Chords for Motorhead - Ace Of Spades - 1981 full interview

In this [Eb] British documentary, fans [Db] in patched denim, long hair and studded leather are seen in a heads-down, [Bb] no-nonsense, mindless boogie,
playing imaginary air [Ab] guitars and cut-out cardboard instruments along with the music. _
Years of steady touring on rock's poverty trail and a swing back towards [Bb] basic rock tastes have earned Motorhead a devoted following,
such as these fans who met the group at Toronto's Record Peddler.
_ [Abm] Motorhead formed back in 1975 during the middle of the punk rock explosion in England.
[Gb] I asked bass player and group [Eb] founder Lemmy if there was a problem being a heavy metal band in the punk era.
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_ [Bb] _ _ _ [B] _ Something that strikes me about [C] hard rock fans [F] is the fact that they're so devoted to the band.
Why do you [Eb] think that is?
[Em] I don't know.
You should ask [D] them about that.
Yeah, I [G] mean it's something that we've never done.
It's [B] something that I've never done.
You know, like when I was a rock [Ab] fan, when I used to go to [E] concerts, I mean I used to go and enjoy bands and that,
but I'd never queue up for autographs or wear [F] patches on my jacket and stuff [Gb] like that.
So it's [Bb] something we don't know about really.
We'd have to ask the fans about that.
I mean it's a great compliment, but_
[E] What's the hard rock scene in the UK like now?
Quite a total one.
[F] Saturated?
That's all it is, yeah.
You know, you've got the police [C] and a couple of other bands, [A] but _ basically it's heavy metal, Lemmy, [Am] you know, _ back into fashion.
We saw something [N] happen with, you know, what you tagged with the label of New Wave and that there were so many people doing it
that the music actually lost out because people who couldn't even play were getting up on stage and making a success of [Am] themselves.
Do you think that the same thing is going to happen [Em] with heavy metal?
No, no, no.
I don't think it's [Bb] possible.
It seems to breed [C] different, better [F] musicians, I think, with this heavy metal, rock [N] music.
You know, with the punk things, as you said, like 15, 16 year old kids could get up and whack three chords out and scream, you know,
I don't care, because it's not fair!
_ I don't know, I think people who play [F] rock music and heavy metal take it more seriously
and are a bit more wary of getting on stage before they actually play, you know.
[Abm] If the punks are out there screaming, I don't care, what are you guys out there saying?
We don't care either.
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We've just been doing it longer, I guess.
Yeah, we haven't cared for longer.
You've adopted the Ace of [Fm] Spades as your motif.
Why [N] the Ace of Spades?
Because it's bad luck.
_ Ace of Spades is bad luck, isn't it?
See?
So we figured if we use bad luck as [G] our theme, then it [B] can't get any worse.
[Fm] You know?
In the beginning, [F] because it was getting worse, so I figured, well, go to the bottom, you know?
_ [E] Use all the bad luck signs, born to lose, live to win, right?
And I'm a pessimist as well.
I would rather be a pessimist [N] than anything, you know?
If you're a pessimist and things don't work out, then you've got nothing to be disappointed about.
So _ most of the time I'm quite happy. _
Because things always go better than what I think they're going to do.
And this picture on the front of the Ace of Spades album, that is the bad boy, cowboy, bandit image.
You look more like a Texas rock band than a UK rock band.
Yeah, well, everybody's brought up on John Wayne movies, aren't they, you know?
Well, that was actually, this was actually photographed in a sandstone quarry in Barnet,
just outside London, believe it or not, and that sky is real.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [Ab] What do you think of critics [N] who say that Motorhead are three stupid people playing loud [Ab] rock?
I think critics [A] are stupid people.
I ain't playing no music for no critic.
I'm [N] playing for the audience.
I ain't playing for no critic.
They can go and do things I can't say on TV to themselves [A] with a large meter.
[N] That's another _ good thing about coming up the hard way, I suppose.
If you let people, a lot of bands let things like that get to them,
if comments and critics, things get made and said,
like you just said, like, we're three stupid people [A] playing stupid music.
I don't care, [F] we don't care what people say about us.
If that's what we want to say, there's X thousand kids out there who will disagree with [N] them
and probably rip their arms off and beat them to death with them if that doesn't matter.
_ So, I mean, things like that don't matter to us.
It just goes over the top, you know?
We've seen this huge heavy metal resurgence going on in England.
It started, I guess, what, 1978?
The first part of 79?
[A] _ Do you feel that you were, [Am] in part, responsible for that?
I don't know.
I suppose we could have been.
I [Bb] mean, it seemed to [E] start with us.
After us, there seemed [A] to be a lot more long-haired bands
coming up and turning [Bb] the amplifiers up, [E] you know?
But [Am] I think it was the punk thing that started it.
_ _ [N] People were looking for something different?
Or they were looking for the same energy [E] but in a different way?
Yeah, same energy with long hair.
The [A] kids had always been there, you [D] know, once the punk thing [B] happened.
All the other bands, [Bb] they all went away.
I like to say [A] I had some bands like that.
[D] They all left the country, you know?
[G] And the ones that were left got their hair cut.
And that was the only ones that were sort [N] of flying the flag at the time, you know?
Once the punk thing died, there was room for everybody then.
And there was still that audience out there waiting to do it?
It was always waiting for it, you know?
The audience has always [Em] been there.
It's just the lack of live bands at that time, [B] you know?
How do you feel about the headbangers?
People that come right down at the front of the [F] stage?
Are they really a part of [N] the essence of what modern head is?
It's up to them, whatever they want to do, [B] you know?
If they want to smash their head on the stage, like that.
I would much rather be doing that than [Eb] sitting in there. _
_ Yeah, right.
[Db] You know, I mean, that's boring.
_ [G] The more kids that get up and [Abm] dance around and bang their heads and jump up and [Db] down, the better.
[Eb] _