I currently work with a character named Drew who shares my adoration for bloody-knuckled hardcore and stentorian metal, although being about a decade younger, he's constantly citing bands and scenes that came about long after my time. In turn, I'm continually chucking band names back at him. As such, we've managed to hip each other to music that we were both heretofore unaware of. I was recently incredulous to learn, however, that he wasn't that taken with Motörhead. Drew didn't buy into their outlaw tough guy shtick (which is, admittedly, fairly ridiculous – although I'd contend that the band's inherent ridiculousness is wholly part of their charm.) In due course, I swiftly IM'd him several YouTube clips of the classic line-up of the band performing hallowed hymns like "Iron Fist," "Overkill" and my perennial favorite, "(We Are) The Road Crew." After a single airing of a Top of the Pops performance (wherein the boys play a rollicking rendition of "Bomber"), Drew was hooked.
This, however, had me stuck in a loop of exhuming old Motörhead classics, and I stumbled across a the video for "I Got Mine," from the band's arguably maligned 1983 opus, Another Perfect Day. I'd been indoctrinated into the cult of Motörhead via the absolutely crucial No Sleep `Til Hammersmith. Increasingly fatigued by hair-metal hosers like Motley Crue and Ratt, I was hungry for metal that shared the same adrenalized punch as the punk and hardcore records I was loving at the time, and the furious sprint of No Sleep.. handily sufficed. When Another Perfect Day hit the racks in 1983, though, something was amiss. Guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke had left the ranks, replaced by former Thin Lizzy string-bender Brian Robertson. The end results were unlike anything the band had released before or since. While it still packed a wallop, there was a musicality (thanks to Robertson's fluid playing) that had been otherwise completely dormant when Clarke was handling the riffage.
Anyway, many fans hated it. The fact that Robertson was jettisoned from the proceedings prior the arrival of the band's next effort (a compilation dubbed No Remorse, which found a new line-up of the band fleshed out as a quartet playing "Killed By Death") was fairly telling. While they'd never return to the bullet-train athleticism of the classic line-up (Lemmy Kilmister, Fast Eddie Clark & Philthy Animal Taylor), it was clear that the comparatively sprightly melodiousness of Another Perfect Day was just going to be a momentary detour.
Regardless of popular opinion, I still think it's a great record. While not my favorite of theirs (that'll always be No Sleep…), the inclusion of great tracks like "Shine," "Dancing On Your Grave" and the afore-cited "I Got Mine" make it a keeper. Another Perfect Day also boasts arguably the band's best cover art, a hallucinatory depiction of the band's iconic snaggletoothed mascot as rendered by longtime sleeve designer Joe Petagno.
About twelve years ago, I vividly remember waiting on line at the Film Forum on West Houston Street. I can't remember the film I was waiting to see, but there was a couple standing in front of me. The gent was wearing a painstakingly detailed replication of the Another Perfect Day sleeve on the back of his weathered denim jacket. Unable to curtail my appreciation, I tapped the guy on the shoulder, complemented the handiwork and immediately launched into a full rumination about how great the album in question is and whatnot. In a near identical scenario to this incident that would happen years later, the owner of the jacket passively obliged me before informing me that he'd bought it at a vintage clothing store and hadn't the first clue who or what Motörhead was, let alone anything about their music. I was, of course, summarily disgusted. Don't fly the colors if you don't know what they stand for.
Anyway, if you're as enthused about that sleeve as I am, why not check out Joe Petagno's website for more of same. And, for what it's worth, here's Motörhead playing "I Got Mine." Crank it.
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