Former Motorhead lead guitarist dead at 67….

So, farewell Eddie Clarke. The last surviving member of the classic Mark Two line up of the rock band Motörhead has died of pneumonia aged sixty seven. He now joins his former bandmates Lemmy and Phil Taylor in the collection of childhood heroes who have now departed us.

I grew up with Motörhead, from the release of the Bomber album onwards, their music became a staple of my musical journey and Clarke played a huge role in shaping the heavy metal scene of the late seventies and early eighties whilst casting a huge influence over the new metal bands of the nineties and beyond.

Motörhead were truly one of a kind. Nothing like them had come before or since, they bridged rock and punk effortlessly with a wall of sound which came crashing through the amps at ear-splitting volume. But don’t be fooled by the looks and the volume, they were better than that. Ace of Spades, is a classic rock track, short and near perfect and deserving of its place in the rock charts, but there were so many more, Lemmy’s lyrics and Clarke’s ability to create riffs and driving rhythms can be heard in too many to mention. But for those who may not know more than the obvious, here is my list of Clarke’s greatest. There will be more deaths to come from his era, if only there were others to pick up the mantle….

1. I’ll Be Your Sister
2. No Class
3. Poison
4. Dead Men Tell No Tales
5. All the Aces
6. Metropolis
7. Stay Clean
8. Lawman
9. Stone Dead Forever
10. Overkill