Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has named Motörhead’s iconic 1980 single “Ace Of Spades” as the band’s greatest song, recounting the “explosive” moment he first heard it as a kid. Speaking exclusively with Metal Hammer, Hammett also praised the late Lemmy Kilmister, calling him “the real deal, right to the f**king end.”
Hammett explained that his journey to Motörhead was a two-step process. He had heard their Overkill album first and was impressed, but not yet fully converted.
“I’d heard [1979’s] Overkill before that and remember thinking, ‘this is way faster than Scorpions or UFO. Overkill, cool!’” Hammett recalled.
It was the follow-up album’s iconic cover art that made him a believer. “But then a week or whatever later I saw that Ace Of Spades cover and was just like, OK, I’ve gotta buy this album. I got home and put it on… Oh my god! Lemmy opens up his voice and starts singing, my mind f**king exploded.”
Hammett explained that the sound of “Ace Of Spades” was the perfect bridge between the metal he loved and the punk rock scene he and his friends were embedded in at the time.
“Me and all my friends were into punk rock, right?” he continued. “The tone of Lemmy’s voice was like he’d got a distortion box in his throat. The sound of that bass too! I felt like I was in the mud with those guys. It’s so dirty and aggressive, so real!”
Hammett and the rest of Metallica have been among Motörhead‘s most vocal and passionate supporters for decades. Hammett has publicly criticized the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for their failure to induct the band, stating in a 2020 podcast that the voters “just don’t f**king get it” and “don’t see the range of influence and the impact.”
His bandmate, James Hetfield, paid a more permanent tribute in 2024, having a portion of Lemmy‘s ashes, which were gifted to him by the Kilmister estate, infused into a new tattoo.
