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill.
- The song appears in the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up during the shootout in Mr. Smith's hideout. It appears on the film's soundtrack as well.
- In comedy Give My Head Peace episode Canada, the beginning scene the alarm clock shows 5.59 then it turns to 6.00 and ace of spades starts playing full blast, from uncle andys radio station,thus waking everybody in the house.
- The song is covered by two psychobilly bands, Batmobile, and Three Bad Jacks.
- The song is also covored by a rockabilly band called Union Ave.
- The first 0:30 Metallica's "Whiplash" resembles the main riff for the "Ace of Spades".
- A Dutch version of "Ace of Spades" (Called "Schoppen Aas") is covered by the Dutch Hard Rock band Peter Pan Speedrock. Dikke Dennis performs the vocals on this version.
- Southern Metal band He Is Legend has covered the song live.
- The song was used in the majority of the Creamy Muck Muck scenes of the CBBC children's program, Dick and Dom in da Bungalow.
- The song was used in commercials for 2K Sports' video game, The Bigs.
- The song has been covered by the band Ween at live concerts.
- The song is played when Fran and Bernard try to dance in the television show Black Books.
- In the Black Books episode Party (the last of series 3) the three main characters have a very drunken dancing competition to a portion of this song, with no clear winner (everyone just gets tired out and sits down, nursing their drinks).
- Italian metal band Extrema plays this song at the end of their live concerts, and included it in their Set the world on fire record in 2005.
- The song is referenced briefly in a recent AT&T Wireless commercial.
- Legendary punk rock band, The Skullcranes, performed it as their last song at their last live show in May,2008.
[edit] Credits
- Guitars, vocals - Fast Eddie Clarke
- Drums - Philthy Animal Taylor
- Bass, lead vocals - Lemmy
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Burridge, Alan (April 1991). "Motörhead". Record Collector (140): 18–19.
- ^ Konow, David. Bang Your Head. Three Rivers Press, c2002, 226 has "Motorhead's signature song, Ace of Spades". ISBN 0-609-80732-3.
- ^ Christe, Ian. Sound of the Beast. Allison & Busby. ISBN 0749083514.
- ^ Burridge, Alan; Mick Stevenson (July 1993). "Motörhead". Record Collector (167): 72.
- ^ Kilmister, Lemmy & Garza, Janiss White Line Fever Published: 2002, Simon & Schuster (Trade Division) ISBN 0-684-85868-1
- ^ a b c Burridge, Alan Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing ISBN 0-9695736-2-6
- ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1-4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed September 10, 2006.
- ^ Motörhead madness-athon. globeandmail.com article. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
[edit] External links
- Video clip of November 6, 1980 Top of the Pops broadcast of the song (RealPlayer required - right click to play).
