Motörhead released 23 studio albums, 10 live recordings, 12 compilation albums and five EPs over a career spanning 40 years. Usually a power trio, they had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles in the UK Top 40 chart. The albums Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades and, particularly, the live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith cemented Motörhead's reputation as a top-tier rock band. The band are ranked number 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. As of 2016, they have sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.
Most often classified as heavy metal, Motörhead has been credited with being part of and influencing numerous musical scenes, thrash metal and speed metal especially. Lemmy, however, always insisted that they were a rock and roll band. He said that they had more in common with punk bands, but with their own unique sound, Motörhead is embraced in both punk and metal scenes. Their lyrics typically covered such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse and, most famously, gambling, the latter theme being the focus of their hit song "Ace of Spades".
Lemmy died on 28 December 2015 from cardiac arrhythmia and congestive heart failure, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. The day after his death, drummer Mikkey Dee and guitarist Phil Campbell both confirmed that Motörhead had disbanded. By 2018, all three members of Motörhead's best-known line-up (Lemmy, Taylor and Clarke) had died.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motörhead
Discography
Motörhead (1977)
Overkill (1979)
Bomber (1979)
On Parole (1979)
Ace of Spades (1980)
Iron Fist (1982)
Another Perfect Day (1983)
Orgasmatron (1986)
Rock 'n' Roll (1987)
1916 (1991)
March ör Die (1992)
Bastards (1993)
Sacrifice (1995)
Overnight Sensation (1996)
Snake Bite Love (1998)
We Are Motörhead (2000)
Hammered (2002)
Inferno (2004)
Kiss of Death (2006)
Motörizer (2008)
The Wörld Is Yours (2010)
Aftershock (2013)
Bad Magic (2015)
Order / Fade To Black
Motörhead Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(Yes) Red mouth (yes) insane (yes, My God) Order,
(See) Firestorm (see) black death, (do you see) burning there,
(Yes) Red smile (yes) white noise, fade to black, nobody cares.
Wake up now, try to run, howling pain, burning sun, creep
and crawl, hiding place, out of breath, turn your face,
Evil grins, at the sight, tendon snap, red tonight,
(Now) White face, (now) red hands (iron stake) everywhere,
(Now) Chrome spikes (now) insane, (burning me) order,
(Now) Sleeping (now) teeth grin, (audience) all eyes stare,
(Now) Walking (now) dying, fade to black, nobody cares.
Push the door locked and barred, gone away, gone to far,
Finger crawl, after you, freezing touch, stick like glue,
Could embrace, stranglehold, lost the race, oh so cold,
Red in here, bright knife hack, white noise, fade to black.
(Yes) Red pain, (yes) red blood, (sinking down) black despair,
(So) White bone, (yes) insane, (do you see) order,
(All) Screaming, (now) silent (God is love) say your prayers
The lyrics to Motörhead’s song Order / Fade To Black are cryptic and dark, and the opening lines of the song set the tone for the themes that are explored throughout the song. The lines “Bad blood, black night, all the world” seem to be an indication of the bleak nature of the world and the struggles that the singer is facing. The next line “Red mouth, insane, Order” continues this grim tone, with the mention of a crazed individual and the concept of some kind of sinister order.
The next set of lines paint a vivid picture of an apocalyptic scenario, with “firestorm, black death, burning there” evoking images of chaos and destruction. The final line of the verse, “fade to black, nobody cares,” is perhaps the most depressing, suggesting that no one is paying attention to the destruction that is taking place.
The second verse describes an individual trying to flee from the horrors of the preceding chorus, “creep and crawl, hiding place, out of breath, turn your face,” but ultimately succumbing to the horrors of the world, “black inside, cancer grown, in your skin, in your bone.”
The final verse describes the end of this individual’s journey, “push the door locked and barred, gone away, gone too far,” indicating that they have retreated into isolation, as they can’t bear to face the horrors anymore. The final lines “red in here, bright knife hack, white noise, fade to black” suggest that the individual has met a violent end, with their isolation only intensifying their suffering.
Overall, these lyrics explore themes of destruction, isolation, and the horror of the world that surrounds us. They paint a bleak picture of the human experience, one that is both nihilistic and philosophical.
Line by Line Meaning
(Yes) Bad blood, (yes) black night, (My God, yes) all the world,
Acknowledging the presence of negative vibes and darkness everywhere.
(Yes) Red mouth (yes) insane (yes, My God) Order,
The lunatic thoughts and tendencies of the person narrating the song, overwhelmed by the chaos and lack of control in his life.
(See) Firestorm (see) black death, (do you see) burning there,
Describing the apocalyptic situation, everything is falling apart around him, and destruction is evident everywhere he looks.
(Yes) Red smile (yes) white noise, fade to black, nobody cares.
The artist sees white noise or static instead of someone listening to him; he feels like no one is paying attention, and his life has become meaningless.
Wake up now, try to run, howling pain, burning sun, creep and crawl, hiding place, out of breath, turn your face,
Trying to escape from the unbearable, torturous life he has led, and trying to hide from the reality of it all.
Evil grins, at the sight, tendon snap, red tonight, Black inside, cancer grown, in your skin, in your bone,
People around him observing the destruction with a twisted smile, and he has internalized the chaos within him, that is growing like cancer insidiously.
(Now) White face, (now) red hands (iron stake) everywhere, (Now) Chrome spikes (now) insane, (burning me) order,
Deteriorated physical state with white faces and bloody hands everywhere, and the operation of the environment is following a twisted and disturbed order.
(Now) Sleeping (now) teeth grin, (audience) all eyes stare, (Now) Walking (now) dying, fade to black, nobody cares.
People ignoring the decay and gradual crumbling of the people around them, apathetically staring as they look on at people continue to slip into an abyss, and the audience is blind and utterly dependent on the fading light, breathlessly following their one-way finality (death).
Push the door locked and barred, gone away, gone too far, Finger crawl, after you, freezing touch, stick like glue,
The doors of hopelessness are locked and appear to grow more unbearable by the day, and his touch is freezing and sorrowful.
Could embrace, stranglehold, lost the race, oh so cold, Red in here, bright knife hack, white noise, fade to black.
He could embrace the darkness, but it has a stranglehold over him, like a firm hold of an opponent in a race, and he is being overwhelmed by despair, and his internal world is becoming one of violence and bleeding chaos, drowning out the white noise and bringing him closer to the end.
(Yes) Red pain, (yes) red blood, (sinking down) black despair, (So) White bone, (yes) insane, (do you see) order,
Sensations of hopelessness, bleakness, and madness around him, punctuated by sharp pain and large amounts of blood - even as he sinks deeper into his own blackness - there appears to be some order as he approaches death.
(All) Screaming, (now) silent (God is love) say your prayers
Finally, encouraging the readers to scream out their desperation, but they should ultimately embrace silence and find solace in prayer and the belief in a higher power.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: MATTHEW JAMES AITKEN, STEPHEN JOHN ANDERSON, OWAIN ANTHONY BARTON, ROBERT EARL BELL, RONALD N BELL, GEORGE MELVIN BROWN, EUMIR DEODATO, ROBERT MICKENS, KYLIE ANN MINOGUE, DAVID CHARLES SEAMAN, CLAYDES EUGENE SMITH, MICHAEL STOCK, JAMES WARREN TAYLOR, DENN
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